Business of Law

In BigLaw's War For High Court Clerks, Jones Day Is Winning

Jones Day has hired 21 U.S. Supreme Court clerks in the last three years, coming in well ahead of peers as a handful of BigLaw firms compete in an “arms race” replete with $400,000 signing bonuses for talent with intimate insight into the justices, sources say.

How Attorney Layoffs Could Play Out In The Next Recession

During the Great Recession, attorneys were battered by a long string of layoffs and nearly 60,000 jobs were lost across the legal industry. Here is a look at how lawyer layoffs might play out the next time the economy tanks.

The Skills Every Future Lawyer Needs

Lawyers aren’t going to be robots, but they are going to be wired differently if they want to stay competitive. Knowing how to employ the latest technology will be just as important as sharpening the skills that make them most human, according to experts who spoke with Law360 about what the legal industry might look like in 2040.

What Will Happen To BigLaw When Gen Z Is In Charge?

Gen Z attorneys will come of age as leaders in a legal market where flexible, specialized providers will go head-to-head with full-service firms. Who will be the new titans of the legal industry and what role will lawyers play? Here are some predictions for 2040.

February 21, 2020
Fish & Richardson Names Biosimilars Litigator As New CEO

Fish & Richardson PC principals have voted for John C. Adkisson to take over as the president and CEO of the nation's largest intellectual property firm, but that doesn’t mean he’s about to give up his biosimilar-focused patent litigation practice.
February 21, 2020
In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.
February 21, 2020
Trump's Judicial Noms Part Of Bump In Judiciary Budget

With the Trump administration confirming judges faster than anticipated and increases in caseload and workload stemming from its prosecutorial decisions, the judiciary asked Congress for a 4.4% increase in its discretionary budget for fiscal year 2021.
February 21, 2020
Prosecutor Took Jabs At Roger Stone's Reduced Sentence

When John Crabb Jr. appeared before the federal judge set to sentence Roger Stone on Thursday, the case's top prosecutor made a string of striking arguments that flew in the face of the U.S. Department of Justice's official line.
February 21, 2020
Law360's Pro Say: When Law Students Unite, BigLaw Listens

A groundswell of activism at the country’s elite law schools has already forced a number of BigLaw shops to abandon controversial employment agreements, as students have seized upon their unique leverage within the industry. On this week's episode of Pro Say, we’re joined by Law360’s Massachusetts court reporter Chris Villani to discuss the student-led movement that has put BigLaw on notice.
February 21, 2020
Up Next At High Court: Pipeline Problems, Terror Victims

The Supreme Court will reconvene after three weeks off Monday for a busy February session that begins with oral arguments in two multibillion-dollar terrorism and pipeline cases, and an obscure immigration law that has raised free speech concerns. Here's what to expect.
February 21, 2020
Clark Hill Can't Duck $50M Malpractice Suit Over Hacked Docs

A Chinese entrepreneur and prominent dissident may proceed with most of his $50 million malpractice suit against Clark Hill PLC because he has submitted sufficient evidence to suggest the firm mishandled his personal information in an asylum bid and failed to protect the data from hackers, a D.C. federal judge has ruled.
February 21, 2020
House Impeachment Lawyer Returns To Private Practice

A key lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment team has returned to private practice at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP after what he described to Law360 as an "extraordinary five-month crash course in high-stakes, complex legal and political decision-making."
February 21, 2020
DOL Judge Kills Ex-Morgan Stanley Atty Whistleblower Case

A U.S. Department of Labor judge has thrown out a former Morgan Stanley attorney’s claims that he was pushed out of his job after he brought up ethical concerns, finding he isn’t protected by the retaliation provision of a U.S. anti-fraud law because he worked in Hong Kong.
February 21, 2020
DLA Piper Embraces Cannabis In Rare Move For BigLaw

DLA Piper announced the formation of a global practice group focused on cannabis Friday, following many law firms' public embrace of the federally illegal industry. But the move stands out among the country's biggest law firms, which have been slower to go green than their smaller rivals.
February 21, 2020
GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

An ex-AIG legal department worker and his father have settled insider trading claims, and a New Jersey federal judge rejected bids to dismiss Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges against two former Cognizant executives accused of bribing Indian officials. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.
February 21, 2020
Greenberg Traurig's $65M Deal In Stanford Ponzi Suit OK'd

A Texas federal judge on Friday gave his blessing to Greenberg Traurig's $65 million settlement of claims related to its alleged involvement in a $7 billion scheme run by convicted Ponzi scammer R. Allen Stanford.
February 20, 2020
Delaware Bench Balance Rule Is 'Offensive,' High Court Told

An attorney challenging Delaware's judicial political parity rule told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that a provision of the state constitution requiring equal representation of parties on the bench is "offensive to the First Amendment."
February 20, 2020
Roger Stone Judge Strikes Blow For Judicial Independence

The judge who sentenced Roger Stone for obstruction called President Donald Trump's remarks on the case inappropriate, a rebuke that former judges said served to underscore the importance of an independent judiciary in a distrustful era.
February 20, 2020
10 Ex-Holland & Knight Attys Form Ill. Gov't Practice Boutique

Holland & Knight LLP's former executive partner for Chicago, Steven Elrod, has left his firm with nine other lawyers to start a municipal government-focused boutique that will sell itself to clients as more flexible on rates.
February 20, 2020
How Trump's 10 Picks Have Already Shifted The 9th Circuit

Although Democratic appointees still hold a majority on the influential Ninth Circuit, experts say President Donald Trump has already succeeded in shifting the historically liberal court, a longtime goal of conservatives that could reduce legal obstacles for hotly contested administration policies.
February 20, 2020
The Term: Billions At Stake In Pipeline, Terrorism Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court will be back in session next week, so the team is previewing key arguments scheduled for the returning justices, including a dispute over a national trail that is threatening to obstruct a $7 billion gas pipeline project and whether a $4.2 billion judgment in a terrorism case can stand.
February 20, 2020
Atty Accused Of Shaking Butt At Adversary Replaced

Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. asked a Texas federal court on Thursday to put allegations of inappropriate butt-shaking by a BakerHostetler partner during a mediation in the "rearview mirror," saying it replaced its legal team to avoid bogging down the employment discrimination case.
February 20, 2020
70 Ex-Reinhardt Clerks Urge Courts To Confront Harassment

More than 70 former clerks for the late Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt on Thursday commended a fellow clerk for telling members of Congress about sexual harassment by the judge, urging changes to workplace training and reporting in the federal judiciary.
February 20, 2020
Mass. Justices Call ICE Deportation 'An Affront To Justice'

Top Massachusetts state court justices criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a letter made public Thursday, calling the recent deportation of a defendant facing drug charges before he could stand trial "an affront to justice."
February 20, 2020
Whiteout: 23 Top State Courts Have All-White Benches

The racial and gender makeup of state supreme court benches continues to fall short at reflecting the diverse U.S. population, as 23 states have zero justices of color on their high court benches, according to a report out Thursday.
February 20, 2020
Dentons Hit With $32.3M Verdict Over Conflict Of Interest

Dentons has been ordered by an Ohio jury to pay nearly $32.3 million to a technology company that sued the firm after its attorneys were disqualified in a patent enforcement case because of a conflict of interest involving The Gap Inc.
February 20, 2020
Law360's Weekly Verdict: Legal Lions & Lambs

Kirkland & Ellis snagged this week's top legal lions spot with a $764 million win for Motorola Solutions in a copyright infringement suit, while Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner ended up among the legal lambs after client Monsanto was hit with $250 million in punitive damages alongside another company that makes the weedkiller dicamba.
February 20, 2020
Trump Ally Roger Stone Sentenced To Over 3 Years

President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone was sentenced to three years and four months in prison Thursday on seven felony charges of lying to Congress about his connections with WikiLeaks, witness tampering and obstructing a congressional panel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
February 19, 2020
5th Circ. Nixes Opinion Citing Anti-Gay Bias After Apology

The Fifth Circuit withdrew a previously published opinion, citing an apology by a mother whose attorney had been taken to task for filing an appeal allegedly laced with anti-gay prejudice in a case accusing a Mississippi school district of violating a student's rights with a purportedly improper search.

Editor's Picks

Law360 Names Practice Groups Of The Year

Law360 congratulates the winners of its 2019 Practice Groups of the Year awards, which honor the law firms behind the litigation wins and major deals that resonated throughout the legal industry in the past year.
Law360 MVP Awards Go To Top Attorneys From 76 Firms

The elite slate of attorneys chosen as Law360's 2019 MVPs have distinguished themselves from their peers by securing hard-earned successes in high-stakes litigation, complex global matters and record-breaking deals.
The 2019 Law360 Diversity Snapshot

U.S. law firms have long touted their commitment to diversity and inclusion. But those goals still seem far from being realized. Law360’s annual Diversity Snapshot indicates only marginal progress on racial and ethnic diversity in the attorney workforce from year to year, even as demands grow from clients expecting more diverse legal teams.

Expert Analysis

Rebuttal

AI Can't Accurately Predict Case Length And Cost — Yet

A recent Law360 guest article argued that artificial intelligence can precisely estimate the length and cost of a new case, but several limitations will likely delay truly accurate predictions for years to come, says Andrew Russell at Shaw Keller.
Lawyers Can Build Trust Through The Spoken Word

As attorneys, we may prefer the precision of written communication, but a phone call or an in-person conversation builds trust by letting others see and hear our authentic selves, rather than something constructed or scripted, says mediator Sidney Kanazawa of ARC.
Opinion

Legal Prediction Is Demanding But Not Impossible

The New Jersey Supreme Court’s recent decision in Balducci v. Cige incorrectly concluded that predicting the length and cost of a case is nearly impossible, and overlooked artificial intelligence's ability to do so, says Joseph Avery with Claudius Legal Intelligence.
Malpractice Landscape Is Becoming Riskier For BigLaw

A recent survey of lawyers’ professional liability insurers revealed an increase in malpractice claims against law firms, suggesting clients will demand more accountability in the coming decade, say Gerald Klein and Amy Nguyen at Klein & Wilson.
Perspectives

Book Review: A Lawyer Reflects On Defending Guilty People

In her new book, "Guilty People," Abbe Smith successfully conveys that seeing ourselves in people who commit crime may be the first step to exacting change in our justice system, says U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa of the District of Arizona.
Alphabet's Missteps Offer Crisis Management Case Study

Corporate strategy and communications surrounding the recent resignation of Alphabet's chief legal officer provide a remarkable example of what companies should not do in a crisis, says Jolie Balido at NewStar Media.
How Emotional Intelligence Can Benefit Transactional Attys

By investing in self- and social-awareness skills, transactional lawyers can make the negotiation process more productive and pleasant while also increasing post-deal stability, say Frank Williamson at Oaklyn Consulting and Mike Harrell at Latitude Advisors.
Series

Why I Became A Lawyer: Following A Serendipitous Path

I went to law school intending to pursue a career in politics, inspired by Ted Sorensen and Gary Hart — but learning to solve problems in a new and exciting way drew me to litigation, says David Goodman of Goodman Law Group Chicago.
Book Excerpt

Music Copyright License Lessons From The Jazz Age

National Music Publishers' Association President David Israelite recently predicted that the 2020s would be a decade of accountability for businesses built on uncompensated use of copyrighted music. A closer look at the first decade of accountability — the 1920s — could prove instructive, says attorney Gary Rosen, author of the new book "Adventures of a Jazz Age Lawyer."
7 Ethics Questions To Ask Before Marketing Your Law Firm

While ethics rules for attorney advertising vary by state and are frequently updated, there are several basic principles that all firms should understand, says Michelle King at Reputation Ink.
Opinion

Most Lawyers Do Not Understand How AI Works

Clearview AI's problematic attempt to defend its facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology provides a potent case study in potential pitfalls for lawyers working on AI issues, say Albert Fox Cahn and John Veiszlemlein at the Urban Justice Center's Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
4 Considerations When Moving To A New Law Firm

When contemplating a lateral move to a new law firm, lawyers should carefully review questions concerning firm structure, benefits, compensation and binding documents in order to identify obligations and potential red flags, say Amy Richardson and Lauren Snyder at Harris Wiltshire.
A Modest Plan To Streamline Civil Cases In LA Superior Court

The California Legislature's recent effort to simplify civil litigation is laudable, but working with the Los Angeles Superior Court to make efficient litigation stipulations mandatory, rather than voluntary, would improve the process further, say professor Gary Craig and students Jasmine Gomez and Kennedy Myers at Loyola Law School.
What Courts Are Saying About Litigation Finance Disclosure

Four recent federal court decisions concerning commercial litigation finance disclosure are largely consistent with a broader trend of rejecting or limiting discovery based on relevance and the attorney work product doctrine, say Stephanie Spangler at Norris McLaughlin and Dai Wai Chin Feman at Parabellum Capital.
Opinion

NY Commercial Division Hyperlinking Rule Should Be Adopted

New York state's proposed amendment to Commercial Division Rule 6, requiring e-filed documents to hyperlink to certain other documents, represents a sensible step to increase the use of a widely available tool that is very convenient for the judiciary and practitioners, say Elizabeth Sacksteder and Tony Joe at Paul Weiss.