Business of Law
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October 10, 2018
Legal Funder Burford Puts $50M Toward Female-Led Litigation
Litigation funding behemoth Burford Capital on Wednesday said it will put its money where its mouth is on the issue of promoting gender parity in BigLaw, with an initiative known as The Equity Project, which has a $50 million pool exclusively for financing litigations led by female lawyers or female-owned law firms.
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October 10, 2018
Labaton To Pay $4.8M, Accept Oversight On Fee Practices
Labaton Sucharow LLP has apologized and will pay $4.8 million and accept oversight by a retired judge to resolve a Massachusetts federal court’s investigation into the firm's excess fees and a controversial payment to a Texas lawyer, according to Wednesday court filings.
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October 10, 2018
Law Firm Leaders: Irell & Manella's Ellisen Turner
Ellisen Turner was named managing partner of Los Angeles-based midsize firm Irell & Manella LLP in September 2017. The law firm represents clients in major, high-stakes litigation and recently won the reversal of a $2.5 billion verdict that had gone against client Gilead Sciences. The firm also guides corporations in multibillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions.
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October 9, 2018
Gains Stall For Female Partners In Numbers, Salaries
The number of female equity partners at top law firms has barely budged in more than a decade, with few signs of women making significant inroads into the upper tiers of management or earning as much as men, according to a report from the National Association of Women Lawyers.
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October 9, 2018
When A Justice's Vote Is Pivotal, Politics Rules: Study
A closely divided high court is more likely to hand down decisions that were determined on ideological grounds and were intended to reshape the law, rather than relying on legal precedent, new research shows.
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October 9, 2018
Legal Tech Download: A Lawsuit-Generating Chatbot
The world of legal technology is quickly evolving, with new products coming to market in rapid succession. Here, Law360 takes a look at five recent developments.
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October 9, 2018
Chicago Courts Join Judiciary's Sex Harassment Reckoning
After disciplining a judge for allegedly sexually harassing a prosecutor, Chicago's court system this month is set to hold its first-ever training on sexual harassment for all of its nearly 400 judges, part of a growing trend in state courts as they grapple with #MeToo.
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October 9, 2018
Dorsey & Whitney Names New Managing Partner
Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney LLP on Tuesday named Bill Stoeri, a trial lawyer who has worked at the law firm for more than 30 years, as its new managing partner starting next year.
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October 9, 2018
Justice Kavanaugh Not Shy At 1st Supreme Court Arguments
Justice Brett Kavanaugh got off to a quick start at the U.S. Supreme Court following a rocky confirmation battle over sexual misconduct claims that divided the nation, asking numerous questions Tuesday at his first pair of oral arguments just days after he was sworn in as President Donald Trump’s second appointee to the high court.
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October 9, 2018
Adidas Taps Bayer US Legal Head For New General Counsel
The former head of legal for Bayer U.S. has been appointed general counsel of Adidas AG, the Germany-based sportswear manufacturer said Tuesday.
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October 9, 2018
Harvard, NYU Law Reviews Biased Against White Men: Suit
The law reviews at Harvard Law School and the New York University School of Law discriminate against white men when selecting their members and which articles they will publish, according to a pair of suits filed in Massachusetts and New York federal courts.
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October 9, 2018
15 Minutes With Barilla's Americas General Counsel
General counsel of the Americas for Barilla Group, Talita Erickson, recently spoke to Law360 about what she looks for in outside counsel, what she thinks about the billable hour, and the recent regulations that have had the most impact on her business.
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October 6, 2018
How Kavanaugh Survived The Nomination Battle
D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday, following a bitter, three-month nomination fight. Here, Law360 takes a look his road to confirmation.
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October 6, 2018
Kavanaugh Confirmed To Supreme Court By Tight Senate Vote
The Senate confirmed D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court by a two-vote margin Saturday, following a bruising nomination battle for President Donald Trump’s controversial choice to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.
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October 5, 2018
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.
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October 5, 2018
Kavanaugh's Bruising Battle May Prove Costly To High Court
When Judge Brett Kavanaugh angrily told senators that sexual assault allegations against him were a “political hit” by Democrats sore about the 2016 election and seeking “revenge on behalf of the Clintons,” he waded into the murky waters of politics unlike any U.S. Supreme Court nominee in modern history, experts say.
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October 5, 2018
Disbarred Atty Charged With Murder In Officer’s Shooting
Authorities on Friday formally charged a disbarred South Carolina lawyer with killing a police officer and wounding six other law officers during a shooting two days earlier, Richland County officials said.
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October 5, 2018
ABA Rethinking Kavanaugh's Rating After Senate Hearing
The American Bar Association on Friday sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee saying it has reopened its evaluation of the fitness of Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court in light of his temperament during a hearing last week.
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October 5, 2018
Calif. Malpractice Coverage Mandate Would Be No Easy Leap
A study underway in California about whether to make lawyer malpractice insurance compulsory across the nation's largest attorney population has some Golden State experts scratching their heads over whether such a plan is feasible — or even needed.
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October 5, 2018
Law360's Pro Say: What To Watch In The New High Court Term
The U.S. Supreme Court's fall term has officially kicked off and former acting U.S. Solicitor General and the current head of Jenner & Block LLP's appellate practice Ian Gershengorn joins Law360's Pro Say podcast this week to break it all down — from the most important cases, to the petitions the court could grant, and how this term might differ from last year's whirlwind.
Billable Hours Only 30% Of Attys' Day, Report Says
Why Associates Are Taking A Pay Cut To Go In-House
4 Ways Law Firms Can Bolster Their Prestige
Law Schools Struggle To Find Themselves In Post-Recession Market
Billable Hours Only 30% Of Attys' Day, Report Says
Lawyers spend about 30 percent of their day on billable hours, according to a surprising new report from practice management software Clio, with most of the rest of the day eaten up by billing, administrative tasks and looking for new clients.
Why Associates Are Taking A Pay Cut To Go In-House
In-house legal departments are continuing to snag young, talented attorneys from BigLaw firms in spite of a pay gap accentuated by a recent spate of associate raises, with nonmonetary perks luring associates away from law firms and into corporations. Here, three nonmonetary perks that lure associates away from law firms and into corporations.
4 Ways Law Firms Can Bolster Their Prestige
Gaining prestige may be one of the more challenging tasks that law firms take on, but there are a number of tactics firms can use that hold the potential to transform their image from ordinary to elite. Here, experts highlight four ways law firms can pump up their prestige.
Law Schools Struggle To Find Themselves In Post-Recession Market
Classes on blockchain and artificial intelligence. Crash courses in business and financial markets. These are a few ways law schools are preparing students for a job market that is struggling in the wake of the recession.
Editor's Picks
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The 2018 Regional Powerhouses
The law firms on Law360’s 2018 Regional Powerhouse list are handling some of the biggest deals and most high-profile courtroom battles across eight states, offering clients regional expertise and making a lasting impact on the law at the state and local level.
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The 2018 Law360 Diversity Snapshot
The 2018 Law360 Diversity Snapshot shows only incremental progress on racial and ethnic diversity in the attorney workforce. At every level of a typical law firm, minority attorney representation increased by less than a percentage point from last year’s survey.
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The 2018 Law360 Glass Ceiling Report
Women have made up over 40 percent of law school students for more than three decades, and they now make up more than half. But our annual survey of the largest U.S. law firms shows that women continue to be underrepresented at all levels.
Expert Analysis
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In Calif., Questions Remain On Law Firm Conflict Waivers
In Sheppard Mullin v. J-M Manufacturing Co., the California Supreme Court ruled last month that a law firm's failure to disclose a known conflict with another current client did not categorically disentitle the firm from recovering fees. But the court didn’t provide hoped-for guidance on how to write an enforceable advance conflict waiver, says Richard Rosensweig of Goulston & Storrs PC.
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Q&A
A Chat With Faegre Client Development Chief Melanie Green
In this monthly series, Amanda Brady of Major Lindsey & Africa interviews management from top law firms about the increasingly competitive business environment. Here we feature Melanie Green, chief client development officer at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
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Guest Feature
Tom Mesereau Talks MJ, Cosby, Unconventional Choices
Tom Mesereau may be recently recognizable as one of the attorneys who defended Bill Cosby, but his biggest claim to fame is successfully defending Michael Jackson in 2005. On the eve of what would have been the King of Pop’s 60th birthday, Randy Maniloff, of White and Williams LLP, spoke to Mesereau about his unconventional path to a remarkable career.
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Q&A
Back To School: Widener's Rod Smolla Talks Free Speech
In this new series featuring law school luminaries, Widener University Delaware Law School dean Rodney Smolla discusses teaching philosophies, his interest in First Amendment law, and arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in Virginia v. Black.
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Opinion
ABA Online Credit Increase A Step In The Right Direction
While it is commendable that the American Bar Association is liberalizing the rules on distance learning, it should go even further and leave it to the schools themselves to decide how much online learning to offer, says Martin Pritikin, dean of Concord Law School at Purdue University Global.
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New Pass-Through Deduction Will Pass Over Many Lawyers
A few weeks ago, the IRS proposed regulations related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's 20 percent deduction on qualified business income for pass-through entities. The guidance offers long-awaited clarity, but is mostly bad news for many law firms, says Evan Morgan of Kaufman Rossin PA.
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Series
Judging A Book: Fogel Reviews 'Good Judgment'
In this time of partisan conflict over judicial selection, a new book by Canadian jurist Robert J. Sharpe — "Good Judgment" — represents a refreshing, deeply thoughtful departure from binary arguments about how and why judges make decisions, says U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, director of the Federal Judicial Center.
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10 Ways To Prevent E-Discovery Woes
E-discovery is not easy, but employing these 10 strategies may help minimize future headaches, say Debbie Reynolds and Daryl Gardner of EimerStahl Discovery Solutions LLC.
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4 Key Components To New Firm Partnership Agreements
A well-drafted partnership agreement protects a law firm's founders, establishes a process for new and outgoing partners, and sets forth guidelines for navigating conflict along the way. Startup firms can begin with something less complex, but there are important elements that every agreement should include, says Russell Shinsky of Anchin Block & Anchin LLP.
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Opinion
Open The Federal Courthouses
Forget about cameras, reporters in the Manafort trial were not even permitted in the courtroom with their phones, tablets or computers. That meant no live reporting on Twitter and no emails to the newsrooms with updates. In a world focused on information and news as it happens, this is unacceptable, says trial attorney David Oscar Markus.