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Is the End of the Tunnel Near for Law Firms?
The Legal Intelligencer
The past year was unprecedented for the legal industry when it came to the spike in tough decisions law firms had to make, but there could be light at the end of the tunnel. According to the responses from the PaLAW 2009's 14th annual Managing Partners Survey, law firms across Pennsylvania conducted layoffs and instituted cost-cutting measures with greater frequency than ever before. But the overwhelming majority of the responding managing partners predict that will be the end of some of those trends.
Ga. Judge, DA Declare Economic Crisis in Fulton County
Fulton County Daily Report
At a joint press conference last week, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Doris L. Downs and District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. declared an "economic state of emergency" looming over the Georgia county's justice system that could mean the dismissal of almost 1,000 employees. Downs said that the various segments of the county's criminal justice system were informed Nov. 16 that a $146 million shortfall in Fulton County coffers meant those departments must cut 25 percent of their 2010 budgets.
Robins Kaplan Launches IP Monetization Group
The National Law Journal
Amid weak demand for both corporate and intellectual property legal work, Minneapolis-based Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi has formed a new group with lawyers from both disciplines to help clients make money from their patent portfolios. The firm's strategic IP monetization group is a brainchild of the business group, said John Houston, who chairs the business department and leads the new group. The idea behind the group is to help companies squeeze more value from patents without using litigation, he said.
Seyfarth Latest to Cut First-Year Associate Pay
The American Lawyer
Seyfarth Shaw is cutting associate salaries by 5 percent to 10 percent for all first-years who start in 2010, according to J. Stephen Poor, the firm's chairman and managing partner. The firm declined to comment beyond a statement Poor released in which he tied the salary reductions to "pressure" its clients are feeling to cut costs. The announcement came on the same day Seyfarth informed half of its 16 incoming first-years scheduled to start in January that they would not start until October 2010.
Sutherland to Jettison Lockstep Associate Pay
Fulton County Daily Report
Sutherland will shift from lockstep associate compensation to a performance-based system in January. The firm's roughly 175 associates will be grouped into three tiers, with advancement and pay increases pegged to their mastery of various skills. "The driving force in the change is to be able to communicate to the client that an associate has a certain level of skills, and that's what you're paying for," said the firm's professional development director. "Now, the person is not a fourth-year just through inertia."
Online Federal Clerkship Applications at All-Time High
The National Law Journal
The federal judiciary saw a huge spike in online applications for clerkships from last year, according to a release from the judiciary. The Web site used by about two-thirds of all federal judges to find clerks saw 401,576 electronic applications between Oct. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2009. That's a 66 percent increase from that time period last year, when 241,529 applications were turned in. The applications came from only 10,722 applicants this year, meaning each applied for an average of about 38 clerkships.
Navigating Big Law's Complicated Power Structure
Fulton County Daily Report
Big Law is governed by many unspoken social rules, says The Snark, and what is acceptable behavior often depends on where you fall in the Big Law hierarchy. The Snark, no anthropologist, nevertheless attempts to provide some meaningful guidance on the basic power structure and how it plays out in specific situations. A good rule of thumb is that Power Partners at the top can do whatever they want. The rest just need to pay attention and follow the example of those who have survived and are upwardly mobile.
Another Am Law IP Partner Leaves for Plaintiffs Firm
The American Lawyer
It seems large plaintiffs firms aren't done recruiting patent lawyers to their ranks. New York's Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann announced recently that former WolfBlock and Cozen O'Connor IP partner Joshua Raskin is joining the firm. Raskin's move follows similar lateral hires in recent years. Raskin found that at Cozen, a viable patent litigation practice was difficult to build given the constant pressure of the billable hour. "None of this is a knock on my former firms," Raskin says of his move.
Skadden Matches Cravath, Cleary Bonus Numbers
The American Lawyer
After doubling the bonus figures set by Cravath, Swaine & Moore last year, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom will this year match Cravath (and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton) by giving out a bonus that represents a sharp cut for younger associates.
Survey Finds Revenue, Profits Down at Law Firms
New York Law Journal
During the third quarter of this year, gross revenue among law firms industrywide fell by 6.9 percent and net income by 6.1 percent, according to a new survey by Wells Fargo Corp.'s Wachovia Legal Specialty Group. "What that tells you is there is going to be a lot more riding on the fourth quarter," said Jeff Grossman, national managing director at Wachovia. The survey was of 131 firms nationally, 50 percent coming from the Am Law 100 and with at least 10 in each region of the country.
Ditching the Billable Hour: 'Everyone Wants to Do It'
Corporate Counsel
More companies are paying their outside counsel off the clock, according to the Hildebrandt 2009 Law Department Survey. Just over half of the 231 companies surveyed said they either have started or will start negotiating non-hourly billing arrangements with their outside counsel. The results weren't surprising to Lauren Chung, director of Hildebrandt's law department consulting practice and the survey's editor. "Everyone wants to do it," she says. "But the question is: to what extent?"
Law School Ferry Commute Leads to Class Action Bid
The Connecticut Law Tribune
Little did Robert J. Peragine know that his commute to law school would lead to a case that could soon become a $8.7 million class action. During his ferry rides to Connecticut, other passengers saw him studying his law books and alerted him to a gripe they had over surcharges that didn't seem to benefit passengers. After a district court ruled that the surcharges were unconstitutional, and awarded damages to an individual passenger, Peragine knew there was a potential class involving all the other passengers.
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