Legal Research

If you are already an online subscriber to the LAW.COM service you should be able to click on any of the links below, sign in, and access the full text of all articles listed. A subscription to LAW.COM is needed for online access to this service.

Thompson Hine Cuts Positions, Associate Pay

The American Lawyer

Thompson Hine has told its associates and other non-partner lawyers that it will impose an across-the-board $17,500 base salary reduction. Those lawyers will, however, be able to earn back some or all of that sum as a bonus if they bill at least 1,750 hours this year. The firm also announced layoffs, eliminating the jobs of 12 associates, five paralegals and 29 secretaries. Thompson Hine is the second Am Law 200 firm in recent days to cut salaries, following Wolf Block's 10 percent reduction in associate pay.

Tough Cases Await U.S. Supreme Court Justices

The National Law Journal

The U.S. Supreme Court returns after a monthlong break to what may be potentially the term's most difficult and significant decisions affecting business, employees, the environment and civil rights. Two potential landmark cases have been granted review, one on reverse discrimination and the other involving the Voting Rights Act. If the Court strikes down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, that decision "will reverberate" throughout the country and within the Court itself, said Akin Gump's Thomas Goldstein.

Patton Boggs Overhauls Compensation System

Legal Times

Patton Boggs is overhauling its compensation plan for partners, retooling a long-held "eat-what-you-kill" system to reward partner cooperation and business development. Under the new structure, which will be phased in next year, partners will have a percentage of their pay set by a committee that will examine how well partners refer business to each other and will also weigh involvement in associate mentoring and training and whether partners nearing retirement are transferring clients to the next generation.

What Role Will ABA Have in Judicial Nominations?

Legal Times

The American Bar Association wants back inside the process for vetting nominees to the federal judiciary, and it says the White House is at least listening. Eight years ago, the incoming Bush administration reversed a longstanding policy that gave the association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary a central, privileged role in the nomination process. Committee members have described the research they did as part of that role as extremely thorough, involving at least 40 interviews per nominee.

Sources Tie Admitted Felons to Pa. Court Scandal

The Legal Intelligencer

Michael Conahan never made a secret of his relationship with Robert Kulick. Even a year ago, the former president judge of Luzerne County, Pa., and the friend of reputed mob boss William "Billy" D'Elia could be seen chatting in restaurants and bars -- the same venues where Kulick and D'Elia would meet, a former county judge said. Now, other sources have confirmed, the two admitted felons are cooperating with federal officials as they continue a probe into corruption at the courthouse Conahan used to run.

Magistrate Recommends Dropping Fraud Charge in Kuehne Case

Daily Business Review

The case against Miami attorney Ben Kuehne keeps crumbling. A federal magistrate recommended Friday that a wire and mail fraud count against Kuehne and a Colombian co-defendant be dismissed -- another embarrassing setback in the case for the Justice Department. Kuehne and Colombian attorney Oscar Saldarriaga are accused of using drug profits from the family of Colombian drug kingpin Fabio Ochoa to pay the drug trafficker's legal fees. Kuehne was hired by Ochoa's defense team to find untainted money.

Lawyer Charges IRS Retaliated Against Him for Complaint Over Agent's Practices

New Jersey Law Journal

Tax lawyer Robert Kenny says he's paying a steep price for taking on the Internal Revenue Service on behalf of clients: a retaliatory strike that has put his livelihood and his law license at risk. In a federal suit, Kenny alleges that when he complained to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration that an IRS agent was telling taxpayers to forgo representation, the IRS lodged a complaint against him. Kenny says he's gone public about the dispute to protect himself from what he calls a "Star Chamber proceeding."

Solicitor General Won't Disavow Bush Position in Controversial DNA Case

Legal Times

The solicitor general's office has turned down a request by the Innocence Project to disavow a Bush administration stance on prisoners' access to DNA evidence in post-conviction proceedings. As a result, on March 2, Neal Katyal will debut as deputy SG by arguing before the Supreme Court in support of the state of Alaska's view that prisoners have no constitutional right to obtain DNA evidence to help them prove their innocence -- even if the prisoners pay for the DNA testing themselves.

Judge Recognizes 'Hot News' Issue in Copyright Action by AP Service

New York Law Journal

Harking back to a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court decision, a New York federal judge has recognized the right of The Associated Press to claim a property right in the "hot news" it distributes, rejecting a motion to dismiss a claim brought by the AP against All Headline News for misappropriating AP breaking news and presenting it as the work of its own reporters. The AP alleged that the defendants instructed "poorly paid individuals" to edit breaking news stories from other sources for use under the All Headline News banner.

Economy Challenges Tight-Knit Gunderson

The Recorder

In Silicon Valley, many admire the staying power of Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, an emerging-companies firm that has kept all its founding partners and survived the dot-com bust. But recently, leading partners have threatened to leave, young partners are leaving, and associates have been laid off. Many are watching the 100-lawyer firm to see how it fares, since it lacks a litigation practice to counterbalance a slowdown in the work it does for startups and venture capital firms.

Dreier Firm Must Vacate Offices or Face Eviction

New York Law Journal

Save for a skeleton staff authorized to wind up the affairs of the now-bankrupt Dreier LLP, attorneys remaining at the firm's midtown Manhattan offices must leave the premises by March 4, according to a stipulation filed Thursday in the Chapter 11 proceeding against the firm. If the offices are not vacated by the agreed-upon date, the landlord may evict "all persons located within said premises."

Madoff Victims' Lawyers Establish Global Alliance in Madrid

The American Lawyer

While Bernard Madoff has the able counsel of Dickstein Shapiro litigator Ira Sorkin, lawyers for many of the disgraced investment manager's alleged victims are in the process of organizing an international network to coordinate future legal actions. On Feb. 17, the first meeting of the "Global Law Firm Alliance" was held at the offices of leading Spanish firm Cremades & Calvo-Sotelo in Madrid.

Visit International News

Adopting Wikis in Law Firms

Special to Law.com

The use of wikis in law firms follows an evolutionary path from indifference to skepticism to adoption. The rate at which a firm moves along this continuum depends on how quickly legal professionals embrace the concept that collaborative authorship can produce high-quality materials.

Visit Legal Technology

Retiree Benefit Cutbacks Roil Courts

The National Law Journal

A bad economy, aging workers and long-ago company promises of lifetime health benefits for retirees have combined to produce a spate of conflicting federal appellate standards as companies try to cut back the benefits. The 6th Circuit has embraced broad acceptance of the premise that retiree benefit rights vest if there's additional evidence outside the contract. The 7th Circuit generally assumes that benefit promises expire with the labor contract. And the 3rd and 4th circuits take an even harder line.

Visit In-House Counsel

Simpson Thacher Sends Some Associates on Year-Long Pro Bono Stints

The National Law Journal

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is sending some of its associates to year-long stints at nonprofit organizations, with the expectation that they'll return to the firm afterward. The firm is offering fellowships to 15 associates and paying them $60,000 up front. They will not remain firm employees while they work for the nonprofit, although they can keep their insurance benefits, says Simpson Thacher partner William T. Russell. He said that the move was not a result of a decrease in work for the associates.

Visit the Career Center

The Smart Solo's Guide to Joint Ventures

Texas Lawyer

Lawyers are like hounds on a hunt: Sometimes one just isn't enough. And solo practitioner Paul Schorn says just because solos are lone wolves, it doesn't mean that every now and again, they can't run with the hounds. Some cases call for a joint venture, where a team of lawyers can come at the problem from different directions to ensure success. Solos are well-suited to joint ventures due to their flexibility, but Schorn says there are some questions to ask before solos decide to don their running shoes.

Visit Small Firm Business