* First the Jones verdict, then the Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Jose Padilla’s torture lawsuit. It’s enough to make ACLUers develop bipolar disorder. [Washington Post]
* Release the Kagan! The Supreme Court rejected Freedom Watch’s motion for time to argue that Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from the Obamacare case. [CNN]
* Biglaw problems: here’s a great round-up of 2012′s law firm lawsuits, starring Akin Gump, Crowell & Moring, Dechert, and Greenberg Traurig, to name a few. [Am Law Daily]
* After dropping a lawsuit challenging their forcible eviction from Zuccotti Park, supporters of Occupy Wall Street will go back to occupying the couches in their parents’ basements. [Bloomberg]
* Not interested in being a lawyer? Check out these suggestions for “unique” career paths (i.e., ones that you could have pursued after college, with half the debt load). [U.S. News]
* Not such a great alternative fee arrangement. A prosecutor turned solo practitioner is going to jail after accepting oxycodone pills as payment from a police informant. [Tampa Bay Times]
After making our way across the country, which included stops in New York, Washington, D.C., and California, the final leg of this Career Center series on the Top Partners to Work For will cover some of the smaller legal markets.
Today we head back to the east coast to focus on Boston’s best Biglaw partners who work at the following top firms: Foley Hoag, Proskauer Rose, Skadden, Mintz Levin, Cooley, Greenberg Traurig, and Ropes & Gray.
Let’s see which partners made the cut….
Continue reading “Career Center Survey Results: Top Partners to Work For – Smaller Legal Markets (Part 1)”
A few years ago, the law firm of Nixon Peabody came up with a catchy jingle to celebrate its own fabulosity. You can listen to the song here, in case you’ve never heard it. The chorus went as follows: “Everyone’s a winner at Nixon Peabody!”
Alas, a recent lawsuit filed against Nixon Peabody by a former partner at the firm, David Tamman, does not put the firm in a very winning light. Instead, it just makes everyone look bad.
The allegations are seamy. What does Tamman allege?
Continue reading “Lawsuit of the Day: Everyone’s A Loser in Tamman v. Nixon Peabody”
Angelina Pivarnick
* The Westboro Baptist Church has announced — on an iPhone — that it will be picketing Steve Jobs’s funeral. And now I have an Alanis Morissette song stuck in my head. [Los Angeles Times]
* Price check on aisle seven. Price check on aisle seven for a divorce train wreck. People over in England need to be prepared for this now that supermarkets can sell legal services. [BBC News]
* Crowell & Moring has been slapped with an ethics complaint for suggesting that Appalachians suffer birth defects because they have family circles instead of family trees. [Am Law Daily]
* Se habla Español? Necesita un trabajo? Greenberg Traurig is expanding its ginormas practice with its 33rd office located in Mexico City. [Sacramento Bee]
* Doctors in Kentucky delivered a decapitated baby, but apparently did “nothing wrong.” [Insert completely inappropriate dead baby joke here.] [Courier-Journal]
* A former Jersey Shore star is suing over an alleged attack at a Hot Topic last year. This is only acceptable if the “dirty little hamster” was there to look for a Halloween costume. [New York Post]
* With yesterday’s decision from Pennsylvania, the game is now tied for Obamacare at the federal district court level. Come on, SCOTUS, just grant someone certiorari already. [Bloomberg]
* Keep this in mind if you’re applying to law school this year: if you’re white, it ain’t aight. Who knew that there could be “anti-white bias” in a place where everyone’s white, like Wisconsin? [National Law Journal]
* Mark McCombs, the ex-Greenberg Traurig partner who overbilled for prestige, was sentenced to six years. Not a good way to thank your town for naming a street after you. [Am Law Daily]
* An Indian restaurant is accused of forcing Indian customers to give 18% tips. Here’s a tip: don’t punch customers in the face, and maybe they’ll give you a tip on their own. [New York Daily News]
* No soup (or supplements) for you! Curtis Allgier, a Utah prisoner awaiting his murder trial, wants seconds during dinner so he can get back to his fighting killing weight. [Boston Globe]
Dennis Block
Big news out of New York today: Dennis Block, a leading mergers and acquisitions attorney, is on the move. Known for being extremely successful — but notoriously difficult to work with — Block is stepping away from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and bringing his huge book of business to Greenberg Traurig.
This Brooklyn Law School graduate proves that you don’t need to go to a T-14 school to have a great career. Block has served as counsel on several big time affairs, including Pfizer’s $68 billion Wyeth takeover, and JPMorgan’s Bear Stearns buyout.
Let’s learn more about Block’s past, and see what Cadwalader has to say about this partner’s defection….
Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Greenberg Traurig Snags a Major Player from Cadwalader”
Snoopy works from home instead of going to the MetLife Building.
This morning we reported on bedbugs at Winston & Strawn’s New York office. Alas, the problem might be much larger than we initially anticipated.
That’s because Winston & Strawn is located in the iconic MetLife building, at 200 Park Avenue in Manhattan. After this morning’s post went up, a spokesperson from Winston told us that all inquires about the bed bugs were being referred to the building’s landlord, real estate giant Tishman Speyer.
Are bedbugs crawling around the whole MetLife building? We don’t know yet; Tishman Speyer hasn’t returned our phone calls.
But if bed bugs are a threat to all the tenants of the MetLife building, there are three other law firms that could be getting very itchy…
Continue reading “MetLife Building Under Attack From Bedbugs: Four Law Firms Potentially Affected”
With fall recruiting gearing up, and the lateral market warming up, we continue our annual series of open threads about the law firms featured in the Vault prestige rankings. These threads provide ATL readers with a forum to discuss the different firms and their various strengths and weaknesses.
The end of the Vault 100 is in sight. We’re covering the firms in batches of 20 now. Here are the firms ranked #61 to #80, which will provide today’s discussion fodder:
61. Greenberg Traurig, LLP
62. Holland & Knight LLP
63. Fish & Richardson P.C.
64. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
65. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
66. Foley & Lardner LLP
67. Perkins Coie LLP
68. Nixon Peabody LLP
69. Patton Boggs LLP
70. Kaye Scholer LLP
71. Hunton & Williams LLP
72. Reed Smith LLP
73. Steptoe & Johnson LLP
74. Chadbourne & Parke LLP
75. Howrey LLP
76. Bryan Cave LLP
77. Lovells (US) [now part of Hogan Lovells]
78. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
79. Crowell & Moring LLP
80. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
This is a very eclectic group, including a few New York-centric firms, some D.C.-dominated places, and a bunch of national and even international giants.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these shops….
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 61 – 80 (2011)”
Prestige has a price. Former Greenberg Traurig partner Mark McCombs found a sucker to foot the bill for him. As we reported earlier this month, he was the village attorney to Calumet Park, Illinois. He was charged with bilking the village of over one million dollars — money he allegedly sought not for personal gain, but to impress his Chicago partners with his book of business.
Greenberg Traurig has reviewed his overbilling and discovered that it was actually in the multi-millions. The Southtown Star reports that the firm has reviewed McCombs’s billing of Calumet Park dating back to 2002, when he joined the firm, and will be returning $3.2 million to the village of Calumet Park. That takes a chunk out of Greenberg’s PPP this year.
Village records show McCombs billed the village for tens of thousands of dollars each month for work that apparently never was done. He helped himself to property tax revenue that flowed into accounts of Calumet Park’s five tax increment financing districts.
After the jump, Greenberg Traurig managing shareholder Paul Fox says there is an upside to all this, and we have an UPDATE from the firm…
Continue reading “Mark McCombs’s Overbilling Costs Greenberg Traurig $3.2 Million”
Mark McCombs is a partner at Greenberg Traurig no more. The firm cut ties with him last week when he was accused of bilking the village of Calumet Park of more than one million dollars.
A “seasoned government relations attorney focusing on state and local government issues” in the firm’s Chicago office, McCombs was Calumet Park’s economic development counsel, special village attorney (investigations), and administrative hearing officer. Not only did McCombs grow up in Calumet Park, the Village loved the guy. It even named a street after him. From the Awards & Recognitions section of his firm bio (now cached):
Honored by the Village of Calumet Park, Illinois, with the designation of “Mark McCombs Drive” in recognition of the leadership role played in the commercial redevelopment of Calumet Park’s Ashland Avenue-Vermont Street corridors.
But McCombs may have loved something more than Calumet Park: being a partner at Greenberg Traurig. He apparently wanted to impress the firm with his book of business, and so he took advantage of his devoted client, allegedly billing the tiny village more than $1 million for work he never performed. From the Chicago Tribune:
McCombs did not pocket the money, Assistant State’s Attorney John Mahoney alleged in court, but it enhanced his prestige, billable hours and opportunities for more pay at Greenberg Traurig, the downtown law firm where McCombs worked.
It didn’t take a village to unravel the scheme….
Continue reading “Partner of the Day: Mark McCombs of Greenberg Traurig Allegedly Bilks Village of One Million Dollars For Prestige’s Sake”
One of our five favorite motions of 2009 was filed by Arizona attorney Tajudeen “Taj” Oladiran. Oladiran is former Greenberg Traurig associate who filed a lawsuit against “Suntrust Bank and its pimps” for allegedly suckering him into predatory housing loans.
Taj filed a “Motion for a [sic] Honest and Honorable Court System” in his racketeering case against Suntrust before the “dishonorable” Susan Bolton. In it, Taj called Judge Bolton “a brainless coward,” not exactly the best way to win her over.
He ended the motion:
Finally, to Susan Bolton, we shall meet again you know where. :-)
Some worried that closing indicated suicidal intentions, so we tracked him down and brought you the post: Taj Lives! (And He’s Pissed).
We’re happy to report that Taj still lives. And despite his impolitic motion, he’s heading into politics. He’s filed papers to run for the Republican nomination for the Arizona attorney general race…
Continue reading “Taj Still Lives! And He’s Running for Arizona AG.”
Holy crap.
We did not Photoshop this picture. It actually appeared in a New York Times wedding announcement. Chuckle at it, if you must. But know that when you do, you’re fiddling while a venerable institution goes up in flames.
December isn’t a great month to get married, and this December was particularly bad. Still, our final Legal Eagle Wedding Watch couples for 2009 have some surprisingly strong Biglaw credentials. Here they are:
1. Nicole Schreier and Matthew Kaplan
2. Rachel Lu and Jimmy Gao
3. Elizabeth Cronise and Joe McLaughlin
Check out these couples’ bios, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Rabbit, Rabbit”
Tajudeen Oladiran is an Arizona attorney who is currently of counsel at Aguilera International Counsel. A Biglaw refugee, he spent a year at Greenberg Traurig, as well as a year working for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
Given those credentials, we were surprised that he would file one of the craziest motions we’ve come across here at Above The Law.
From the U.S. District Court of Arizona:
It is a motion in a case that Tajudeen Oladiran and his wife filed against Suntrust Bank for racketeering. We gather from the motion that Oladiran was not pleased with the ruling by “the Dishonorable Susan R. Bolton” (as she’s identified in the caption). Oladiran wrote: “I just read your Order and I am very disappointed in the fact that a brainless coward like you is a federal judge.”
A lesson on how not to address the court, after the jump.
Continue reading “Motion of the Day: “We shall meet again you know where.””
We’re now into the back half of the brand new Vault law firm rankings. Just like last year, we worry about a proliferation of “TTT” accusations in the comment threads. But such terms of art can miss the positives of many of the firms in this section of the Vault rankings. Here’s the list:
51. Fulbright & Jaworski
52. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
53. Morgan Lewis & Bockius
54. McDermott Will & Emery
55. Alston & Bird
56. Bingham McCutchen
57. Fish & Richardson
58. Dechert
59. Greenberg Traurig
60. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
We have already extensively talked about the Morgan Lewis situation. Let’s move on to other firms after the jump.
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 51 – 60 (2010)”
The number of law firms canceling their 2010 summer associate programs continues to climb. Here are the latest additions to the growing list:
1. McCarter & English: Managing partner Eric Wiechmann confirmed to ATL that the firm will not be holding a summer associate program in 2010. In addition, he confirmed that incoming associates won’t be starting until December 1, 2009 (which, all things considered, is pretty good).
(Before some of you say you’ve never heard of McCarter, please note that it’s one of the largest firms in New Jersey — a sizable legal market. In addition to its main office in Newark, the firm also has offices in Boston, Hartford, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia and Wilmington. Recently it made news by hiring Harley Lewin, a leading IP lawyer and trademark guardian, from Greenberg Traurig.)
2. McGuire Woods: This is a firm that needs no introduction. It’s quite sizable, with 900 lawyers across 18 offices worldwide, and it’s #61 on the Am Law 100 list.
A spokesperson for McGuire Woods confirmed what we’ve heard from various law student tipsters: the firm is “likely to reduce the number of offices in which we have our summer programs.” It has not, however, made a final decision on which offices won’t be hosting summers. (One reader predicts the firm won’t have summer associates outside of Richmond, Charlotte, and Chicago.)
But there’s some additional interesting backstory here.
Continue reading “Canceled Summer Program Watch – The ‘Mc’ Edition:
McCarter & English, McGuire Woods (selected offices)”
Based on a Washington Post article profiling the Five O’Clock Club, an outplacement and career coaching company, we constructed a Biglaw blind item:
Which New York law firm, having already completed two rounds of layoffs, has hired the Five O’Clock Club to help it carry out additional layoffs (in August, October, and November)?
After we ran the item, several firms came forward to declare they’re not the firm in question. And now they’re joined by one more: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
A spokesperson for Morgan Lewis contacted ATL to say that it isn’t the firm with layoffs in the works. In fact, Morgan Lewis claims that it shouldn’t even be on the shortlist of contenders.
Read why — and check out the list of the Five O’Clock Club’s clients, including some very prestigious law firms that haven’t publicly admitted to layoffs — after the jump.
Continue reading “Blind Item Follow-Up: Morgan Lewis Also Denies Layoffs
(Plus a look at the Five O’Clock Club’s law firm clients.)”
It has taken us a while, but Above the Law is now able to confirm that Greenberg Traurig has decided to cut salaries of its summer and first year associates.
As with McGuire Woods and Allen Matkins, first year associates are looking at a 10% pay cut. A Greenberg spokesperson characterized the news in this statement to Above the Law:
First-year associates will start between September and January depending
on the city and the practice area.
We have made changes to our summer associate and first-year compensation structure that emphasize our focus on the needs of our clients, performance, and that are appropriate in the current business environment. Any changes are specific to local markets and confidential.
As in any other year, our focus is to provide top quality legal service to our clients and support the career development of our associates.
After the jump, we look at other Greenberg cost cutting measures.
Continue reading “Greenberg Traurig: Cutting Salaries of First Years and Summers”
A few weeks ago, we heard Greenberg Traurig was losing IP partners in Orange County. Obviously, this is not the time to be losing IP partners. As one tipster put it:
Greenberg Traurig’s Orange County office lost its Intellectual Property practice last week when Mark Krietzman and Peter Gluck jumped ship to join Luce Forward and took their associates with them. Their practice was the only profitable practice in GT’s OC office for fiscal ’08 and fiscal ’09.
While Greenberg declined to comment for this story, Luce Forward did confirm hiring these partners.
We imagine Luce Forward could use the shot in the arm. The firm recently laid off 27 people and canceled its 2009 summer program. But adding this practice group should help.
But what does this mean for Greenberg? Some interesting reports after the jump.
Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Greenberg Traurig Loses IP Partners, And Maybe More”
Greenberg Traurig is trying to tighten up their administrative ship. The kind of normal, everyday instances of over clocking that many administrative assistants engage in are being directly addressed by management. Secretaries and administrative assistants received the following memo earlier this week.
The per attorney cost for overtime in the Chicago office is higher than the firm average and significantly higher than some offices. You may think that working an extra 15 -30 minutes per week is not significant. It is. We have to reduce our number and we are instituting the following guidelines. The guidelines are simply stated and easy to achieve. If you have questions, we are happy to discuss them with you.
In normal times, the guidelines (printed in full after the jump) would seem a bit petty. Here’s one example:
Take your full lunch hour and clock out BEFORE you go to pick up or purchase your lunch.
Yes, everybody knows that people should do that, but normally it wouldn’t be such a huge deal that you have to issue an entire memo about it. At least you shouldn’t have to use the excessively formal “All-Caps” method of communication.
But in these times of significant economic stress, 15-30 minutes of pay a day could literally save jobs. Everybody really should be looking for ways they can become more cost efficient.
Read the full firm memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Secretaries Being Asked to Cut Costs: Could it Save Jobs?”
In this economic climate, bankruptcy partners are worth their weight in gold. Expect to see more lateral movement in the bankruptcy bar, as marquee names get courted by firms seeking greater presence in the area.
Here’s what could be the start of a trend: Bruce Zirinsky (pictured), co-chair of the financial restructuring department at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, is moving from CWT to Greenberg Traurig. Joining him is fellow bankruptcy partner John Bae.
In response to inquiries from ATL, spokespersons at Cadwalader and Greenberg Traurig issued this joint statement:
We can confirm that Bruce Zirinsky and John Bae have tendered their resignation at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and have accepted offers to join Greenberg Traurig shortly.
Congrats to Greenberg Traurig on their new hires. GT seems to be growing despite the downturn, as reflected in their most recent press releases.
As for Cadwalader, all’s fair in love and lateral moves. The firm is losing two bankruptcy partners, at a time when they’re in high demand. But recall that, back in March 2007, CWT raided another firm for Chapter 11 champs of its own: George Davis, Deryck Palmer, John Rapisardi and Andrew Troop, who left the storied bankruptcy group of Weil Gotshal for Cadwalader.
Reflections on what the Zirinsky and Bae defections mean for CWT, after the jump.
Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Bruce Zirinsky and John Bae from Cadwalader to Greenberg Traurig”
