Alternative Fees
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General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Money
Inside Straight: Professional Life Is So Easy!
Why does Mark Herrmann think professional life is so easy? Here are some of his tips on how you can make yourself an in-house star. -
Alston & Bird, Biglaw, General Counsel, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Money, Rankings
Who Represents America's Biggest Companies?
Which firms do Fortune 100 companies turn to when they’ve got bet-the-company litigation on the table? - Sponsored
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
In this CLE-eligible webinar, we’ll explore the most common accounting pitfalls and how to avoid them for your firm. -
Bankruptcy, Benchslaps, Biglaw, Billable Hours, California, Celebrities, Defamation, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Drugs, FDA, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Pro Se Litigants, Sam Sparks, Sports
Morning Docket: 07.10.12
* Dewey know how many professional firms have been allowed to stay on as advisers for the largest law firm bankruptcy in U.S. history? Six out of nine firms were permitted to continue services, but Proskauer wasn’t one of them. [Am Law Daily (sub. req.)]
* In other defunct firm news, Al Togut will be presenting Dewey & LeBoeuf’s former partners with a proposed settlement on Wednesday. You’ve been warned: prepare yourselves for some Biglaw-style bitching. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Despite reports of the billable hour going the way of the dodo bird, it looks like they’re here to stay. Right now, corporate law departments are still much more excited about alternative billing arrangements than law firms. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Judge Sam Sparks, the King of Benchslaps, dismissed Lance Armstrong’s lawsuit against the USADA in record time. That ruling came too quickly — guess it’s time to investigate judicial doping. [New York Times]
* Marc Dreier’s son, Spencer Dreier, is representing himself pro se in a defamation suit against his former college roommate. Looks like Daddy couldn’t spring for his kid’s lawyer while he was in the clink. [Bloomberg]
* A California woman claims that the Food and Drug Administration’s methods regarding sperm donations are unconstitutional. Why should she have to go to an intermediary to get sperminated? [Huffington Post]
* Do you smell what The Rock is cooking? It’s not exactly something to be proud of. Actor Dwayne Johnson is listed as a “co-conspirator” in a $1.8M fraud lawsuit that’s been filed by a South Florida family. [NBC Miami]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Crowell & Moring, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: The Way of the Future
A Biglaw partner says the billable hour's halcyon days may be numbered... -
American Bar Association / ABA, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Christopher Christie, Law Schools, Money, Morning Docket, Murder, New Jersey, Prostitution, Southern New England School of Law/Umass
Morning Docket: 04.16.12
* * The harsh realities of post-recession practice: will Biglaw leaders have to resort to alternative billing practices in order to survive? Well, they better, or else they’re “not going to have a law firm for very long.” [Washington Post]
* I don’t think “secret service” means what you think it means. Listen up, agents, prostitution might be legal in much of Columbia, but it makes America look bad when you can’t afford a $47 hooker. [New York Post]
* Jessica Recksiedler, the judge assigned to oversee George Zimmerman’s case, may have a conflict of interest thanks to her husband. Somebody’s getting banished from the bedroom this week. [Bloomberg]
* Law firms with ties to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have seen record profits compared to their take under Jon Corzine’s rule. That said, even if he called them “idiots,” it was totally worth it. [Star-Ledger]
* UMass Law is being reviewed for accreditation by the American Bar Association, and opponents are throwing some major shade. As if Dean Ward’s scandalous resignation wasn’t enough. [South Coast Today]
* Is this house haunted as a matter of law? That’s what this New Jersey couple is hoping that a judge will say about their rental home. Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened in the tri-state area. [ABC News]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Britney Spears, Celebrities, Copyright, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Divorce Train Wrecks, General Counsel, john quinn, Morning Docket, Pornography, Sex Scandals, United Kingdom / Great Britain, William Burck
Morning Docket: 04.09.12
* The billable hour may be far from dead, but last year, 61% of general counsel worked out alternative fee arrangements with outside counsel, including counsel from elite (read: Biglaw) firms. [Wall Street Journal]
* Dewey need to take lessons on revenge from this firm? John Altorelli, the D&L defector who spilled all the beans to the Am Law Daily, was blasted on Page Six this weekend. More on this to come later today. [New York Post]
* CHECK YOU LATERALS: recent Quinn Emanuel hires William Burck, Paul Brinkman, and Andrew Schapiro, as well as name partner John Quinn, have entered appearances on behalf of Megaupload. [Am Law Daily]
* Copyright infringement suits over porn downloading involving some 3,500 defendants were dismissed because the plaintiffs’ attorney, Terik Hasmi, couldn’t get it in legally in Florida. [National Law Journal]
* In England, there’s no such thing as a no-fault divorce, but instead, you can get one for “unreasonable behavior” — behavior like malicious service of tuna casserole, and speaking only in Klingon. [New York Times]
* This gives “I’m a Slave 4 U” some new meaning. Britney Spears’s fiancé, Jason Trawick, is trying to start their impending rocky marriage off on the right foot. He’ll soon be her co-conservator. [New York Daily News]
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Billable Hours, Money, Small Law Firms
The Practice: Setting, Earning, and Keeping Fees in Small Law Firms
How should lawyers at small law firms go about setting, earning, and keeping their fees? -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Litigators, Money, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Creating The Wrong Incentives
When we create rules, we want people to follow them. When we build incentives into rules, we want people to be motivated by those incentives. But the rule-makers cannot foresee all of the consequences of the rules they create. In the end, we're counting on people to act in good faith and use common sense. Will that work? - Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms. -
4th Circuit, ACLU, Akin Gump, Biglaw, Career Alternatives, Crowell & Moring, Drugs, Elena Kagan, Health Care / Medicine, Morning Docket, SCOTUS, Solo Practitioners, Supreme Court, Torture, Wall Street
Morning Docket: 01.24.12
* 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] * […]
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Billable Hours, Boutique Law Firms, Money, Small Law Firms
From Biglaw to Boutique: Working for Free
When Tom Wallerstein started his firm, several mentors gave him the same advice: Don’t work for free. It’s easy to see the problem with working for free. Giving away what you’re trying to sell isn’t exactly in the business plan. Unfortunately, this sage advice can only really be learned the hard way, through experience. Even if your gut tells you that taking on that client is a bad idea, this can be surprisingly tempting to a new firm or solo practice.... -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Books, Celebrities, Crime, Fabulosity, Fashion, Fashion Is Fun, Food, Lawyerly Lairs, Real Estate, Small Law Firms
An Afternoon With Ed Hayes, Celebrated Litigator and Memoirist
What draws people to the practice of law? Some do it for the paycheck, some do it for the prestige, and some do it for the excitement and fun of it all. Veteran New York litigator Edward Hayes belongs firmly in the final camp. Although he has amassed fame and fortune over almost four decades of practicing law, his legal career reflects a quest for adventure. And what adventures Hayes has had.... -
Billable Hours, Crime, Hotties, Prostitution, Sex, Sex Scandals, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, Trials
Reema Bajaj Is Going All the Way
Next week, Reema Bajaj, the comely Illinois attorney who has been accused of prostitution, will celebrate her 26th birthday. (You can look up her date of birth on the DeKalb County criminal docket.) But how happy will that birthday be? There's a cloud looming over this lovely lawyer.... -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Money
Inside Straight: Packaging Flotsam and Jetsam
Admit it: Your corporation has a lot of legal flotsam and jetsam. This is probably true no matter what business you’re in. On the corporate side, you have routine business transactions, and you may well handle those in-house. On the litigation side, you have a bunch of routine cases that pose little risk to the […]
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
Generative AI In Legal Work — What’s Fact And What’s Fiction?
Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
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Billable Hours, Law Firm Mergers, Small Law Firms
Size Matters: Small Firms Growing In This Economy
How are small law firms doing in a still-challenging economy? Better than you might expect, according to the results of a new survey. -
Billable Hours, Practice Pointers, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: Pricing Legal Services in Eight Easy(ish) Steps
So Lat calls me up all excited about some Biglaw Midsummer Bonus or something, which I totally ignore, and also about some hysterical dicta that Judge Kozinski wrote, which I also ignore (although it probably was pretty funny), and then he starts asking me about my law career. Which, you know, ended. And he points […] -
Billable Hours, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: The Real Reason for Timesheets
What did you do yesterday? I’m assuming you went to work. Did you put in a full day? Great. Let’s assume you got started around 9:00, took about an hour for lunch, and signed off at 7:00. Maybe for you that’s a light day, or maybe that’s a long day. Doesn’t matter. So that means […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, General Counsel, In-House Counsel
Inside Straight: Alternative Fee Agreements For Beginners
Egad! The General Counsel just announced that your target for next year will be to handle 20 percent of all outside legal spend on an alternative fee basis! What do you do? You can’t just do flat fee agreements! What happens if you agree to pay too much, and you’ve given away your client’s money? […] -
Non-Sequiturs
Non-Sequiturs: 03.14.11
* “How can I keep other people from stealing my idea?” If you’re hoping to do so through copyright law, good luck. [Law of Fashion] * Howrey CEO Robert Ruyak blamed alternative fee arrangements for contributing to Howrey’s downfall, but Jay Shepherd isn’t buying it. [The Client Revolution] * Speaking of Howrey, former partners have […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Boutique Law Firms, BuckleySandler, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners
A Hot New Trend: Leaving Biglaw to Start Your Own Firm
People are talking about an interesting Slate article entitled “Leaving Big Law Behind: The many frustrations that cause well-paid lawyers to hang out their own shingles.” It’s currently the most-read piece on the site. But it’s actually quite similar, even down to some of the sources, to an article that appeared a few days earlier […] -
Attorney Misconduct, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Litigators, Malpractice, Partner Issues, Susman Godfrey, Trials
Ex-Client Sues Debevoise & Plimpton for $55 Million
Is suing a former client for unpaid bills a wise idea? Maybe not. As John Marquess, president of Legal Cost Control, told the New York Law Journal, “If I were advising any law firm, I would tell them suing a client over fees is a no-win situation. It’s going to get you adverse publicity you […]