Slater & Gordon

  • Morning Docket: 02.07.18
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 02.07.18

    * Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, claims that it isn’t planning to conduct any layoffs in the wake of its latest operations review. The firm, which once found itself on the verge of insolvency and is now owned by a hedge fund, is no stranger to conducting massive layoffs. [The Australian]

    * Andrews Kurth continues to lose lawyers left and right, with a group of up to 25 attorneys from its public finance group in Texas soon expected to defect to Orrick. How’s that merger talk with Hunton & Williams going these days? [American Lawyer]

    * Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein will be delivering the commencement address at Campbell Law’s graduation ceremony this spring. At this rate, given how much the president likes him, let’s see if he’s still Deputy AG come May. [News & Observer]

    * ASU Law is on track to receive a record-breaking number of applications for the upcoming academic year. According to LSAC, ASU is one of only four law schools in the country to have seen an increase in applications of 50 percent of more. [ASU Now]

    * “Jane Doe,” the New Hampshire woman who won the $560 million Powerball lottery last month, has filed suit against the state’s Lottery Commission in an attempt to remain anonymous. Now that she’s a multimillionaire, she doesn’t want to risk the “significant invasion of privacy” of her name being released. [USA Today]

  • Non-Sequiturs: 10.13.16
    Non-Sequiturs

    Non-Sequiturs: 10.13.16

    * Workplace safety — especially when it deals with beloved actor Harrison Ford — is no laughing matter. And a Disney subsidiary is paying ~$2 million as a result. [io9]

    * A look at the oral argument in Peña-Rodriguez v. Colorado. [Slate]

    * This whole “publicly traded company” thing isn’t working out so great for Slater & Gordon. [Law and More]

    * A new summons for Governor Chris Christie over Bridgegate. [Huffington Post]

    * Despite SCOTUS ruling, there haven’t been many Hobby Lobby copycats. [Politico]

    * Copyright suit over the classic “Who’s On First” routine stays dead. [Hollywood Reporter]

  • Morning Docket: 10.13.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 10.13.16

    * According to a new survey published by legal search firm Major Lindsey & Africa, on average, female Biglaw partners make 44 percent less than male Biglaw partners, and the pay disparity is largely due to who receives origination credit for business. We’ll have more on this study later today. [DealBook / New York Times]

    * Uh-oh! This Australian law firm may be going even further down under… Following a restructuring and several rounds of layoffs, Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, has found itself on the receiving end of a class-action securities case on behalf of its shareholders over its continually tumbling share prices. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * “Today’s ruling marks an end to Mr. Paxton’s almost year-long attempt to avoid being judged by a jury of his peers.” Even though a federal judge tossed out similar charges last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will face trial on state securities fraud charges. Paxton’s lawyers plan to appeal the ruling to a state appellate court. [Big Law Business]

    * The last time your jeans were cool was when they were a lyric in “My Humps”: After falling out of fashion, True Religion has hired Kirkland & Ellis to explore some debt restructuring options. With about $500 million in debt to deal with, the company may have to file for bankruptcy or hope for kind negotiations with its lenders. [Reuters]

    * “What is he thinking? Already his conduct is going to make him a pariah in many law school contexts — and this just fuels the flames.” Former Berkeley Law Dean Sujit Choudhry’s next court hearing for his racial discrimination case is on November 3. What is the law school’s latest argument against his claims? [San Francisco Chronicle]

    * Jack Greenberg, former leader of NAACP Legal Defense Fund, RIP. [New York Times]

  • Morning Docket: 05.04.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 05.04.16

    * At long last, the ABA has released the final version of its employment statistics for the law school class of 2015. Ten months after graduation, 59.2 percent of the class was employed in long-term, full-time jobs where bar passage was required, but there’s been a sharp decline in the number of those jobs since 2014. We’ll have more on this later. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called probate: Earlier this week, Judge Kevin Eide appointed Bremer Trust National Association as the special administrator of music icon Prince’s estate. Prince is said to have died without a will, but all of his presumptive heirs agreed to the appointment. [Big Law Business]

    * “[I]n all 50 states, gay couples are allowed to adopt kids, as it should be.” Since Mississippi failed to timely appeal a ruling striking down its ban on same-sex adoption as unconstitutional, same-sex adoption is now permitted across America. Let’s celebrate all of the children who will soon be welcomed into good, loving homes. [BuzzFeed News]

    * Australian law firm Slater & Gordon, the biggest firm Down Under and the world’s first law firm to be publicly traded, narrowly avoided going under after a $700 million loss thanks to a deal with its bankers. Beware, stock market bidders, because the firm still remains a “high-risk investment” due to its “uncertainty.” [Sydney Morning Herald]

    * The University of Tulsa John Rogers Hall College of Law is deciding whether or not it should change its name to remove a founder who had ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Law school administrators have already recommended that Rogers’s name be removed, and after some discussion, trustees will vote on the proposal later today. [Associated Press]

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  • Morning Docket: 04.01.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 04.01.16

    * According to a statement released by the RIAA, hundreds of musicians and songwriters — like Katy Perry, for example — have called on Congress to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Safe-harbor clauses are absolutely killing the artists’ bottom line, and something must be done. [THR, ESQ. / Hollywood Reporter]

    * “[M]any law firms have had breaches, which they’ve kept quiet.” Following the news that Cravath and Weil Gotshal had been victims of data breaches, Edelson, a plaintiff’s side firm, announced it would be filing class-action suits against 15 major Biglaw firms with cybersecurity problems. We can’t wait to find out which ones will be on the receiving end of these complaints. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * Being the world’s first publicly traded law firm has turned out to be quite the debacle for Slater & Gordon. First, the Australian firm announced market losses of about $740 million, citing “underperformance in U.K. operations,” and now its general counsel has decided to throw in the towel after only two months on the job. Ouch. [Am Law Daily]

    * “I have lost my faith in the potential for the Law School or its curriculum to put out people who care deeply about things.” Members of Harassment/Assault Law-School Team, a student group that advocates for sexual assault victims, aren’t impressed with Harvard Law’s inaction on educating students about sexual assault. [Harvard Crimson]

    * How can we guarantee educators are being honest about graduates’ job prospects? Based on the results of the Corinthian Colleges fiasco and the Alaburda v. TJSL trial, it seems like “[s]trict disclosure rules for all schools would be better than lawsuits and government aid as a way to ensure educator honesty.” [DealBook / New York Times]

  • Morning Docket: 03.01.16
    Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 03.01.16

    * Senior White House adviser Brian Deese has assembled a crack team to help President Obama choose a Supreme Court nominee who will be able to win confirmation before an angry Senate to replace Justice Scalia. Let’s see which way the 2009 Yale Law School graduate steers this important project. [Reuters]

    * Australian law firm Slater & Gordon is feeling the pain of being the world’s first publicly traded law firm after a $958.3 million first-half loss. The firm, which is now being referred to as a “corporate catastrophe,” hopes to lay out a restructuring plan in the next few months amid the likelihood of multiple shareholder suits. [Herald Sun]

    * Texas State District Judge Julie Kocurek returned to court this week after a shooter opened fire on her in November 2015 in what police are now calling an assassination attempt. She lost a finger during the shooting, but says she feels “very lucky that is all [she] lost.” Welcome back to the bench, Your Honor! [Austin American-Statesman]

    * Sorry, FBI, but a judge has ruled that Apple doesn’t have to help the security service unlock an alleged New York drug dealer’s iPhone. This isn’t binding precedent for the tech company’s San Bernardino case, but you can bet your ass its legal team will try to convince the judge handling the order at issue that it should be considered. [NBC News]

    * If you’ve been waitlisted at the lowest-ranked law school you applied to this admissions cycle, it doesn’t mean you’ll be rejected from every other school you applied to this admissions cycle — it just means you may have to work a little bit harder on all of your letters of continued interest. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News & World Report]

    * Law firms aren’t the only businesses that go through break-ups; the communications firms that represent these elite firms apparently have rocky relationships, too. Spencer Baretz and Cari Brunelle of Hellerman Baretz Communications have split to found their own firm, and they took the entire HBC team with them when they left. [Business Wire]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.24.15

    * It’s a Christmas miracle! It may still be too early to tell, but it’s beginning to look a lot like there’s going to be an increase in law school applicants. Per LSAC, almost 3 percent more people have applied to law schools than last year at this time. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * This is why more firms don’t hold IPOs: Slater & Gordon, the first firm to go public, may face two shareholder class-action suits — one for allegedly misleading investors and the other for its terrible performance on the market. [Guardian]

    * As 2015 draws to a close, it’s very obvious that Dentons had a “transformative” year as it gobbled up law firms left and right, and 2016 will be no different. The firm has its eyes set on Japan, Korea, Chile, Argentina, Peru, and Africa. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * A Bahamian hacker almost released a celebrity sex tape, naughty photos, and television and movie scripts for an obscene price, but not to worry, because U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (S.D.N.Y.) was busy saving the world, one sex tape at a time. [New York Times]

    * UC Hastings College of Law has appointed an acting chancellor and dean in Frank Wu’s wake. Let’s welcome David L. Faigman to the world of law school administration. Hopefully he can ease the school out of its current bar exam passage funk. [UC Hastings]

    * Joe Jamail, richest lawyer in America, King of Torts and depos, RIP. [New York Times]

  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 12.18.15

    * Both Kaye Scholer partner Evan Greebel (formerly of Katten Muchin) and Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli pleaded not guilty to securities fraud charges. Now, the world is left to weep because Skhreli’s Wu-Tang album wasn’t seized. [Reuters]

    * “You are not an American because you got sworn in on a Koran.” The Hate Crimes Unit of the New York Police Department is investigating a series of threatening calls made to Judge Carolyn Walker-Diallo, Brooklyn’s first Muslim judge. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * David Lola, the contract attorney who sued Skadden and Tower Legal for overtime pay with claims he wasn’t practicing law, settled his claims for $75,000. But now we don’t know if doc reviewers are entitled to overtime pay. 🙁 [Big Law Business / Bloomberg]

    * Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, continues to watch as its stock price tumbles. The firm’s shares are now worth A$0.89 after it decided to pull its earnings guidance, and they’ve lost 90 percent of their value since April. [The Guardian]

    * That’s not how you’re supposed to examine briefs: A Maryland court commissioner was charged with visual surveillance with prurient intent and misconduct in office after allegedly using his cellphone to take an upskirt photo of a courthouse employee. [AP]

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  • Morning Docket

    Morning Docket: 11.30.15

    * While you were feasting upon turkey this Thanksgiving, Dentons — otherwise known as the largest Biglaw behemoth in the world — was busy gobbling up yet another law firm. The megafirm will combine with 33-lawyer OPF Partners out of Luxembourg. [WSJ Law Blog]

    * According to a survey from AlixPartners, over the past 12 months, GCs have reported more “bet the company” lawsuits compared to last year. Don’t get too excited, though, because growth in litigation spend hasn’t quite caught up yet. [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]

    * You really can do anything with a law degree — including things that have absolutely nothing to do with the law! Patrick Hobbs, dean emeritus of Seton Hall Law, has been tapped to become the athletics director at Rutgers University. [NJ Advance Media]

    * What would happen if one of the largest publicly traded plaintiffs firms in the world went under? Ever since its stock price plummeted by 52 percent, industry analysts have started to wonder whether Slater & Gordon is on the verge of collapse. [ABC News]

    * In the wake of the defacement of black faculty portraits and the administration’s apparent “ongoing failure” to address racism on campus, Harvard Law alumni are being asked to stop making donations to the school until changes are made. [Boston Globe]

    * One of 92-year-old Sumner Redstone’s exes filed a probate suit questioning his mental competence and ability to run Viacom and CBS. His attorney from entertainment law powerhouse Loeb & Loeb essentially called her client’s ex a gold digger. [CNBC]

  • Biglaw, Eric Holder, Google / Search Engines, Law Schools, Mergers and Acquisitions, Morning Docket, Technology, United Kingdom / Great Britain

    Morning Docket: 09.26.14

    * Solicitor General Don Verrilli may be a frontrunner to replace Eric Holder as attorney general, but the competition seems to be stiff. Kamala Harris, anyone? [USA Today]

    * FBI Director James Comey is annoyed by Apple and Google marketing their encryption prowess for privacy’s sake — it’ll “allow people to place themselves beyond the law.” [WSJ Law Blog]

    * White & Case just hopped aboard the onshore outsourcing train with its announcement that it would open a services center in Tampa, Florida. The move will create about 100 jobs, but we’d love to know how many it’s negating. [Tampa Bay Times]

    * Slater & Gordon, the world’s first publicly traded law firm, has been on an “acquisition spree” in England. Earlier this month, it picked up patent practice, and now it’s in talks with a litigation shop. [Am Law Daily]

    * “Law school is a major gamble,” and people are more informed, but that somehow isn’t stopping people from applying. This is a great article to read if you’re still considering going all in. [New York Observer]