Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson is reducing administrative staff in New York and Washington. The reductions, which a spokeswoman said were less than 10 percent of 730 staffers firmwide, resulted from the law firm's review of its administrative resources and staffing requirements.[...]

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has shot down class action law firm Milberg's bid to boost its attorney fees from the settlement of shareholder litigation against Nortel Networks Corp. On appeal, Milberg said the lead plaintiff in the case had consented to an 8.5 percent award -- or [...]

Each year, The American Lawyer's annual survey of law firm libraries highlights the challenges librarians have faced over the past year. They have seen the nature of their work evolve; many now spend as much time assisting with competitive intelligence as with legal research.[...]

Calling an employee a "stupid fag" just once is grounds for a prima facie case of hostile workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, a New Jersey appeals court has ruled. The panel on Wednesday reinstated a gay man's suit against his former employer, Merrill Lynch. The judges invoked the federal [...]

William Perlstein, the co-managing partner of WilmerHale, says a False Claims Act case the firm worked on for nearly 10 years was a success, despite this week's decision by a federal judge, which cut the law firm's legal fees. Perlstein says that despite the decision by Chief Judge Royce Lamberth [...]

JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley will spend more than $7 billion to buy back auction-rate securities in a settlement announced Thursday. The deal ends investigations by the SEC and several states' attorneys general into false claims made by the two firms. At issue was the firms' continuing effort to bill [...]

Reed Smith has denied any overstaffing or fee churning in an employment discrimination case it handled for a nonprofit client, according to a response to a suit that the religious nonprofit filed against the law firm. The Bair Foundation alleged it was excessively charged for its legal representation in a [...]

A Philadelphia judge threw out a law firm's claims against its legal malpractice insurers and the law firm hired to represent the plaintiff in the underlying case. The judge said the case did not hold up because law firm Cordisco Bradway & Simmons neglected to tell their insurers when signing [...]

The JPMorgan-Bear Stearns merger litigation has been relatively quiet in recent months -- but on Monday, New York Judge Herman Cahn held a summary judgment hearing that spiced up a quiet August day. The case in question was brought by shareholders claiming that Bear Stearns and its directors breached their [...]

Cozen O'Connor has won a partial victory in its court battle for access to government documents the firm says it needs to pursue a massive lawsuit brought by insurers against the government of Saudi Arabia and Islamic charities for allegedly helping to finance al-Qaida prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist [...]

A bid to relax ethics rules concerning conflicts of interest was rejected by one vote at the ABA House of Delegates meeting Tuesday. The change would have relaxed safeguards regarding attorneys moving from one law firm to another, enabling a firm to "screen" an incoming attorney from its other attorneys. [...]

An attorney who quit her job after returning from maternity leave is suing her former law firm for allegedly cutting her salary while she was pregnant and for creating a "hostile environment." Jacquelyn Todaro, a former associate at Siegel Fenchel & Peddy in Garden City, N.Y., claims she was discriminated [...]

A Miami judicial candidate is getting extra attention due to his appearance in a YouTube video promoting a rogue organization that has rolled out its own currency and attempted to seize two Bank of America branches. On the video, Mario Garcia is shown introducing himself as a "chief master independent [...]

With the repercussions of the credit crunch creating a slowdown in finance, real estate and big-deal work, several law firms have unloaded attorneys and have done so under the scrutiny of news outlets eager to report the bad news. But in relative terms, the news might not be all that [...]

Nicholas Fletcher graduated with an LL.B. from Bristol University in 1983 and has been with Clifford Chance -- the world's largest law firm by revenue -- ever since. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Englishman crossed the channel and set up shop in Warsaw, where he became the [...]

A paralegal who defied a policy that banned smoke breaks for hourly employees was fired legally, a New York appeals court ruled Thursday. A partner in the Rochester law firm said the policy started to be enforced after some breaks were drawn out to half an hour, and one employee [...]

A New York federal judge has allowed sex discrimination claims to proceed against an intellectual property law firm that fired an associate two days after she complained in an e-mail to partners that the firm's women lawyers were being "relegated to non-partnership track support roles." The judge also found that [...]

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown out a summary judgment win for Duane Morris in a lawsuit alleging that one of the law firm's partners bungled a trademark infringement case involving an LSAT test-prep company. The panel found that the federal district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction in [...]

Starting in mid-January 2009, New York will bar personal injury or wrongful death insurers from disclaiming coverage due to a late notice of claim, filed within two years of an accident, unless insurers were "materially prejudiced" by the delay. The new law also allows injured parties, where coverage is disclaimed [...]

Hit hard in recent years by the rise of Google, the evolution of law firm Web sites and the emergence of competing Internet-based legal directories and ratings services, 140-year-old Martindale-Hubbell is giving itself a technological face-lift in a bid to remain vital. In addition to forming a partnership with the [...]

The ex-Sullivan & Cromwell associate who brought a highly publicized sexual orientation discrimination suit against his former firm has been hired by Clifford Chance. Aaron B. Charney will join the British law firm's New York office as a fifth-year mergers and acquisitions associate. Charney's ability to land another law firm [...]

It is a cliche to say that in-house lawyers and their private practice counterparts see things differently, but anyone who believes that the modern profession is overcoming the client/adviser divide should simply discuss conflicts. A reminder of how great the gap is on this sensitive matter comes from a recent [...]

Kilpatrick Stockton's IT team takes a multipronged approach to a greener law firm, with Web and videoconferencing to reduce travel; a software-based cost recovery system; systems to manage copiers, printers and scanners and other hardware; server virtualization; and e-billing.[...]

A common provision found in many law firm partnership agreements can have calamitous results, particularly when combined with the competing fiduciary duties partners owe to their partners and clients. Such provisions often place the departing partner in a state of limbo because during this interim period the rights and obligations [...]

Allen & Overy continues to sit ahead of rivals in global project financing by advising on the largest number of deals for the first half of 2008. Infrastructure Journal research shows the Magic Circle law firm advised on 36 deals worth a combined total of $30.5 billion. Clifford Chance fell [...]