... lire la suite
Lien du post: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/who-is-the-obama-of-law-firms/
All anyone can talk about this morning are last night’s big victories by Obama and Huckabee. Oh yeah, and Britney Spears’s meltdown too. Huckabee, a preacher, falls outside of our jurisdiction, and we’ll leave Britney’s woes to TMZ.com. So let’s look at Obama (Harvard Law ‘91). Last month the Chicago Sun-Times did a deep dive into Barack’s days as a lawyer at Miner, Barnhill & Galland. After Harvard Law, Obama returned to the Windy City and joined the small litigation firm with deep Chicago political connections. As the Law Blog noted, Obama had an offer from Sidley Austin, where he had summered, but instead chose Miner Barnhill. The story notes that as a junior associate at the small firm Obama played a behind the scenes role on the cases he worked on. It wasn’t too long ago that Obama was a lowly associate, billing out at $165 per hour and drafting legal motions, writing motions and prepping for depositions just like so many of you. “I was an associate, and a lot of my work was in the research and writing,” Obama told the Sun-Times. “I was one of the better writers. I ended up doing the more cerebral writing, less trial work,” Obama added. “That’s actually something I regret — not doing more trial work.” After three years as a full-time associate, he was elected to the State Senate. Miner offered to keep him on salary and let him open an office in Springfield. But it didn’t work out. Recalls Miner: “He’s such an honest guy. On the third day, he calls me up, ‘Jud, I’m not going to have any time here, so I don’t want to take a draw.’” So instead, Obama became “of counsel,” working out of the office during the Legislature’s summer breaks until he was elected to the U.S. Senate. The story turns up the one oral argument Obama had before the Seventh Circuit, where he volleyed with Judge Richard Posner. (Law Blog Audio Clip of the Day: Click here and listen!) Obama defended a whistleblower who was allegedly blackballed by his bosses after he reported them for fraud. The issue was whether an arbitrator could award punitive damages. Obama won and his client, Ahmad Baravati, got to keep the extra $120,000. “I found he’s a very smart, innovative, skilled, relentless advocate for his client,” Baravati told the Sun-Times. “When I met him, he reminded me of Abraham Lincoln.”
It’s been a superb year, Law Blog readers. Thanks for all your support, tips, suggestions and comments. We thought we’d say goodbye to 2007 with a little year-end quiz touching on some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the year in law. We’ll have the answers on Wednesday. Have a joyous and safe new year. All the best to you and your loved ones in 2008! 2. Which of the following law firms employs the most lawyers who are relatives? 12. Who is the only member of the Law Blog Moustache Society holding a cigar in his Web site portrait? 15. Which law firm is believed to be the world’s first to go public? 17. Illinois law professor Vic Fleischer made headlines this summer as a leading thinker on what hot-button issue? c. The taxation of private-equity firms 18. How did Barack Obama meet his wife Michelle? b. At Harvard Law School
All eyes are on Iowa today, including the Law Blog’s. We thought we’d check in with a Hawkeye State lawyer to get a bit of local flavor, and connected with Joe Gunderson, 48 years old, an Iowa politico and a partner at Gunderson, Sharpe & Walke in Des Moines. I grew up in Eldora, Iowa, a little town about an hour and a half north of Des Moines, about 3,000 people. I went to Iowa State and then to the University of Michigan Law School. I came back and went into private practice with an Iowa blue blood law firm called the Belin law firm. If there’s a Fortune 500 issue dispute or transaction in Iowa they’re in it somewhere. After that, I was a prosecutor in a county seat not far from my hometown and then came back to Des Moines and did defense work for another ten years. In 1994, I ran for attorney general on the Republican ticket and lost. In 2000, I started a law firm doing plaintiffs work, which I’d decided I enjoyed most. I also chaired Bush’s Iowa campaign in 2000. It’s fabulous because we get a rejuvenated civics lesson every four years. Our newspapers for the past few months have been filled with the political process and the issues of the day. The candidates get asked questions in Osceola about the Iraq war. In Orange City, they get asked about ethanol. In Fort Madison, they get asked about Social Security and Medicare. Just this morning, I was driving in downtown Des Moines and there were college students standing outside, underdressed in 10 degree weather, smiling and waving Obama signs. How could you be cynical about politics when you see that in the morning while driving to work. Two of them are for McCain and one is for Obama.
Happy New Year Law Blog readers! Here are the answers to the Law Blog 2007 Year-End Quiz. Thanks for playing!: 12. (b) Robert Bernhoft is the only member of the Law Blog Moustache Society holding a cigar in his Web site portrait. 15. (a) Slater & Gordon of Australia is believed to be the worlds first law firm to go public. (d) Bill Lerach said in his farewell memo to his law firm: This is the business weve chosen. 17. c. Illinois law professor Vic Fleischer made headlines this summer as a leading thinker on the hot-button issue of the taxation of private-equity firms. 18. a. Barack Obama met his wife Michelle when he was a summer associate at Sidley Austin.
Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has joined the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro as an adviser and consultant. Dickstein Shapiro supports a variety of initiatives to ensure that diversity at our Firm is embraced and enhanced. These initiatives include recruitment, retention, and mentor programs geared toward the advancement of diverse employees; a women’s leadership initiative; support for research projects focused on diversity in the legal industry; a diversity speakers series featuring respected community leaders; and scholarship opportunities for minority law students. Our commitment to building a diverse workforce is yielding positive results. Dickstein Shapiro continues to be recognized as a leader in law firm diversity by both our clients and numerous independent publications.M. Thomas Eisenstadt of the prestigious(?) Harding Institude for Freedom and Democracy and a member of John McCain's campaign team (see below), is personally horrified by this. Or maybe just horrified by transgenders. Or maybe he's just a dick. Dennis, come on, buddy. I know you can do better. I defended you in the Mark Foley scandal, and now you’re just perpetuating stereotypes of the GOP. We’re going to have enough trouble this fall defeating Obama and heading off another Democrat landslide.Eisenstadt, who has appeared on ABC’s World News, Crossfire, CBS Reports, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline and The Today Show and has been called one of the Neoconservative's "bright lights, so far appears to be the first to jump on this story. But with Michelle Malkin seeing her jihad on Rachel Ray coming to its conclusion, one can only imagine the upcoming storm of fauxtrage about to come from the right-wing-fringebot-osphere for Hastert's incredibly insensitive decision to work with a company that attempts to be sensitive.
Anway, the reason we’re blogging on Knott and Lynam is because the tax-controversy specialists have given up gigs at big firms — Baker & McKenzie and Miller & Chevalier , respectively — to pursue major tax-whistleblower cases on a full-time basis at the Ferraro Law Firm, a Florida-based plaintiffs firm. A few weeks ago, the duo filed a claim on behalf of an informant alleged that one of the world’s biggest companies underpaid its U.S. taxes by more than $2 billion. Here’s today’s WSJ story from Law Blog colleague Tom Herman. The lawyers are expoliting a year-old federal law authorizing the IRS to pay sharply higher rewards to tipsters in cases involving large amounts of money. In some cases, the reward could be as high as 30% of whatever the IRS collects. And Stephen Witlock, the head of the IRS’s whistleblower office, says the agency has received about 80 reward claims under the new law. Thinking about leaving the life of a Big Law Lackey to become an IRS Informant? Check out these newly issued agency guidelines.
Law Blog college classmate Matt Damon was recently voted People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. In 1997, in one of his first big roles, Damon played Rudy Baylor (pictured) in “The Rainmaker,” John Grisham’s story of an idealistic young lawyer taking on a powerful law firm and its big, bad insurance-company client. We’ve always wondered whether Baylor’s good looks had anything to with his being such a successful lawyer. The difference also applies within professions. Dr Hamermesh looked at the careers of members of a particular (though discreetly anonymous) American law school. He found that those rated attractive on the basis of their graduation photographs went on to earn higher salaries than their less well-favoured colleagues. Moreover, lawyers in private practice tended to be better looking than those working in government departments. O Beloved and beautiful Law Blog readers, this is a fun one. We always thought that the law was blind. Were we wrong?
Are big law firms kicking the billable hour habit? The New York Times says maybe: “Over the last few years and, most strikingly, the last few months, law firms have been forced to rethink longstanding ways of doing business, if they are to remain fully competitive. Less obvious, but potentially more dramatic, are the signs that their firms are finally becoming serious about slowing the stampede for the door. So far the change — which includes taking fresh looks at the billable hour, schedules and partnership tracks — is mostly at the smaller firms. But even some of the larger, more hidebound employers are taking notice. “There are things happening everywhere, enough to call it a movement,” said Deborah Epstein Henry, who founded Flex-Time Lawyers, a consulting firm that creates initiatives encouraging work-life balance for law firms, with an emphasis on the retention and promotion of women. “The firms don't think of it as a movement, because it is happening in isolation, one firm at a time. But if you step back and see the whole puzzle, there is definitely real change.” Ms. Henry's proposal came at the end of last year, when firms had already started backing away from the billable hour. Some have gone so far as to eliminate it. The Rosen law firm in Raleigh, N.C., one of the largest divorce firms on the East Coast, did so this year, instead charging clients a flat fee. Other firms are making smaller changes. Strasburger & Price, a national firm based in Dallas, announced last October that it was decreasing the hours new associates were expected to log, to 1,600 from 1,920 annually. (Lest you think those lawyers will be able to go home early, however, note that newcomers will now be asked to spend 550 hours a year in training sessions and shadowing senior lawyers.)” I think ideas like flex-time and flat rate pricing can be better for lawyers and clients. Flat rate pricing makes it easier for clients to budget for legal costs and compare prices among firms. Flex-time makes it easier to retain attorneys beyond 4-7 years. However, I’m sure there will be resistance. After all, lawyers and clients have been talking about this for at least 30 years.
With his failed presidential bid over, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani plans to “decompress” for awhile and then resume work at Bracewell & Giuliani, his Houston-based law firm. Last year, the firm paid Giuliani approximately $4 million, and he had collected $89,000 in contributions from Bracewell partners and employees.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about retailers who hire law firms to engage in something called "civil recovery," in which alleged shoplifters are harassed into paying thousands... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]