Law.com's weekly US Briefing brings you the pick of this week’s news, analysis and comment from the States
Malpractice suit proceeds against Paul Hastings
New York Law Journal
A New York judge has allowed a legal malpractice suit alleging faulty due diligence work by Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker to proceed. Investor Ronald Katz hired the law firm to represent him in connection with a $3m investment in a company called Humitech. Katz claims the lawyers failed to determine that Humitech was not the beneficial owner of certain mineral rights he expected to obtain, and that other collateral in the form of stocks was encumbered.
Daily Business Review
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge David C. Miller awarded $218m in legal fees on Tuesday (15 April) to Stanley and Susan Rosenblatt for years of work they put into now-defunct class action litigation against the nation's biggest cigarette markers. "I find it very reasonable," Miller said from the bench, referring to fee calculations estimating the Rosenblatts worked an average of 77 hours a week. "In fact, in some firms that would not have been acceptable billing," the judge joked before the packed courtroom.
Coke's outside counsel get diversity directive
Fulton County Daily Report
Coca Cola's legal department has created a strategy to promote diversity in the legal profession and sent a directive to its outside counsel with the inauguration of its annual award, 'Living the Values'. After reviewing diversity practices at its 18 US partner law firms, Coke chose Shook Hardy & Bacon as the first award recipient. "If you look at diversity in law firms generally, it's poor. It's very poor," Coke general counsel Geoff Kelly said. "It's still a white male-dominated profession. Changing it is quite a task."
Felony charges in Guam dropped against Greenberg Traurig
Daily Business Review
Prosecutors in Guam dropped felony charges Monday against Greenberg Traurig in a case tied to the Miami-based law firm's imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The firm agreed to refund $324,000 in lobbying fees to the Guam judiciary in exchange for the dismissal of charges of theft by deception, theft and conspiracy. Greenberg became entangled in the criminal investigation after Abramoff billed the territory for work done on projects he wasn't hired to pursue, Guam prosecutors charged.
Women law firm leaders still sparse
The National Law Journal
For the few women who run the nation's biggest law firms, it's lonely at the top. And it's getting lonelier. A small percentage of women are at the pinnacle of firms across the country, and recent departures don't bode well for the advancement of women in the profession. A number of factors contribute to the low numbers, including a disinclination to take on the managerial demands of running a multipartner shop. "It's not for the faint of heart," says Jerry Clements, who's in charge of Locke Lord.
Lawyer conduct case sparks review of contingency fee agreements
The National Law Journal
Issues raised by an attorney discipline case prompted the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to ask the court's standing advisory committee on professional conduct rules to consider changing contingency fee agreement rules. In an April 11 order, Associate Justice Margot Botsford asked the committee to consider whether a lawyer should get the client's written consent when a contingent fee agreement contains terms that "materially departs" from the state's model agreement. The court also wants guidance on whether such agreements could allow a lawyer discharged by the client before the legal matter is resolved to collect more than the fair value of the attorney's services and expenses.
A third of GCs plan to hire more in-house help
The National Law Journal
Eight-five percent of chief legal officers and general counsel find their careers rewarding despite increased corporate governance demands and sometimes tense relationships with independent auditors, according to a new Association of Corporate Counsel survey. Chief legal officers responding to the association's eighth annual survey also anticipate that nearly a third expected to add staff over the next year and that records management would be an emerging issue for in-house attorneys this year.
Criticising firm, judge denies fees in hip-hop bankruptcy
New York Law Journal
A bankruptcy judge has slammed a New York law firm for putting its own desire to be paid above the interests of its client in a Chapter 11 proceeding. The judge denied Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf any compensation for its work for hip-hop media company Source Enterprises, saying the "manner in which Windels represented the Debtor and the firm's eventual singular concentration on fees, as opposed to its role as counsel, caused harm to the debtor sufficient to support a denial of all fees sought".
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