ABA Journal Weekly Newsletter: Top Ten Stories of the Week

Week ending August 15, 2008
Verdicts Most Plaintiffs Who Reject Settlement Offers Do Worse at Trial
Aug 11, 2008, 06:49 am CDT
“The gamble of going to trial doesn’t pay off for most plaintiffs, according to a study of more than 2,000 civil suits from 2002 to 2005. Sixty-one percent of plaintiffs who turned down settlement offers ended up faring worse at trial, according to a New York Times story on the.”.

Campaign Law Lawyer Who Paid Rent of Edwards’ Mistress ‘Shocked’ to Learn of Affair
Aug 13, 2008, 05:46 am CDT
“The Dallas lawyer who paid the monthly rent of John Edwards’ mistress says he was “shocked” to learn that rumors of the affair were true. In an interview with Texas Lawyer’s Tex Parte Blog, Fred Baron said he paid to move Rielle Hunter to California and funded her monthly rent”

Women in the Law “Is Your Firm on Working Mother’s Best of 2008 List?”
Aug 12, 2008, 06:33 am CDT
“Noting that the legal profession is in a “work/life crisis” with 78 percent of associates leaving firms by year five and nearly half of women lawyers leaving the profession altogether, Working Mother magazine has released its 2nd annual list of the 50 Best Law Firms for Women. The August/September issue.”

Law Firms Law Firm Mystery: Second Lawyer Dies at Young Age, Slaying of Third Unsolved
Aug 13, 2008, 11:10 am CDT”

“The law firm Boggs, Avellino, Lach & Boggs in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton has been hit once again with the sudden death of one of its lawyers. Vincent Venker II died at the age of 51 on Sunday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The cause of death has.”

Law Firms Buchanan Ingersoll Sees ‘Rash’ of Lawyer Departures, Drop in Associate Hours
Aug 13, 2008, 09:05 am CDT
“Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney appears to be experiencing some growing pains. The Pittsburgh-based law firm has merged with several law firms in the past several years, including 120-lawyer Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling, also based in Pittsburgh, Legal Times reports. In 2006, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney finally made American Lawyer’s.”

Attorney-Client Privilege 50 Lawyers Pack Court to Support Solo Whose Office Was Searched
Aug 12, 2008, 06:59 am CDT
“Lawyers in Texas upset about a judge-authorized search of a solo practitioner who is representing an alleged contract killer filed into a Collin County court last week in a show of support for lawyer Keith Gore. In February, with the OK of 401st District Judge Mark Rusch, Texas Rangers and…”

Law Firms Jurors Told That Law Firm Cut Associate’s Pay Due to Pregnancy
Aug 13, 2008, 07:12 am CDT
“At a trial beginning this week, an associate is airing a claim that her Garden City, N.Y., law firm discriminated against her by cutting her pay while she was pregnant. The associate, Jacquelyn Todaro, said her law firm, Siegel Fenchel & Peddy, cut her pay in 2002 from more than… ”

Law Firms Wachtell Still #1, Vault Survey Says
Aug 12, 2008, 05:33 pm CDT
“For the sixth straight year, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz ranks as the top law firm in the country according to the latest Vault survey. Cravath Swaine & Moore retains the No. 2 spot, and among the rest of the top 10, only one name is different than last year,… ”

Constitutional Law Appeals Court Rejects Militia Organizer’s Second Amendment Claim
Aug 14, 2008, 05:50 am CDT
“A federal appeals court has ruled a man who organized his own militia did not have a Second Amendment right to possess a machine gun. Hollis Wayne Fincher had argued that his Washington County Militia was a well-regulated militia that was protected by the amendment. A federal judge rejected his… ”

Attorney Fees Judge Suggests Legal Fees Padded Due to Billable-Hour Requirement
Aug 14, 2008, 07:18 am CDT
“A dispute over $64,000 in a judge’s unpaid legal fees has highlighted law firm billable-hour requirements. Judge David French of Palm Beach County claims the Rutherford Mulhall law firm charged him for 300 unnecessary hours of work in his alimony case and suggests that law firm policies may be to… “

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