Speaking of Dead...
 

"Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly is pulling the plug on its Silicon Valley and Orange County offices, marking the end of its presence in California and leaving the firm with a single significant U.S. office in Minneapolis.

The firm announced the closures of the two California offices Friday. The move comes a week after reports that a number of the Silicon Valley office's top rainmakers were jumping ship to Philadelphia-based Dechert."

Here is the link to the rest of the article: http://www.law.com/jsp/pubarticleCA....=1052440819951

Heller Ehrman in Hong Kong
 

Heller Ehrman has merged with a Hong Kong law firm, picking up 20-25 lawyers. This is from the press release posted on the firm's website:

GC association
 

Today's Recorder mentions a new association for senior general counsel in California -- sort of like the elite of ACCA.

Having been to an ACCA function and watched firm lawyers pull muscles in their efforts to suck up, I can only imagine the events this association is going to have. Fear Factor will seem tame by comparison.


Sidd("dude, let's make the outside counsel walk over hot coals while singing our praises in Latin!")Finch

Tucker Max
 

[moved to the Tucker Max thread, and redacted a little to avoiding offending the Grey Lady's lawyers]

Tucker Max
 

[Moved to the Tucker Max thread. Will the idiots who post crap like this on the General Discussion thread never learn?]

Tucker Max
 

[Moved to the Tucker Max thread. Sidd, you may not like this multiple-thread business, but if I've told you once, I told you a thousand times that it's important to follow the rules around here.]

Tucker Max
 

[Moved to the Tucker Max thread.]

Good God!
 

Court Excoriates Both Judge and Defense Counsel

Having just finished reading today's 21-page opinion from California's Fourth District Court of Appeal, all I can say is "WOW"! It's quite a page turner. Miguel Hernandez was injured at work. Later, a physician, Richard M. Paicius, who was treating him for pain resulting from two surgeries on the initial injury, allegedly injured him again. He sued for malpractice. Mr. Hernandez was an illegal alien, but that was irrelevant to his case and defendant's potential liability, as he did not claim any lost earnings. But the judge, in an extraordinary colloquy, refused to grant a motion excluding evidence of plaintiff's immigration status, and betrayed his own extreme bias in the process. The appellate court rakes the trial judge, James M. Brooks, over the coals.

But it gets worse. Plaintiff's expert witness, Dr. Aengst, was also defense counsel's client in several malpractice actions against him! Despite that (and despite her duty of loyalty to him), defense counsel, Constance A. Endelicato (a partner at her law firm), absolutely devastated Dr. Aengst on the witness stand, largely through her own improper testimony (based on inadmissible evidence) about the malpractice cases against him, including at least some in which she represented him! I have never seen stronger disapproval in an appellate court opinion. Not only did the Court order its clerk to report her to the state bar, but it ordered her to report herself! Hernandez v. Paicius is worth the time it will take to read it. And I'll bet you won't stop reading until the end!

Get linked to the whole sordid story:

http://www.weirdofthenews.blogspot.c....html#95265439

Good God!
 

Fascinating. Almost made me break my rule against reading blogs.

One has to wonder why plaintiff's medmal lawyer would use an expert that was a def in several malpractice cases.

Seems crazy to me, though it's not my area of practice. At the very least, though, the expert should have disclosed that he was rep'd by def counsel before.

Bingham McCutchen in merger talks with Riordan's firm
 

The Recorder reports that Bingham McCutchen is in merger talks with Riordan & McKinzie, an LA firm with ~75 attorneys co-founded by the former mayor and teenybopper heartthrob. (I've linked to the front page; subscription required to read the article.)

Bingham McCutchen in merger talks with Riordan's firm
 

I get the feeling that the former McDungeon is like a cheap ho, standing on the street corner calling out "Merge with me, Baby!"

Somebody over there has an unquenched urge to merge.

Good God!
 

Truth in advertising department: After all, his name is Dr. Angst. (close enough, anyway)

HH

(Don't even get me started on Dr. Freud....)

Intel on SF/SV firms
 

Can anyone with knowledge give me any insight on the litigation (particularly IP litigation) practice groups of the following SF/SV firms (work load, partners personality, business development, opportunity to work outside specialty)? Thanks in advance.

Altheimer
Pennie
Sonnenschein
Weil

Intel on SF/SV firms
 

If you run a search you might pick up more here about Weil. I've heard that there SV office gets very good work, but you will have long hours and that it's not a pleasant place to be at all. About Weil generally, I've heard that the partners do not get along with each other well, and are constantly sparring about stuff, which makes for a less-than-ideal work environment.

Bingham McCutchen in merger talks with Riordan's firm
 

Dude. Don't we all?

Intel on SF/SV firms
 

Pennie has recently lost a number of its top IP litigators (including the head of its IP litigation to Weil's NY office). My sources there say the firm as a whole isn't healthy and it has been desperately searching for a merger partner. With partners and associates bleeding out of the mother ship in NY, I would not be surprised if the SV office tries to sell itself off to another firm here or if you see different groups heading off to other area firms.

C(if I had other options, I wouldn't go there)deuced

Bingham McCutchen in merger talks with Riordan's firm
 

Dude?! NTTAWWT

AM(really not a)M

Just get a room already!

Weil's SV office
 

I am informed that not only is there sparring between different partners within Weil's offices, there is competition between the SV and NY IP litigation groups. Although they try to make it sound like they're a happy family, it's somewhat disfunctional.

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

The Minority Law Journal (?) writes that some of the most diverse law firms in the country have been in the Bay Area, but that three such firms -- McCutchen, Crosby and Brobeck -- are now more, having merged (or whatever you want to call it in Brobeck's case) into less diverse East Coast firms. "Last summer McCutchen Doyle, which ranked No. 5 in our previous Diversity Scorecard, merged with No. 106, Boston's Bingham Dana. Crosby Heafey -- which shows up at No. 16 in our current survey -- linked up last fall with No. 158, Pittsburgh's Reed Smith. Prior to its collapse this winter, Brobeck -- No. 12 in our latest Scorecard -- attemped a merger with No. 60, Philadelphia's Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Though Brobeck fell apart when the merger was called off, the largest number of its lawyers still went to Morgan Lewis." Full story is here.

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

Bay Area firms: Available to diversify bigger players via merger.

Incidentally, this does seem to run counter to some of the arguments we've heard about Bay Area firms not being diverse...though perhaps that was limited to SV (where, of course, Brobeck and McQetcheon both had large offices).

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

This assumes that the "diverse" attorneys at Brobeck and the McDungeon were included in the groups that were acquired in the merger or mass hire. I suspect pre-merger layoffs and cherry-picking had some effect on those numbers.

Also, although not addressed by the scorecard, I'm wondering if anyone knows how friendly the bigger players have been to openly gay lawyers.

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

ssssssssssssssssssss

That's the sound of my bubble bursting. NTTAWWT.



Sidd(relax, people, it's a joke)Finch

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

Hmmm...according to that survey, if you have 100% minorities, you'd be ranked #1 in their "diversity index." No white people = perfect score.

Shameless Self Promotion
 

As many of you know, I had a weblog (or "blawg") called WeirdOfTheNews. I've moved it to a new and better land, but otherwise it continues unabated. And I've renamed it "The Legal Reader."

The new, improved site is:

http://www.legalreader.com

Please update your bookmarks if appropriate.

Thanks

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

My firm (a bigger player) openly recruits gay lawyers - each recruiting season they send around an email asking if those that are gay would agree to be listed for the purposes of both the firm being able to list the number of openly gay lawyers and to act as a mentor during the recruiting process.

By the way, on this whole subject of diversity, it is my understanding that it is not a problem of demand on the firms' part, but of supply. Not sure if this is because of disproportionately low number of minorities graduating from law school or a low number that meet the firms' hiring criteria (as adjusted for affirmative action).

What's going on with Heller?
 

Wondering what, if anything, is happening on the Heller lawsuit. No real personal interest in the outcome... just nosy.
Oh, and by the way, when do I get my prize for winning the Brobeck death pool? I need a certificate or something, at the very least, so that when potential employers question that self-promoting line on my resume, I have actual backup.

diversity disappearing with mergers?
 

Wow....we do recruit.

I was going to say my experience has never been that they actively recruit gay folks. Out here (PA) they claim to be ok with orientations other then hetero and they are polite enough, but I don't really think they are ok with it. California though it always struck me for the most part, as a nonissue. And thank goodness.

Though I have noticed the occasional you're gay? Awesome, another minority for the checklist, thing going on from time to time.

I think it is great your firm does this however. I would have loved to have had a mentor, especially very early on in my career, who would have understood some of the more unique issues I faced and given me some advice on how to deal with them.

Rob Campos / For Love or Money
 

http://www.mathurlawoffices.com/

Looks like the contract attorney/For Love or Money "star" got whacked. And the firm he used to work for posted a letter regarding its decision to fire him on their website.

Tyrion Lannister

The East Coast, West Coast split comes to the plaintiff's bar
 

The Recorder reports that the Milberg Weiss firm is going to split into an East Coast firm, to be headed by Melvyn Weiss in New York, and a West Coast firm, to be headed by Bill Lerach in San Diego and Pat Coughlin in San Francisco.

"With all the legitimate reasons for a 220-lawyer class action firm to break up, though, sources familiar with the situation say it's come to a head because of a feud between Lerach and Weiss over the handling of the WorldCom litigation.

"Though the firm's large offices in New York and San Diego already operate largely independent of each other, the latest development may have been precipitated -- or at least sealed -- by the actions of Lerach, the firm's famed, flamboyant and, to some, notorious partner."

Lerach had an alleged fit of pique when he was excluded from key positions (lead counsel, liaison counsel) in the WorldCom litigation. But the article doesn't suggest why something so mundane would make such a difference, although it's a fun little story.

The East Coast, West Coast split comes to the plaintiff's bar
 

So now the number of class action law suits will double?

CA Bar Exam Primer
 

I ran across this link: http://www.twise.com/barexam/ which may be of interest to 1Ls and 2Ls who are planning to take the CA Bar Exam.

Fenwick Article
 

Can someone with a subscription please post the law.com article about Claude Stern leaving for Quinn?

How is Fenwick doing these days?

Arter & Hadden
 

Rumor has it that Arter & Hadden voted to dissolve today...

any truth?

Arter & Hadden
 

No clue, but there is an article in law.com http://www.law.com/jsp/pubarticleCA....=1055463665594 Says they are fighting off dissolution, perhaps the fight failed?

"The partner sounded a dubious note when asked if he thought Arter would pull through. He answered, "I don't think so." "

Fenwick Article
 

Another Top Litigator Jumps Ship at Fenwick

Renee Deger
The Recorder
06-16-2003


Fenwick & West has suffered another blow to its litigation team with the fourth departure by a high-level partner from the practice group in six months.

Claude Stern, an intellectual property rainmaker known for his work on big-ticket cases for software companies, is set to start work today in the Silicon Valley office of Los Angeles-based litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges.

His exit follows defections by John Steele and Timothy Roake to competitors and the departure of Patricia Lucas, who was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court bench.

Though all four appear to have left for different reasons, the effect on the firm has been the same: Fenwick faces a thinning team of litigation partners at a time when litigators are being counted on to rake in revenue. Gordon Davidson, Fenwick's chairman, said litigation comprised almost half of the firm's gross of $142 million last year.

* * * * *

Stern, who joined Fenwick in 1994, estimated his book of business has ranged from $5 million to $7 million in revenue.

He's likely to see a jump in compensation at his new firm. Profits per partner at 192-lawyer Quinn Emanuel hit $1 million in 2002, according to a Recorder survey of law firm finances.

Meanwhile, Fenwick has lost some buying power. The Mountain View-based firm logged $650,000 in profits per partner last year, a 16 percent drop from 2001.

* * * * *

Lynn Pasahow, current head of Fenwick's litigation group, said litigation is still a top recruiting priority, and money hasn't been an issue in his efforts to attract new partners.

"The average per-partner number doesn't have a whole lot to do with what you're going to pay any individual person for his or her practice," Pasahow said. "We're ready to pay what an individual's practice is worth."

* * * * *

Quinn Emanuel has 10 lawyers in its Redwood Shores office and about 25 in San Francisco, according to Charles Verhoeven, the managing partner of the offices.

"We always have our eyes open for people attracted to our business model, which is litigation only," Verhoeven said. "They can come to our firm and be king, whereas in a full-service firm, the scenario is different."

I edited this to extract some interesting points from the article, but so that we wouldn't be quoting the entire thing. It's copyrighted material not available to the public. Please don't copy entire articles and post them here. -- T.S.

legal press
 

The Brits are doing a better job on some of theses stories than the locals (and for free, too):

http://www.legalweek.net/ViewItem.asp?id=15221

http://www.legalweek.net/ViewItem.asp?id=15223

legal press
 

Interesting.

"Silicon Valley icon the Venture Law Group (VLG) is set to make a key strategic decision that will either set it on a course for a merger with West Coast ally Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe or reassert its prized independence."

The British press seems to understand that legal markets are no longer just regional or national in a way that the local rags have not quite gotten yet.

legal press
 

Not to disagree with the laudatory comments about the British legal press, but doesn't the statement quoted above mean "VLG is about to decide either to keep doing what it has been doing, or to do the opposite"?

This doesn't strike me as "news," though I agree that it's appropriate for the legal press to look beyond confines of their own geographic region.

Sidd(plus, it's so cute when the Brits call it "Ventures")Finch

Fenwick Article
 

Fair point, but we have been posting entire copies of Recorder articles for at least a couple of years. Perhaps the Recorder cares, but the discussion around article postings tends to be what provides half of their subsequent story ideas. Otherwise, they'd have to act like journalists and actually investigate beyond press releases.

Is is ok to post articles from other sites that are available for free, such as Legal Week?