From the category archives:
TweetDewey & LeBoeuf’s seemingly rapid free fall has caught the attention of business analysts and bankers as much as the legal community. As a result, the legal industry today is undergoing the same scrutiny as the financial services industry did in 2008. While criminal allegations, lush multi-year contract guarantees and big debt dominate the Dewey [...]
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TweetA suspended Long Island attorney is challenging what he claims is the New York Appellate Division, Second Department’s draconian enforcement of disciplinary rules governing attorney escrow accounts. Attorney Peter Galasso of Garden City, Long Island was suspended by the Second Department for what the court termed was his failure to appropriately oversee his firm’s bank [...]
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TweetSmall law firms are continuing to look favorably on merging or being acquired by larger firms in 2012. The number of small firm mergers and acquisitions increased by approximately fifty percent in 2011 compared to 2010 according to a survey conducted by consulting firm Altman Weil. In fact, there have been approximately fifteen mergers and [...]
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TweetThe Second Circuit recently concluded that parts of a New York rule requiring attorneys who claim to specialize in a certain field make certain disclosure statements are unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment. Michael Hayes, a Buffalo-based personal injury attorney, had claimed that Rule 7.4 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct did not contain [...]
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TweetThe Southern District of New York recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by the well-known law firm Jacoby & Meyers (memorable, at the very least, for its ubiquitous t.v. ads) in which the firm challenged New York Rule of Professional Conduct 5.4. That rule prohibits non-lawyers from investing in law firms. The firm claimed that the [...]
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TweetCyberattacks on Law Firms-Background In what has become an all too familiar refrain, a major New York law firm was recently informed by the FBI that all of the firm’s client files had been discovered on a server in a foreign country. Those files were then sent from that foreign server to China. For those [...]
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TweetFACTS In the recent case, Zalewski v. Shelroc Homes, LLC 1:11-CV-1159 (N.D.N.Y. 3/6/12), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York grappled with the issue whether to disqualify plaintiffs’ attorney, Lee Palmateer, because he had once been interviewed by defendants with a view to representing them in the identical or substantially similar action. The court [...]
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TweetIn a recent New York case involving an award of attorneys’ fees, the court called into question the hours worked by an inexperienced associate and the rate charged for those hours. The court subsequently severely reduced the firm’s request for attorneys’ fees. Facts The case, Francis v. Atlantic Infiniti, Index No. 19953/06 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., [...]
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