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Law firms seek to represent dead miners' families
Law Firm News |
2010/04/14 09:45
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pLittle more than a week after the disaster, competition among lawyers to represent the families of 29 men killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster has begun./ppMassey Energy, the mine's owner, has deep pockets. Lawyers who represent the families could make millions in fees if they can prove company management showed a conscious and deliberate disregard for safety./ppMassey has repeatedly denied all such accusations./ppAt least one well-known local lawyer questioned whether it's proper to seek clients so soon after the tragedy and said he could not bring himself to do it./ppLaw firms take so-called wrongful death cases for free. Losers earn nothing. Winners typically receive one-third of the amount awarded by the court./ppOn Tuesday, before all of the miners who died in the blast were buried, Underwood Law Offices, headquartered in Huntington, ran an advertisement in the Charleston newspapers and papers in the coalfields urging families of the miners to call the firm.
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Wichita Bookkeeper Sentenced For Embezzling
Legal Information |
2010/04/14 06:46
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pA bookkeeper in Wichita has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for embezzling more than $948,000 from a law firm where she worked./ppThirty-four-year-old Vicki J. Olivarez pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of writing checks and forging signatures on the checks while she worked at Pistotnik Law Offices./ppIn her plea, Olivarez admitted that from 2004 through 2009 she wrote numerous checks on the firm's client trust account and deposited the money into her personal accounts. She used some of the money to make payments on property she owned in Andover./ppU.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten also ordered Olivarez to forfeit $948,041 including her interest in the Andover property.
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Law firm Mayer Brown lays off more lawyers
Law Firm News |
2010/04/12 09:31
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| pMayer Brown continues to hemorrhage lawyers, despite what the Chicago law firm says are encouraging signs for 2010./ppThe international firm said Thursday that laid off 28 lawyers in its U.S. offices, which represents 3 percent of the approximately 925 U.S. lawyers. The layoffs did not affect partners, only associates and lawyers known as counsel who are not on partnership track./ppMayer Brown also reduced its administrative staff by 47 people./ppThis is the third job reduction since November 2008 at Mayer Brown. The two previous rounds affected at least 78 lawyers. The firm blamed the previous downsizing on the recession, which cut demand for legal services. It said Thursday that demand has bounced back but not enough. In addition, voluntary attrition has dropped, meaning that the firm was overstaffed compared to anticipated demand for legal services this year./ppAlthough most of our practices are performing well, overall demand for legal services has not recovered fully, and in today's tight legal job market, voluntary lawyer departures have been significantly lower than our normal levels, Chairman Bert Krueger said in an e-mail to U.S. offices. A Mayer spokesman provided a copy of the e-mail but declined further comment./ppThe layoffs come as Mayer Brown partners are scheduled to gather in Chicago later this month for the firm's annual meeting./p |
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Beach, Chesapeake pay $9 million for outside legal help
Legal World News |
2010/04/12 09:31
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pEach South Hampton Roads city has a cadre of attorneys on staff to deal with the many legal disputes that come with running a large city./ppSometimes, a case comes along that poses a potential conflict of interest, requires expertise that can't be found in-house, or just takes too much time./ppIn those scenarios, officials look outside the city attorney's office to hire a private law firm. That gets expensive./ppSaddled with long and costly legal battles, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach have paid nearly $9 million to private law firms over the past five years - more than twice the combined amount spent by Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk./ppWhen we go through and see how much we have spent on outside counsel, I think we can do better, said Chesapeake Councilwoman Patricia Willis, who is a lawyer./ppCity Attorney Ronald Hallman said Chesapeake is a growing city and has faced a host of unique legal matters including opposition to a planned North Carolina landfill, the Battlefield Golf Club fly ash case, and a challenge to a police test by the U.S. Justice Department. All of these cases required specific expertise and lots of time, which equals large bills.
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