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Holland & Knight Nixes Billable Hours Tracking in Public Policy & Regulation Group

rebneely — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:54:52 +0000

International law firm Holland & Knight announced in recent days that the firm’s Public Policy & Regulation Group will eliminate the tracking of billable hours for fixed fee clients, effective January 1, 2012.

The move makes the firm the largest national practice group to do so, and follows the group being recognized by The National Law Journal and Legal Times as the winner in the “Law Firm Government Affairs/Lobbying” category in the first annual “The Best of Legal Times” readership survey.

Rich Gold, the head of the practice group was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Helping our clients reach their advocacy goals has always been our top priority. This new approach allows us to totally focus on certain efforts and outcomes that our clients expect. Our primary goal is to please our clients, and our team should not be distracted by administrative tasks like keeping time in an effort to achieve this goal.”

It is common knowledge that nearly every law firm follows a “billable hour” approach to charging for its services. However, the practice of logging time poses several drawbacks, including time spent on administrative tasks, like keeping time, which might otherwise go toward creative solutions for client problems.

Gold was also quoted as saying: “All law firms bill time; it is simply a practice engrained in the profession. While that has been changing somewhat over the last years, we hope to accelerate the pace. To maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace, we are constantly looking for ways to improve upon our daily operations and strengthen our known team approach to servicing clients, which is our calling card in the industry. Recruiting top talent is highly competitive. Billing your time can be a hard sell to someone who hasn’t done it before. I am delighted that we will be eliminating that obstacle starting in 2012, which will allow future hires to immediately begin servicing clients without having to be distracted with keeping time.”

Holland & Knight was also ranked third among 30 top-performing law firms for its superior client service. In a survey of nearly 250 corporate counsel and client representatives conducted by The BTI Consulting Group, Inc., the firm ranked third in overall client service and received the top honor – “Best of the Best” – in the area of “Value for the Dollar.” The firm has also been ranked among BTI’s Top 30 for nine of the past ten years. The survey notes that, “Holland & Knight’s staying power is fueled by the firm’s consistently strong performances” in key areas year after year.

Founded in 1968 by the merger of two law firms, international law firm Holland & Knight today has over 1,000 lawyers in 17 U.S. offices. The firm also has offices in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Beijing, China, and Mexico City, Mexico. The full service law firm represents clients in a wide range of industries, including aviation, Indian law, energy, education, corporate services, intellectual property, land use, public finance, real estate and syndication, among others.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 01:17:48 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Wednesday, November 24th. Here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s headlines.

The exchange of artillery fire between North and South Korea set the stage for China to make a distinctive mark on the world stage…

The law firm bonus season began…

Crowell & Moring LLP & the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law established the Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk youth…

Wilmer Hale announced a plan for leadership succession…

Crowell & Moring LLP & University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law Establish Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk Youth

joshua — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:36:10 +0000

Crowell & Moring LLP, along with the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) David A. Clarke School of Law have established the Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk Youth.

The institute was made possible through an initial $675,000 grant over six years from Crowell & Moring in memory of Eldon “Took” Crowell, the firm’s first chairman and long-time leader who passed away in May. Mr. Crowell, a devoted humanitarian and champion of pro bono legal services, was named one of the “Greatest Washington Visionaries in the last 30 years” by Legal Times. The institute will provide more than 10,000 hours of direct pro bono representation to youth in the community each year by attorney-supervised law students through three legal clinics, as well as advocate for policy reforms that will contribute to systemic change.

The Took Crowell Institute builds on the long-term work already underway at the law school’s Juvenile and Special Education Law Clinic by providing three innovative legal clinics and law reform advocacy designed to help at-risk youth become educated and productive members of society.

A reception and induction ceremony is planned for Tuesday, November 30, at 5:00 p.m. at the UDC School of Law campus. Featured speakers include Vincent Gray, District of Columbia’s Mayor-elect, among other dignitaries.

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with nearly 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity.

Obama Taps Venable Partner For Federal Bench Seat

eric — Fri, 21 May 2010 14:47:38 +0000

Yesterday Venable partner Robert Wilkins was given the tap by the Obama administration for a spot on the bench of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, writes the Legal Times Blog.

Prior to his move to Venable in 2002, Wilkins, per the BLT, was chief of the Public Defender Service’s special litigation section from 1996 to 2000. Currently, he is a trial and appellate lawyer in the firm’s corporate defense/white collar, technology and commercial litigation practice groups.

Venable LLP is a law firm, formerly known as Venable, Baetjer & Howard LLP. It was founded in Baltimore in the post-Civil War period. Today the firm maintains six Northeastern US offices and specializes in patent litigation, labor and employment law and white collar investigations. Venable employs nearly 600 attorneys.

Former Chairman of Arnold & Porter Joins Davis Polk

sara — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:29:26 +0000

Michael Sohn, former chairman of Arnold & Porter, has joined Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Washington office as general counsel. Sohn joined Arnold & Porter in 1969 and was made a partner in 1972. He left the firm briefly and served for 3 years as general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission beginning in 1977. Sohn served as chairman of Arnold & Porter from 1996 through 2006. Sohn’s former clients include Wyeth, GE, Merck, NASDAQ and PepsiCo in merger investigations before the FTC and Justice Department.

Sohn has handled several high profile deals including the approved $27.2 billion acquisition of Guidant by Boston Scientific and the acquisition of Quaker Oats by PepsiCo. In 2005 the Legal Times named Sohn a “Leading Lawyer” for his “skill as a negotiator and his ability to craft settlements on the eve of a trial.”

Legal Times to Merge with National Law Journal; Layoffs Expected

Erik Even — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:27:21 +0000

Legal Times is merging with one of its sibling publications, The National Law Journal.

The combined publication will focus on national legal news, with a special emphasis on Washington, DC, and will be called The National Law Journal. It will publish continuously on the Web and weekly in print, with the first combined print edition expected in May.

A redesign of its Web site is planned in the next several months.

Incisive Media, which owns the two newspapers, made the announcement in a news release this morning after notifying the staffs at both publications. Stephen Lincoln, publisher of The National Law Journal, will continue in that role. David Brown, publisher and editor in chief of Legal Times, will become the editor of the combined publication.

Subscribers to Legal Times will automatically begin receiving the combined publication. They will also receive access to The National Law Journal’s online features and surveys, including the annual NLJ 250 rankings.

The merger is expected to result eventually in a smaller staff. No layoffs were announced today.

Profits Plummeting at McKee Nelson

Erik Even — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:52:53 +0000

The Blog of Legal Times reports that profits are plummeting at New York-based tax & finance boutique McKee Nelson.

The firm has reported a drop in revenue of nearly 16 percent, for gross revenue of $160 million in 2008. Profits per partner plunged 15 percent, or nearly $200,000, to $1.02 million.

The down numbers were foreshadowed in November when the firm laid off 17 lawyers – 13 in its New York office and four in Washington. The layoffs were focused in the mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and collateralized debt obligation areas of the firm’s capital markets practice…

Wendy Bernero, the chief marketing officer of the firm, confirmed to the BLT that McKee Nelson was particularly exposed in the capital markets area. She says, in 2007, the practice accounted for about 45 percent of the firm’s revenue. In 2008, however, that number was cut down to about 33 percent.

Via The BLT.

Sonnenschein Celebrates Inauguration

Erik Even — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:31:28 +0000

The Blog of Legal Times reports from Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal’s swanky Obama inauguration party:

Saturday night, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal held an inauguration reception at The Phillips Collection in Washington. About 100 people showed up for the evening cocktail affair. On Tuesday morning, Sonnenschein will continue celebrating – hosting a breakfast for its clients in its D.C. office on K Street.

Sonnenschein is doing well, considering the economy; they recently snatched up 100 Thacher lawyers. But they also have frozen salaries, which makes the idea of a swanky party a bit inappropriate.

Read the whole story.

Orrick Freezes 2009 Associates and Consultant Pay

Erik Even — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:30:56 +0000

Frisco’s Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLC will freeze associate and consultant salaries in 2009. Associates were notified by the following e-mail, sent to Legal Times by Orrick’s Adi Weisman:

…associates in the U.S. and Europe, and associates, senior consultants and consultants in Asia, will receive the same salary in 2009 as you received in 2008… of counsel salaries will be determined on an individual basis and generally will remain the same as 2008. We will ensure that our 2009 bonus program gives us additional flexibility to reward outstanding performance and remain competitive in the marketplace.

The firm blames the economic meltdown for the decision. As for bonuses:

We will pay full 2008 bonuses according to the terms of the program we announced earlier this year. These bonuses will be paid by the February 15 payroll in the U.S. and on or around that date in Europe and Asia, consistent with regional practices.

Orrick reported gross revenue of $772 million in this year’s Am Law 100, and profits per partner of $1.66 million.

The firm has over 1,100 lawyers worldwide in 21 offices, with more than 200 attorneys in each of its two largest offices in San Francisco and New York. The firm’s day-to-day administrative operations are centralized at a Global Operations Center in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Latham & Watkins announced pay freezes two weeks ago.

Via The BLT.

Nader “Unlawful Litigation” Suit Against Kerry-Edwards Shot Down Again

Erik Even — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:59:42 +0000

The Legal Times Blog reports that a US district judge has dismissed Ralph Nader’s latest attempt to prove he was the target of a conspiracy by the Kerry-Edwards campaign to keep him off the presidential ballot.

In October 2007, as much of the country began turning its attention to a new and promising presidential showdown, Nader filed suit against the defunct ’04 Democratic ticket, accusing it of launching “a massive, nationwide unlawful litigation assault” on his campaign. The suit, originally filed in D.C. Superior Court, was eventually removed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where it was finally dismissed this May on jurisdiction grounds.

Nader, represented by Center for Competitive Democracy founder Oliver Hall, filed a second version of the suit with the District Court. But in an opinion released today, Judge Ricardo Urbina determined that Nader’s second try was too similar to his first and dismissed the updated complaint.

According to Nader counsel Carl Mayer:

…this was the most massive anti-democratic campaign to eliminate a third-party candidate from the ballot in… recent American history. Not content with having all these laws and statutes on the book that make it difficult for third-party and independent candidates to run, the Democratic Party and their allies in over fifty-three law firms, with over ninety lawyers, were engaged in filing litigation in eighteen states. They were to remove Ralph Nader from the ballot. It was an organized, abusive litigation process.

The core of the lawsuit is that these lawyers, led by Toby Moffett and Elizabeth Holtzman, and something called the “Ballot Project,” which was a 527 organization, systematically went around the country and filed lawsuit after lawsuit, twenty-four in all, plus five FEC complaints, to try to completely remove the Nader campaign from the ballot and to, in effect, bankrupt the campaign, which they succeeded in doing. Not content with that, one of the defendants, Reed Smith, which is a large corporate law firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they are now going after Ralph Nader’s personal bank account to make him pay some of the cost of this litigation.

Ralph Nader is an American attorney, author, lecturer, political activist, and perennial candidate for Presidency, as an independent candidate for President in 2004 and 2008, and a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000.

GOP to Put AG Choice Through the Ringer

Erik Even — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:54:17 +0000

While no one expects the Senate to vote down the confirmation of Covington & Burling partner Eric H. Holder Jr. as the nation’s next attorney general. But key Republican lawmakers are signalling that they do not intend to make it easy.

From Legal Times:

While congressional leaders negotiated behind closed doors over proposed loans to Detroit automakers, several Republicans took the floor Wednesday and Thursday to discuss Covington & Burling’s Eric Holder Jr. They called for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to delay the Jan. 8 confirmation hearing for Holder, who of late has been dogged by his involvement in pardoning fugitive financier Marc Rich in the waning hours of the Clinton administration.

But the comments from Republicans went further. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama questioned Holder’s fitness to be attorney general. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said he wanted to delve into Holder’s career in private practice. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma threatened to prevent a vote.

The likely motive behind the attacks on Holder is to extract concessions and compromises from the incoming Obama administration.

Holder was a deputy attorney general under Janet Reno in the Clinton Administration. If confirmed, he will be the first African-American attorney general.