Politicians can’t monopolise all the excitement this week despite their best efforts…

The collapse of GM is a stark sign of the times. Financial results are trickling out of firms with Denton Wilde Sapte the latest – the firm revealed a 36% fall in partner profits and also confirmed that it has asked equity partners to contribute an average of £90,000 of capital into the business. PEP was down to £300,000 from £470,000 last year – this is the sharpest …

Since the Criminal Justice Act 2003 came into force, solicitors have been permitted to sit on juries along with other members of the public to see justice done. Although it seems like it might be an interesting oppotunity and there are cases that catch the attention of the media and the public, most probably don’t carry the level of excitement portrayed in many a courtroom drama. One American juror, Grant Faber, in Oregon, recently left the case he …

There are a lot of businesses going to the wall at the moment and for the most part creditors are normally dying to get their hands on whatever assets remain. Not in this case however -  in Massachusetts a bankrupt medical device maker, Innovative Spinal Technologies, listed nine human bodies, including "eight previously used" cadavers, among its property in a federal bankruptcy filing. Source

Joby Sanders, 37, from Barnsley who was jailed for selling fake cigarettes has …

Allen & Overy has followed its Magic Circle rivals by slashing NQ salaries by £5,000 from £65,000, down to £60,000. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance previously cut theirs from £66,000 to £59,000 and Linklaters cut theirs from £66,600 to £61,500.

In another cautionary financial manouver, Hammonds has changed its monthly drawing policy for partners to avoid the need for partners to pay back advance drawings which were over-generous. This is likely to see monthly drawings reduced to keep a …

Mania, paranoia, egotism, neurosis; you will probably see it all as you navigate your way through a stress-filled legal career. Hell, you migh even suffer one or two of these afflictions yourself at some point. When it gets really bad it’s probably time to take a holiday. And by that we mean before you start suffering from all of them at the same time and not taking a leave of your senses. The existence of the Priory, Prozac etc …

Anyone noticed how Jacqui Smith looks more relaxed by the day. Not a huge surprise – she must be glad to be shot of the job of Home Secretary for many reasons, not least for the damning indictment of the Home Office highlighted by this case. Solicitor, Jatinder Kumar Sharma and his wife, Rakhi Shahi, are thought to have made at least £3 million from a visa scam selling fake academic certificates to clients. Sharma and Shahi, …

Following in the footsteps of Allen & Overy, trainee retention at US firm Shearman & Sterling will suffer this year. The firm will only retain 9 of its 14 London trainees when they reach the end of their training contracts. With the professional services sector still seeing significant headwinds, we expect to see trainee retention suffer accross the board as firms seek to keep headcount and costs as lean as possible until the economy improves.

That’s not to say there …

Dress codes at work are one of those things that normally start out simple and easy to interpret but can easily degenerate into mayhem when indiduals get the opportunity for a bit of self-expression. This probably happened in the early days of dress-down Friday (for those old enough to remember that dawning) but over time stringent codes were deployed to restore order and keep things nice and simple.

So reviewing this experience – new dress category, inappropriate dressing, ‘practical guidance’ …

The perma-tanned couple have apparently agreed to a quick divorce as hostilities have escalated in the tabloid press. Lawyers have been appointed on both sides with Jordan instructing celebrity favorite Fiona Shackleton of Payne Hicks Beach and Peter Andre appointing Stephen Foster of litigation boutique Stewarts Law . Andre is believed to have signed a pre-nuptial agreement, waiving his rights to the glamour model’s fortune, but legal commentators have suggested that he could challenge the agreement because the couple …

It may be sunny but its not so bright as Barlows launches a redundancy consultation putting 49 jobs under threat.

The consultation will affect all fee earners, secretarial and business services staff. The practice ares likely to be hit hardest were not specified.

A bit of relief for trainees though as they will be excluded from the cuts.

CEO Clint Evans said:

"It is with regret that we enter this consultation programme.

There are fundamental changes in the legal sector and …

The politics of the incident aside for a moment, there is something heavily ironic about this legal sabre rattling. Take a step back for a second – the Home Secretary wields somewhat authoritrian powers over a select group of individuals for what they have said in public by banning them from entering the country and then gets sued for defamation for what she has essentially said in public about one of them. (Ok we know it’s not quite …

From Courtoons

In this heat, yes it is…

but we love it

As another giant bankruptcy proceeding sets into motion in the US, the effects reverberate all over Europe. General Motors’ collapse and subsequent restructuring is no doubt a worry for factory workers in Luton and Ellesmere Port but a raft of lawyers across the US and Europe will be rubbing their hands together. The affair is likely to involve more than 15 law firms (that’s the tally so far) as the proceedings continue.

The roster of firms… In the US, Weil Gotshal …

When it comes to lawyers with wrestler-esque nicknames, the closest we get over here is Nick Freeman; otherwise known as Mr Loophole for his knack at getting celebrities off driving offences. So far though, we haven’t seen Mr Freeman advertising his skills quite like this (and his moniker isn’t quite as purposeful either)…

The saga continues…

There is a rule in litigation which says that clients must entrust the retrieval of their documents to their most feckless office junior; provide him with no guidance as to which ones are relevant, but instruct him to throw everything into a dog-eared cardboard box and deliver them to us with absolutely no discernible way of identifying them.   It is common to all forms of litigation, except, it seems, employment claims……

Two weeks after her request Amelia’s documents are sent by recorded …

The indicators for the country’s economic health are visible in all walks of life but if you’re like us you’ll look to what you know. So corporate lawyers will be looking at their deal flow, property lawyers will be waiting for their developer clients to dust off the mothballs and every assistant, associate and idle partner will be waiting to see when the axe has stopped swinging. Not yet is the answer to that one – this week has …

After all of the recent fraud revelations, this one might seem like small fry until you see the sentence. British man Robert Tringham, 64, from Knebworth, Herts, has been charged in the United States over a $7 million (£4.39 million) investment fraud. He is accused of running a Ponzi scheme – think Bernie Madoff but rather smaller obviously. Now £4m is not to be sniffed at but compared to the $50b+ Madoff gambled with there’s no comparison. In …

When news that Private Eye had managed to prevent Michael Napier, former President of the Law Society , from using an injunction to stop it publishing details of a complaint against him lawyers everywhere quivered at the possibility that rulings against any lawyer accused of misconduct could now be publicised.

A more direct consequence of the ruling is that Napier has now stepped down from the Legal Services Board which many consider to be a blow to the relationship …

CMS Cameron McKenna was the first of the major London law firms to announce its 2008-09 results. Revenue was up by a slither at 2% but profits were down around 15%. So in real terms PEP has dropped from last year’s figure of £655,000 to £554,000 and total profits were down 14%, from £84m to £72m.

Lovells has managed double-digit turnover growth at 11% thanks in large part to the decline of sterling against the dollar and the euro. Results …

A panel of US judges has criticised some female lawyers for wearing sexy and revealing clothing in the courtroom on the grounds that it distracts everyone from the quality of the lawyers’ arguments. Obviously, this is less of a problem in UK, where male and female lawyers alike are expected to wear gowns at most levels of court.  However, at lower court levels and at most tribunals, lawyers are allowed to wear ‘business casual’ clothing so the arguments that …