Globalization
Global Companies Prefer English Law and Lawyers to American for International Legal Work
Corporate Counsel
A survey regarding global companies’ demand for international legal advice found that just over half of the companies use English law for international work, while a third use U.S. law. When asked who would they consider for multijurisdictional deals and litigation involving three or more countries, 70% named British firms while only 30% named U.S. firms. Several factors seem to have contributed to such results: a perception of American litigiousness, the expensive rates of U.S. law firms, British firms’ marketing savvy and the geographic proximity of U.K. firms to key international markets.
The survey was conducted by Acritas, a British strategic research firm.
Should the ABA accredit overseas law schools?
Law.com
An ABA committee has recommended that the American Bar Association should consider expanding its accreditation power to overseas law schools that follow the U.S. law school educational model. Between 4,000-5,000 foreign-trained law graduates take bar examinations in America each year, and state supreme courts and state bar associations face increasing admissions pressures and demands as the legal profession becomes more globalized. The ABA argues that it could help reduce disparate state practices and the burdens on state admissions processes through a uniform accreditation approach, but the ABA also acknowledges that such a move could expand practice opportunities for foreign-trained attorneys with no reciprocal benefit for graduates of U.S. law schools.
Asia’s Rising Arbitration Cases Go to Singapore
The Lawyer
Equidistant from China and India, Singapore is emerging as a new hub of Asia-related arbitration. Disputes are increasingly gravitating towards Singapore as a result of a major policy effort to make it Asia’s principal arbitral location: the government is offering tax incentives and adapting legislation; a new state-of-the-art international dispute ¬resolution complex opened and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre has a truly international membership.
Innovation and New Models
Harvard Professor David Wilkins Addresses the ABA Regarding Large-Scale Legal Profession Trends
Abajournal.com
Harvard Law Professor David Wilkins, Faculty Director of the HLS Program on the Legal Profession, recently addressed the ABA House of Delegates regarding major trends impacting the legal profession across the globe. Wilkins noted that the recession is accelerating many large-scale trends that will have “a profound impact on all lawyers’ practices and how we regulate, compensate and train lawyers.”
Outsourcing: The New and Improved Business Model Big Law Needs?
AmLaw Daily
Northwestern Law Professor Steven Harper argues that outsourcing is “hardly a new idea” and may actually improve “the long-run psychological well-being of the [legal] profession” by enabling younger lawyers to concentrate on more substantive tasks while affording senior attorneys greater opportunities to mentor newer associates. Moreover, outsourcing may increase the ability of small and medium sized firms to compete with the “megafirms.”
Law Firms and Practice Management Firms Likely to Cut More Equity Partners while Outsourcing More Work
ABAJournal.com
With flat revenues at most firms for the first six months of 2010, a new survey of nearly 200 law firms suggests that firing equity partners has been “a focal point” for firms this year and it “will continue to be a priority throughout 2010.” Firms are also more likely to send work to offshore legal service providers and virtual law firms.
Former Associate Sues Nixon Peabody for Failing to Pay a $266,000 Origination Bonus
Law.com
A former Nixon Peabody associate, Noah Doolittle, is suing the firm over a $266,000 bonus he claims he is owed for bringing in and servicing a client. The firm has acknowledged that Doolittle helped bring the client to the firm but has denied that the client was considered to be Doolittle’s; moreover, the firm’s lawyer claims that, upon his departure from the firm Doolittle was paid “a very generous bonus [$75,000] and we don’t believe there was any merit to his claim that he’s entitled to any more compensation.”
Drinker Biddle Creates Role of Chief Value Officer
The Legal Intelligencer
In another sign that the practice of law is increasingly being structured like a business, Drinker, Biddle & Reath has appointing a “Chief Value Officer” whose role will include “keep[ing] clients in mind as the law firm offers more alternative pricing.”
Attorney Regulation & Ethics
Minnesota Supreme Court Decision Sets a High Burden for In-House Whistleblower Claims
Inside Counsel
Like many other jurisdictions, Minnesota has a whistleblower statute that protects employees from retaliation if they report legal violations to employers, governmental bodies or law enforcement. But what if an employee is an in-house lawyer whose job requires reporting such violations? In Kidwell v. Sybaritic, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected a blanket “job duties exception” to whistleblower protection and set forth circumstances (such as when reporting occurs outside the scope of the employee’s normal job duties) in which an in-house lawyer with compliance and/or legal reporting duties may still be protected by the statute. One commentator observed that the Court’s ruling means that now “[i]t’s going to come down to a very specific [case-by-case] analysis” whether whistleblower protection applies to in-house lawyers.
Diversity
Boise Schiller’s Stephen Zack is the ABA’s First Hispanic-American President and the Hispanic Bar Association’s “Lawyer of the Year”
Stephen Zack, a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, is the first Hispanic-American to serve as President of the American Bar Association. Zack has spent over 35 years in law practice and speaks with the Am Law Daily about his new position and proposed initiatives. Zack was also recently honored as the National Hispanic Bar Association’s “Lawyer of the Year.”
How Lawyers “Keep Mum”: Allen & Overy Offers 82 Days of Holiday to Retain Senior Women
DailyMail.co.uk
In an industry were men are still in the majority, firms are exploring ways to attract and retain talented and successful women. Allen & Overy, one of Britain’s “Magic Circle” firms, is providing its lawyers with the option to increase their vacation time while proportionately decreasing their salary. The effort is designed to retain workers who would accept a reduced salary so that they can spend more time at home with family.
Appointment of Women Judges Slowly Increasing in Some Muslim Countries
Open Democracy
While several Muslim countries that had previously excluded women from the judiciary are now appointing some women, they are not always allowed to adjudicate the same cases as male judges; moreover, whether these appointments have been accompanied by improvements in overall access to justice for women is debatable, according to Open Democracy.
Recent Hispanic Law Graduate Sues Howard Rice for Deferring—then Rescinding—Her Offer, Claiming Discrimination in Yet Another “Recession-Era Tale”
WSJ Law Blog
While preparing for the California Bar exam, Sarah Martinez—a 2008 graduate from the University of California (Davis) School of Law—was informed by Howard Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin that her job offer with the firm would be deferred for a year. Despite a possible opportunity with another local firm, Martinez agreed to the deferral at Howard Rice, but her job offer was eventually rescinded by Howard Rice before the deferral period ended. Martinez maintains that she was subject to racial and gender discrimination because “even while her job offer was deferred, Howard Rice actively recruited and hired white associates, especially white male associates.”
Professional Development
“Strange phenomenon” of partners fleeing big firms continues
CrainsNewYork.com
With corporate clients increasingly scrutinizing their legal bills and law firm partners desiring greater flexibility, Crain’s reports on the “strange phenomenon … sweeping the legal arena” over the past 18 months where partners are fleeing private firms to start their own businesses where they are charging far less and affording greater certainty and predictability to corporate clients. The article also cites survey results revealing that more than half of 231 corporations polled negotiated lower rates with outside counsel and nearly two-thirds implemented rate freezes.
Is the Job Market for Lawyers Improving?
New York Law Journal
The New York Law Journal reports that law schools are expecting an improved job market this fall, with substantial increases anticipated at some New York firms that made “major reductions” last year. For example, Cravath, Swaine & Moore had only 22 summer associates in 2010, down from 121 in 2009; the firm hopes to have between 70 and 80 summer associates in 2011.
Legal Education
Does law school really teach students to “think like a lawyer”?
SSRN.com
Every first year law student is told that he or she will be taught over the next three years to “think like a lawyer,” but Dr. Douglas Rush argues that the results of two empirical studies show that law schools do not teach students to think like lawyers and that students with such skills “self-select” to attend law schools.
Report Encourages More Pragmatism in Law School and Multi-Phased Bar Exams
National Jurist
The American Law Institute, American Bar Association and Association for Continuing Legal Education have issued a report entitled, “Equipping Our Lawyers: Law School Education, Continuing Legal Education, and Legal Practice in the 21st Century.” Among other findings and recommendations, the report states that more law schools should develop and encourage “experiential learning,” providing students with access to clinics and externships to help budding lawyers better transition from academia to full-time employment. The report also recommends restructuring bar exams from one-time events to phased examinations over the span of several years.
Duke law dean defends young lawyers and their contributions
Law.com
Former federal judge and current dean of Duke Law School, David F. Levi, tackles the “vocal” “minority view” that new associates’ work is “worthless.” Levi criticizes experienced lawyers for acquiescing in and reinforcing such “hyperbolic and misleading” arguments, which are usually advanced by clients seeking to lower costs. Levi states that experienced lawyers must not permit young attorneys “bear a disproportionate share of the burdens caused by the downturn on the ground they are only getting what they deserve.”
The “Blogosphere” Expresses Discontent with the Legal Education System
WSJ Law Blog
The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports on the blogosphere’s negative coverage of law schools and opportunities for graduates. Among the comments reproduced are those by blogger Scott Bullock—whose arguments also received coverage in other newspapers—that law school is a “scam” and a “big Ponzi scheme.” Bullock’s chief complaints involve high tuition and debt for law students, as well as claims that law schools inflate post-graduation employment and salary rates.