Category: News Feeds

The Citi Private Bank Law Firm Group released its latest report and once again informed us that revenue is up — but only because firms have jacked up their rates — demand is sluggish, and firms are taking longer and longer to collect on their bills largely because in-house counsel have made everything unduly difficult.

The biggest sticking point in the report is over just what the next year to 18 months will bring. Citi Private Bank takes the firm stance that there is no looming recession, but the people running the firms and spending every day with access to financial records of businesses across sectors are totally smelling that recession. A majority of “industry leaders” surveyed believe the bottom falls out next year and an even larger majority see trouble by 2021.

“Although 2020 is expected to be a positive year for the law firm industry, it is an opportunity for firms to ensure they are well-positioned should there be a downturn in the market,” said Gretta Rusanow, Head of Advisory Services for the Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank. “Despite the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and volatility, and a challenging talent market, we expect the most successful firms will continue to expand and innovate in 2020. For those firms, expansion will be closely aligned to the firm’s business strategy – more so than pursuing opportunistic growth.”

This view doesn’t necessarily clash with firm leadership’s sense of a recession. Law firms often experience recessions on a bit of a lag. It’s why law firms talk about the Great Recession as a 2009 phenomenon instead of something that burned everyone in 2008. There’s money to be made in law when the rest of the economy begins its skid. Indeed, right up until the point where firms can’t continue to boost revenue by raising rates, recessions aren’t bad at all for firms.

Rusanow’s advice for firms may not come out and say it, but she’s telling everyone to invest in countercyclical talent.

So if you’re in bankruptcy, this might be a good time to test the waters.

Earlier: In-House Counsel Make Increasingly Arcane Billing Demands And It’s Costing Firms Money

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

Who doesn’t love a good bonus announcement? It’s the perfect inspiration to keep associates happily billing with the promise of a big payday in the near future.

The good folks at Arnold & Porter understand that money can be a great motivator for associate productivity. That’s why in addition to the market bonuses, established by Milbank last month, the firm is offering extra money for their big billers. Associates will get 20 percent above the market rates if they’ve logged 2,400 hours, 2,200 of which is billable time, this year.

The firm’s bonus scale is as follows:

Class of 2019 – $15,000
Class of 2018 – $15,000
Class of 2017 – $25,000
Class of 2016 – $50,000
Class of 2015 – $65,000

You’ll notice the bonus grid at A&P drops off after 2015 while Biglaw bonus schedules tend to end with the classes of 2012 or 2011. According to the firm’s bonus announcement, senior associate bonuses will take into account market rates and well as productivity and other factors. Qualifying senior associates can expect to receive bonuses of up to $125,000.

Bonuses will be paid at the end of January. You can read the full memo on the next page.

Remember — we can’t do this without you, dear readers! We depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for all salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for your help!

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government appeared hopeful that after 100 days, the doctors’ strike may finally be drawing to a close.

HARARE – Wednesday marked a hundred days since doctors in Zimbabwe went on strike.

The industrial action, which began on 3 September, affected most major hospitals.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government appeared hopeful that after 100 days, the doctors’ strike may finally be drawing to a close.

The Health Services Board said at least 80 doctors applied to return to work after an offer of financial support was made by the Higher Life Foundation, a charity run by billionaire Strive Masiyiwa. But, that figure was still only a fraction of the 1,600 doctors in government service.

Most of them had joined the strike.

The Hospital Doctors Association’s Masimba Ndoro told **Eyewitness News **the problems of low government wages, and lack of medicine and equipment in hospitals still hadn’t been addressed.

Post published in: Featured

“The move is part of strategic efforts to get the Zimbabwean diaspora in South Africa and across the globe to come back home not only to celebrate 40 years of independence, but as an effort to create a dialogue between the diaspora and those back home,” ZimThrive said in a statement on Wednesday.

Co-founder Mike Tashaya hoped the event would help create a dialogue among Zimbabwean nationals on how to “be part of the change the country so desperately needs”.

“The idea is to come together and help market Zimbabwe as a fantastic tourist and investment destination, create a dialogue among its citizens and be part of the change the country so desperately needs,” Tashaya said.

This will be achieved through the hosting of various social and business events in the country, while also collaborating with a wide range of business, social and community organisations.

“It is also a chance for them to attend family-friendly music, sports, arts and cultural events.

“There is a significant population of Zimbabweans in the neighbouring country, making up South Africa’s largest group of foreign migrants. With an estimated population of between one and three million,” ZimThrive said.

Co-founders Mildred Mujanganja, who is based in the US, and Tashaya, who is based in the UK, established the platform to bring Zimbabweans who live in various countries around the world together, with the aim of reinforcing unity, building new and old friendships, and creating a stronger and self-sufficient nation.

“We are less than six months away and the team has been working closely with our partners and key stakeholders to populate an exciting and inclusive calendar of events that allows families and friends to come together and create long-lasting memories,” Mujanganja said.

This year saw a wave of xenophobic attacks in the country that affected migrants who left their homes across the continent in pursuit of a better life.

In September, Gauteng was the hardest hit, with sporadic violence occurring across all three of its big metros, News24 reported.

The protests saw various communities looting both foreign and South African-owned shops, calling for an end to drug syndicates.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula previously revealed close to 700 people had been arrested on charges ranging from public violence, arson, malicious damage to property, theft and possession of stolen property, possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, attempted murder and murder, business robbery, and ongoing contraventions of the Gathering Act.

Post published in: Featured

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on motherhood in the legal profession, in partnership with our friends at MothersEsquire. Welcome Laura Shepard to our pages.

Last year, I ended a relationship.  I did not get a divorce. But it felt like one. I left the law firm where I had worked for the past 12 years. The place I started, spent my entire legal career, and where I was taught my specialty. The place where I made friends and found a mentor. They became more than an employer — there was a time I considered them family. But like most families, there was an essence of dysfunction. I thought we were just quirky and that I held it together. I later learned this mentality is what kept me in an exhausting and emotionally draining environment for far too long. It is hard enough to recognize the symptoms of burnout but much more difficult to identify the cause and find the strength to overcome it. But I did find the courage to accomplish the proudest moment in my career: I left this job to start my own practice.

While my early years at the firm were enjoyable, I felt growing pains in my career at the same time we started growing our family. My first child was born after I had practiced for eight years, and I became pregnant with my second the following year. During this time, a new benefit program became available in my field that dramatically increased my work volume. I was facing so many challenges professionally and with my young children that it was nearly impossible to focus on what I wanted for myself or my career. I had two children under four years of age and a massive caseload. I needed more legal support, challenge, and personal growth in my job because I was losing any joy it once brought me. I felt stuck in this troubled relationship and demoralized by my superiors. Looking back, I believe there was an implicit bias that my changing work needs were solely because of my young children and not the job itself. Honestly, I blamed myself for the same reasons and thought that I could fix it if I worked harder and changed my attitude.

I eventually sought guidance from a career counselor who encouraged me to identify my values and follow them. The only positives I could identify from my current job were a steady paycheck, friendliness with coworkers, and the comfort of being in the same place and position I had been in for years. But I was miserable. Those are not benefits that sustain a career. I had too much stress with both my job and my family but only one of them I could change. My schedule juggling young children was temporary, but my children left no time to tend to my own needs, and the job was no longer fulfilling enough to warrant my energy when I had little to spare. I needed to make my own choices, control my schedule, and reach my potential. I needed to leave.

After I left, I befriended other attorneys in my field locally and through Facebook groups. I am amazed by the number of women lawyers who leave firms to start small or solo law practices on their own terms. In the past, I kept my head down and the work up. I never knew of any alternative. But women today are charting new paths supported by their colleagues who are more than willing to provide support, advice, and encouragement along the way. Together, we can knock down walls and build anew, not just break through glass ceilings. If I had these tribes earlier in my career, I could have spared myself much grief.

We can only control so much. I wish I had not pushed myself to the limit trying to make sure of my decision and trying to fix the unfixable. I wish I had not felt my attitude alone determined my satisfaction in the office instead of accepting that the job had outgrown me and that my needs had diverged from the owners. I wish I had realized earlier that it was okay — that becoming a mother made me want more purpose in my career than I once had. None of this was my fault, and it was time to choose a new path.

As women, we can possess a persistent self-doubt, a need to prove ourselves, endless questioning yet believing we can still do it all. But we need to empower ourselves, not cower. We need to accept that our loyalty, our compassion, our strive, our ability to see possibilities and make decisions, don’t just make us good employees. They make us great lawyers.

Earlier: Mothers At Law: Achieving Meaningful Success In The Legal Profession

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Laura Shepard is the proud owner of Shepard Immigration Law just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana, where she provides personalized family and employment immigration legal services. She is the mother of two young children and is involved with MothersEsquire and AMIGA Lawyers. You can email her at LES_attorney@LSimmlaw.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Utah’s first cohort of licensed paralegal practitioners features just four members, but state officials expects the program for nonlawyers to grow significantly in the years to come. Utah Supreme Court Justice Deno Himonas said he anticipates there will be 20 LPPs in two years and 200 in a decade.

The initiative, designed to strengthen access to justice, permits licensees to complete limited legal tasks in three practice areas: family law, debt collection, and landlord/tenant.

Himonas said Utah hopes to generate more applicants for the program through increasing awareness of its existence and broadening the educational opportunities made available to secure the license.

Applicants without a J.D. must complete LPP-approved courses for ethics and for any practice area in which they want to be licensed. Utah Valley University is the only institution currently offering the courses, though Himonas said having the courses offered more broadly would help.

“I want the program to be as accessible as possible,” he said, noting he would particularly like to see those in rural communities be able to participate.

All applicants for licensure must pass the LPP Ethics Exam and an exam in the area in which they wish to practice.

Four additional applicants are expected to take their exams in March, so by next spring there could be double the number of LPPs, said former LPP administrator Carrie T. Boren of the Utah State Bar.

Boren said she is confident the LPPs will help address the gap in access to justice for the public. “We want them to have sound legal advice they can trust at a cost they can afford,” she said. “We are really proud of the [LPP] program, and I think it will do great things.”

The paralegal program is expected to be independently evaluated by two academics: Professor Anna E. Carpenter of University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law and Assistant Professor Alyx Mark of Wesleyan University.

Himonas said Utah is hopeful its work with the evaluators might shed light on other practice areas in which paralegals could be licensed, such as expungements. “We want to think about whether there are other potential good candidates,” he said.

Utah’s licensed paralegal practitioner program comes several years after Washington became the first state to permit limited license legal technicians, or LLLTs.

Meanwhile, Utah’s LPP program is just one component of the state’s multifaceted efforts to bolster access to justice. Earlier this year, the Utah Work Group on Regulatory Reform proposed a series of changes to the state’s regulation of the legal market, including a “regulatory sandbox” that would allow nontraditional legal entities to test out innovations without committing the unauthorized practice of law.

The Utah Supreme Court approved the recommendations and implementation work is under way. The planned action steps will be evaluated for their effectiveness.

“We are not interested in empty gestures,” Himonas said. “I want to know that these things are working.”

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Lyle Moran is a freelance writer in San Diego who handles both journalism and content writing projects. He previously reported for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Diego Daily Transcript, Associated Press, and Lowell Sun. He can be reached at lmoransun@gmail.com and found on Twitter @lylemoran.

For the last five years, Brent Goettshe and four buddies had a pretty good thing going: They ran a bitcoin-mining shop, the unfortunately-named BitClub Network, sold shares of the proceeds to investors, raised almost three-quarters of a billion dollars and then made a bunch of shit up in order to keep it for themselves. This not-very-sophisticated sophisticated-looking scheme had its basis in something other than bitcoin mining, as Goettsche put it with admirable honesty.

Goettsche discussed with his conspirators that their target audience would be “dumb” investors, referred to them as “sheep,” and said he was “building this whole model on the backs of idiots.”

A lot of Americans are about to learn that impeachment does not equal removal from office.

— Professor Rick Hasen predicting the epic case of confusion about to befall the majority of the country when they learn how the impeachment process plays out. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell is mulling whether to dismiss the charges with a simple majority vote or let the trial run its course so Trump can accurately declare that he was acquitted and claim the false finality that this process was always going to give him.

For anyone still thinking that voters will be savvy enough to see through Trump’s acquittal spin, Hasen’s quote should be a sober reminder that a nuanced grasp of this process isn’t in the cards.

Sometimes I review books in this column, and more often  than not, they’re about issues relating to the intersection of law and technology. But every once in a while a book is sent to me that’s completely off-topic, but nevertheless catches my interest. The children’s book, “My Mom, the Lawyer,” is a perfect example.

The book is authored by Michelle Browning Coughlin, an IP and data privacy lawyer from Louisville, Kentucky — who happens to be a mom. She’s also the founder of Mothers Esquire, a nonprofit organization devoted to gender equity in the legal profession, with a particular emphasis on support and advocacy for mothers and other caregiving lawyers.

When I was contacted about reviewing this book and offered a complimentary copy, I immediately agreed. After all, I’m a lawyer and a mother of teenagers — and I’ve struggled to juggle the demands of my career with my parental obligations for nearly two decades. So even though this book has absolutely nothing to do with technology, it’s still right up my alley.

From the start, I had great expectations for this book and eagerly awaited its arrival. And I’m happy to report that when I finally got my hands on it two weeks ago, it was exactly what I hoped it would be.

For starters, it’s got great, colorful illustrations of mom-lawyers from all walks of life interacting with their children. Every mother and child will relate to those pictured in this book and feel as if it’s directed right at them. It’s incredibly representative, with images of people from many races, nationalities, religions, and disabilities.

The plethora of jobs that require a law degree are discussed and explained using clear, simple descriptions. The career paths covered run the gamut and include law student, law professor, litigator, appellate lawyer, in-house counsel, transactional attorney, military lawyer, solo attorney, family lawyer, politician, judge, and even a lawyer-mom on maternity leave.

Not only does the book do a great job of discussing the many career paths that lawyers take, it also helps children understand the importance and impact of their mothers’ work. The author explains how lawyers solve problems that help people, and thus make their communities — and the world — a better place.

An emphasis is placed on how hard people work to become lawyers and on the skills needed to be successful as a lawyer, such as intelligence and hard work, oral and written advocacy, and decision-making capabilities. The author also emphasizes the positive impact that all of that hard work has on communities and the lawyer-moms’ families, too.

Importantly, the book also addresses the impact of working parents on families. Topics covered include: 1) going to work with mom and coloring quietly in her office while she works, 2) the fact the lawyer-moms sometimes come home late from work, 3) that lawyer-moms sometimes travel, and 4) that sometimes lawyer-moms work while the other parent stays at home with the kids.

That lawyer-moms’ schedules sometimes conflict with family events is mentioned, with the narrator, a child, explaining that as a result other family members occasionally attend school-related events that may conflict with the lawyer-mom’s work obligations — and that that’s OK. I particularly liked how the author interspersed the reality of the impact of work obligations on family life with references to the many fun and caring interactions that lawyer-moms have with their children.

I found the focus on the realities of having a lawyer-mom to be one of the best parts of the book, since it helps the children of lawyer-moms understand that lots of other families with lawyer-moms are out there. Importantly, it shows that their experience with having a mom who happens to be a lawyer isn’t unusual, and that lawyer-moms are great role models — and great moms.

So if you’re a lawyer-mom or have someone on your holiday gift list who is, then what are you waiting for? Buy a copy of this book today, and rest easy knowing that not only is this book the perfect gift, all proceeds benefit Mothers Esquire. It’s a win-win! What could be better than that?

This came out at a residents meeting held on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by Ward 8 Councillor, Keith Charumbira and the Environmental Committee Chairperson, Councillor Stewart Mutizwa.

Representatives from the Zimbabwe Republic Police as well as from the business sector were also in attendance.

Minutes of the meeting indicate that Newlands, Chisipite, Kamfinsa and Runiville shopping centres were experiencing deep problems ‘in terms of nuisance’.

Newlands Shopping Centre has become one of the popular nightspots in Harare with a lot of illegal activities happening there.

Councillor Charumbira agreed that Newlands Shopping centre had been turned into a serious crime zone and acknowledged there was need to take action against illegal drinking activities that have reduced the status of the shopping centre.

According to the minutes, Councillor Mutizwa expressed concern over the developments. At Newlands Shopping Centre.

“In terms of nuisance, Newlands, Chisipite, Kamfinsa and Runiville shopping centres are all experiencing problems. He stated that we need to get rid of idle people who hang around and to this effect ZRP has been asked to handle the nuisance, but this has been ineffective.

“There are bedrooms in cars and unacceptable behaviour which municipal police are unable to help with. However, if nuisance can be proved then there can be an enforcement order issued to close down the nuisance (bars operating at Newlands Shopping centre). He stated that the property values are affected by the nuisance encountered at the shopping centre as a result of it becoming unsightly and with unbecoming behaviour of visitors to the shopping centre,” said Councilor Mutizwa.

The minutes also showed that residents who attended the meeting expressed concern over the state of affairs at Newlands Shopping Centre and said ‘they do not shop there anymore because of the filthy state and the inability to find a parking spot’.

It was also reported that some tenants at the shopping centre had since left as standards continue to decline.

A representative from the Zimbabwe Republic Police suggested the setting up of a police base at the Newlands Shopping Centre saying this would largely assist in maintaining order.

Post published in: Featured