According to an article in the Los Angeles Paralegal Reporter (originally printed in the Los Angeles Daily Journal) by Stacey Hunt and Michael R. Jencks, attorneys and paralegals need to sit up and take notice of three recent decisions out of the Eastern District of California. These cases are some of the first in the state to deny or reduce paralegal fees for the paralegals' failure to...
Aaron Kubey is the new executive director-president of the National Theatre of the Deaf, which has gone through financial crises, leadership changes and relocations in the past few years. Kubey, a paralegal in a New York law firm, is currently artistic director of the New York Deaf Theatre. Kubey takes over the position Nov. 5 at the 40-year-old organization, now based in West Hartford. He...
With soaring associate salaries in BigFirms reaching $160,000 per year for first years, something had to give. McDermott Will & Emery, a 1,000 attorney firm, announced it was creating a new class of associates. Instead of turning to contract attorneys or sending its grunt work overseas, McDermott has decided to bring in 15 lawyers with a few years of experience who do not want to...
Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP, has released its Fourth Annual Litigation Trends Survey of more than 300 corporations within the U.S. and U.K. This report is the largest conducted of business litigation matters. According to the survey, while litigation between employers and employees did not dissolve completely, it did taper off. Seventeen percent of the respondents reported...
Declining law school enrollments have had a positive effect on the paralegal field. A new salary survey issued by Robert Half Legal predicts that the demand for non-lawyers with competent skill levels is in higher demand, forcing salaries to increase in 2008. Executive Director Charles Volkert said some law firms are building up practice areas, while corporate legal departments are...
An article today in The Jerusalem Post revealed that 40 new Israeli women paralegals worked long hours on an $8 billion U.S. real estate deal. The training sponsored by the Development Center for the Employment of Haredim, (an Orthodox sect of Judiasm that bypasses modern secular beliefs), a branch of the ministry, and the Joint-Israel, is a result of an increased effort by the Israeli...
The Maine Biz Daily reported today that Maine will soon be among those states with a shortage in workers as seemingly an overwhelming number of its residents are running with the Baby Boomer pack. Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of the Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility at Boston College cites data from a U.S. Census Bureau study that will be released later this year that found a...
An article this week by the Legal Intelligencer citing possible associate layoffs in the corporate, mergers & acquisitions and securities arena failed to mention the trickle down effect on paralegals. Surely, anyone with just a few years of experience recalls the nasty era of 2001-2004 or so of deep purges and scourages affecting thousands of corporate transactional paralegals. ...
Here's a great example of new opportunities opening for paralegals: The Daily Report (Atlanta) ran a story today that talks about Loeb & Loeb (my old alma mater) and other major Los Angeles firms that have opened a new fashion and luxury items practice group. Daily Report While fashion law in Los Angeles isn’t an original, the new groups hail from midsized firms rather...
The billable hour is now dead for Harrison & Ford's 190-attorney firm, according to law.com's blog, Newswire. The full-article from The National Law Journal, states that Harrison & Ford does not expect first-year associates to bill time. Wow. This innovative idea should filter on down to brand-new paralegals. Think about it: Paralegal schools cannot teach...