Legal Pad

Partner Compensation: The Downturn's New Touchy Subject

[Petra Pasternak]

With the recovery creeping along at a snail’s pace, many law firms are grappling with uneven peformance across practice areas. In general conversations, partners are reporting that much of real estate remains down, while litigation has been flat and M&A activity is modestly reviving. I checked in with Kristin Stark, a San Francisco-based consultant with Hildebrandt Baker Robbins, about what that means in her day-today dealings with Am Law 100 and 200 clients. It’s not surprising that Stark says partner pay has been a hot topic of discussion – and a source of tension – in some firms. Here’s a summary of our talk on the topic and what firms should be doing to keep rainmakers from walking out the door.

Q: Are partners throwing staplers at each other over this?

A: [Laughs] Maybe in some firms. In all seriousness, firms are recognizing that if they don’t address the disparities in practice performance and the flat levels of demand in the market, the tensions are only going to increase and may create instability in some firms.

TechCrunch Turns to Old Ally Perkins Coie in Aol Acquistion

[Amy Miller]

TechCrunch, a technology news blog covering Silicon Valley, may have been founded in 2005 by former O’Melveny & Myers and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati associate Michael Arrington. But when AOL acquired the tech site to boost its news coverage, neither of Arrington’s former firms worked on the deal. Instead, TechCrunch was advised by attorneys from Perkins Coie, which has advised both TechCrunch and Arrington in the past.

Californians Get JDs, Get Rich, End Up On "Forbes 200"

[Petra Pasternak]

Gracing the pages of Forbes magazine’s latest list of the nation’s richest men and women at least nine are law graduates who live in California.

Our sister publication The Am Law Daily did the hard work and culled the list of 400 for those that gave up the billable hour to make piles and piles (and piles) of cash. Some highlights include:

• No. 101 (tie) with $3.1 billion is UC Hastings law school grad George Roberts, founder of buyout shop KKR. He lives in San Francisco. 
• No. 119 (tie) with $2.9 billion is Riley Bechtel, construction magnate who practiced at now-defunct Thelen, the San Francisco law firm that served as outside counsel to Bechtel Corp. Bechtel, who earned his J.D. from Stanford Law, lives in San Francisco. 
• No. 217 (tie) with $1.85 billion is Jess Jackson, a Berkeley Law graduate who made his fortunes in wine. The founder of Jackson Family Wines lives in Geyserville. 
• Charles Munger, founder of Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, took spot No. 236 (tie) with $1.75 billion. The source of his wealth is listed as Berkshire Hathaway. 
• No. 365 (tie), with $1.1 billion, went to Peter Thiel, Stanford law grad with ties to PayPal and Facebook. A former Sullivan & Cromwell associate, Thiel lives in San Francisco. 

9th Circuit Circles Back to Fogel's Death Penalty Order, Tweaks Part

[Ginny LaRoe]

After issuing a late-night order Monday (free reg. req.) remanding the Albert Greenwood Brown death-penalty case back to district court, the Ninth Circuit has tweaked a section dealing with District Judge Jeremy Fogel’s idea to give the killer a choice in how he wanted to die.  Check out paragraph 14 of the amended order filed today.  You can find the original order here.

9th Circuit Judge Reverses Self On No Child Left Behind Decision

[Ginny LaRoe]

New arguments in a challenge to the No Child Left Behind Act must have been compelling because Ninth Circuit Judge Dorothy Nelson has changed her mind.

In a replacement opinion issued today, Nelson now agrees that a group of public school children and their parents have standing to challenge the definition of “highly qualified teachers.” The new majority opinion, authored by Judge William Fletcher, which Nelson joins, also finds that an expanded definition of the term “highly qualified” is invalid — a win for the students who claim that the Education Department’s tinkering with that definition has allowed a disproportionate number of lesser qualified teachers into classrooms with low-income and minority students.

Nelson originally authored the majority opinion saying the students lacked standing. 

Well-Regarded PI Gets Support in Fighting Criminal Charges

[Kate Moser]

Almost a year ago now, private investigator Steve Vender landed in some hot water when the San Francisco DA’s office accused him of intimidating a witness in a murder case.

From the look of things at a Hall of Justice courtroom Friday, where a judge heard Vender’s motion to dismiss the case, the Bay Area criminal defense community has rallied around Vender.

He’s being represented by Berkeley defense firm Arguedas, Cassman & Headley, and partner Cristina Arguedas was in court herself today. Other well-known defense attorneys who stopped in to support Vender were Stuart Hanlon, Betsy Wolkin, Michael Gaines and Floyd Andrews.

State Bar Notebook: Starr and Amar on Scotus

[Scott Graham]

Samuel Alito had the most successful term of any U.S. Supreme Court justice last year, when measured by 5-4 opinions authored, according to Baylor University President Kenneth Starr.

"He may not be your MVP, but he was the term's MVP," Starr, the former D.C. Circuit judge and Whitewater prosecutor, told a roomful of California lawyers at the State Bar convention Saturday in Monterey.

Starr and UC-Davis constitutional law professor Vikram Amar broke down recent developments at the court, with the two agreeing that Justice John Paul Stevens' departure won't have as much impact as some observers have suggested.

When he clerked at the court in the early 1990s, Amar said, he didn't think of Stevens as a liberal or a leader. Rather, he regarded him as intellectually independent, and more of a maverick than a coalition builder. Plus the current court is "the most intellectually confident" he's seeing during his career, meaning it's unlikely there are any votes to be wooed via charm offensive.

Starr noted that Stevens, who served on the court for 35 years, succeeded William Douglas, who served for 36. "So if history is any guide," Starr half-joked, Stevens' successor, Elena Kagan, "will serve until the year 2045." He applauded President Barack Obama for reaching outside the federal courts for a nominee, a move he said was overdue.

Looking ahead, both academics expressed doubt that recently enacted health care legislation would be struck down by the court. Starr said he expected a fight within the court, but that right now the vote would probably be for upholding.

Amar noted that the two big federalism decisions of the Rehnquist court, striking down the Violence Against Women Act and a gun-free zone around schools, didn't implicate interstate commerce as broadly as health insurance does. While he said he wasn't predicting what the court would do, "if they strike this down that will be somthing very differnt than the Rehnquist court ever did."

State Bar Notebook: Farewells and Introductions

[Scott Graham]

It was an emotional morning Saturday at the State Bar convention in Monterey when the chief justice gave his farewell address, his principal attorney was honored, and the incoming State Bar president described a family tragedy that renewed his appreciation of lawyers.

Supreme Court attorney Beth Jay, principal attorney to Chief Justice Ronald George, received the Bernard E. Witkin medal for outstanding contribution to California jurisprudence. Jay, the Winston Wolf of the Supreme Court who does her work behind the scenes, was described by outgoing California Judges Association President Michael Vicenzia as “the key” to the court. “Anyone who wants to be successful as a leader, you need a Beth Jay,” he said.

George, meanwhile, looked back at his 14 years as chief justice, ticking off accomplishments including trial court consolidation and state funding, improvements to jury service, services for pro se litigants, better community outreach, a courthouse construction program, and a “developing statewide case management system” -- developing being something of a euphemism.

 George reiterated the reasons he's stepping down from the bench, then, departing from his prepared remarks, added: “In a word, after 45 years in public service it was perhaps a time for some self-service.”

 

State Bar Notebook: Ethical Storm for Cloud Computing?

[Scott Graham]

The ethical implications of cloud computing was the highlight of a Friday panel at the State Bar convention that peered into the future of legal practice.

Fenwick & West's chief technology officer, Matthew Kesner, suggested that while law firms may some day store client data “in the cloud” -- on the Internet, rather than on local servers -- the cost savings as yet do not outweigh the ethical and practical risks.

“Don't be surprised if you have days of down time -– you will. Your providers will go down,” Kesner said. That's a problem, obviously, when facing a filing deadline.

Another challenge is that cloud vendors store data in servers all over the country or even the world. Fenwick asked one would-be vendor where its data would reside. “They wouldn't tell us,” he said. But if that vendor lost client data, the firm's liability and duty of notification would vary with every jurisdiction.

So “have we put any client data up there? No, not yet,” Kesner said. But it's probably inevitable, he added, noting that  sensitive data in other industries, such as patient health records, are now commonly stored online. “We all have data in the cloud,” he said.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Robert Rosenfeld said he expects the legal industry to get there. While loss of data would be unfortunate, it wouldn't be unprecedented, he said, recalling an incident many years ago when a shipper misplaced a Beacon box of paper documents being sent across the country.

The challenge is that with cloud computing, one mistake could implicate much more data. But, Rosenfeld said, “it's gonna get worked out. The industry is young.”

Townsend Videos Play to Good Reviews at LMA

[Scott Graham]

Townsend and Townsend and Crew has had its share of challenges lately. On Wednesday, though, the firm's marketing department received numerous plaudits for a series of short videos the firm has produced spotlighting firm partners (samples here and here).

At the Legal Marketing Association's annual technology conference in San Francisco, the Townsend videos were topic A on a panel about moving marketing communications beyond print into audio and video.

Townsend marketing director Brian Colucci offered up the following tips to his colleagues for creating similar videos:

* Get permits for the locations where you're shooting.

* Keep law firm staff informed about the process.

* Be clear with the video subjects how important it is to prepare for and engage in the filming.

* Consider using professional video production. Townsend used director Drea Cooper and media studio Teak Digital.