LAWYERSCHILE EL MUNDO INTERNACIONAL DEL ABOGADO

Rodrigo González Fernández y un grupo de egresados de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad la Republica en Chile ha decidido poner al alcance de todo el mundo de la profesion legal importantes materias en Ingles para ir practicando el trabajo en materia de Tratados internacionales y que nuestra profesión estará en primera linea. Invitamos a todos a opinar, debatir, participar activamente.Es el primer blog legal en inglés de latinoamerica.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

FROM LEGAL WATCH BLOG

How Firms Are Coping With the Downturn

Large law firms are finding different ways of coping with the downturn in the mergers and acquisition market and overall weak economy. Bloomberg reports that firms are finding work overseas, with deal volume in Asia, Latin American and the Middle East increasing by 39 percent. Firms are now seeking to accelerate foreign expansion, with some offering partners $250,000 in housing allowances and associates $150,000 a year in incentives to move overseas. And while some U.S. firms have laid off lawyers in their home offices, others are building their overseas roster.

This story from Law.com reports that many law firms are replacing "headline making deals" with more middle-market transactions. And state-owned sovereign wealth funds are also keeping firms busy, since the funds are able to make investments that "require a pure equity investment" and "are not susceptible to outside leverage." And firms expect these funds to remain an area of opportunity for firms even when the credit crunch abates.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on April 10, 2008 at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Long Billable Hours Causing Problems for Lawyers Around the Globe

Today, Conde Nast's Porfolio covers this "earth shattering" story about stressed-out, overworked, guilt-plagued, miserable lawyers who don't lead balanced lives. This time, the conclusion came from a three-year study by the New York State Bar Association. Needless to say, most of the findings aren't new; long hours are driven by round-the-clock client demands, financial pressure to repay student loans and the intrusion of the BlackBerry and other technologies that make it difficult to leave the office behind. And the solutions aren't much more original -- law firms must adopt and implement flexible options.

But long hours aren't unique to attorneys in the United States. As this story from Australia points out, law firms all over the world have "pretty much the worst practices," says academic Linda Duxbury. Duxbury said that both Canada and Australia were equally lacking when it came to work-life balance options, with the major difference between the countries being that, "In Canada, they know they have a problem."

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on April 10, 2008 at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lawsuit Seeks to Raise Court-Appointed Rate Above $650

What do large-firm, white-collar criminal defense attorneys and court-appointed criminal lawyers have in common? They both charge $650. Only for the Biglaw attorneys, that's $650 an hour, while for court-appointed lawyers in Pennsylvania, it's $650 for preparation of a felony case (or a whopping $2,000 for homicides). Rates like these compromise indigent defendants' constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel and a fair trial, argue a group of court-appointed lawyers in Philadelphia, who've filed suit for a pay increase in federal court, according to this report. In their complaint, the lawyers ask the court to prohibit all criminal trials involving court-appointed lawyers until a more adequate pay system is put in place.

While court-appointed lawyers aren't entitled to the same pay as their large-firm clients (whose clients can afford to pay huge fees), at the same time, $650 for a felony or $2,000 for a homicide is unconscionably low. At a bargain rate of $50/hour, that's 13 hours for the felony case or 40 hours for the homicide. Kind of hard to squeeze in a trial with caps like that.

If you're a criminal defense lawyer, what do you do? Do you press your clients to take a plea? And how many of these cases do you handle at a loss before you stop accepting them at all?

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on April 10, 2008 at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A New Circuit for Justice Scalia

It's been years since Justice Scalia sat on the D.C. Circuit. But these days, he can be found on a different circuit entirely -- the speaking circuit. As today's Washington Post reports, with Scalia's upcoming book, Making Your Case: the Art of Persuading Judges, co-authored with writing guru Bryan Garner and due out April 28, the justice has been making the rounds to drum up publicity. Earlier this week, Scalia spoke at a high school and a law school, and soon, he'll make an appearance on "60 Minutes." Who would have thought that beneath Justice Scalia's robes lurked a marketing machine?

For more information on Scalia's upcoming book, see this post.

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Posted by Carolyn Elefant on April 10, 2008 at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Consulten, opinen y escriban
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
DIPLOMADO EN RSE DE LA ONU
www.Consultajuridicachile.blogspot.com
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www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
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Renato Sánchez 3586
teléfono: 5839786
e-mail rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago-Chile

Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación en RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

from legal watch blog

Lawyer's Disappearance Remains a Mystery

The disappearance last month of lawyer Elizabeth Calvert, 45, and her husband, John, 47, remains a mystery, deepened by the apparent suicide of the man with whom they were last seen, their former business associate Dennis Gerwing. As we first blogged here on March 10, authorities were baffled by the couple's disappearance from Hilton Head, S.C., where they lived part time on their yacht. Just five months earlier, Calvert had become a partner with the Savannah, Ga., firm Hunter Maclean, after 14 years in-house at UPS, where she had achieved the position of vice president. The Calverts were last seen March 3, meeting with Gerwing, and were reported missing the next day. On March 7, police found their 2006 Mercedes six miles from their residence. Four days later, they found Gerwing dead in a Hilton Head villa in an apparent suicide.

Today, there remain many questions but few answers about their disappearance, according to a story in the Hilton Head newspaper The Island Packet. The county sheriff's office has been "extremely tight-lipped," releasing little information. But the sheriff told the newspaper that his office is actively investigating the case and following leads. One puzzling question is why Gerwing left two suicide notes, one admitting that he stole from the couple and the other written on a bed sheet and said to be illegible. Reports say the Calverts were planning to confront Gerwing over problems Elizabeth Calvert found in their business records.

Soon after Elizabeth Calvert's disappearance, her law partners spoke out about the mystery, with partner John Tatum telling a reporter, "Everyone is hoping and praying for a miraculously happy ending, but that would be a miracle." Perhaps it is a sign that their hope has waned, but a month after Elizabeth Calvert's disappearance, the firm's Web site no longer lists her name.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pulitzer Prize for Legal Writing Prof

Winners of The Pulitzer Prize were announced this week, and among them was an associate professor of literature and legal writing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. John Matteson, a graduate of Harvard Law School, won the Pulitzer in biography for his book, Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father, the first book to chronicle the relationship between the author of Little Women and her father, Bronson Alcott. In addition to his law degree, Matteson has a doctorate in English from Columbia University. He has practiced law in California and North Carolina, according to Associated Press. An announcement on the John Jay Web site says that Matteson, when asked to comment about the prize, recalled the words of John Steinbeck when he won the Nobel that he felt "wrapped and shellacked." The prize includes a cash award of $10,000.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And the Webby Nominees Are ...

Voting is underway for the 12th annual Webby Awards, honoring excellence in Web sites in more than 100 categories -- among them, law. Called by The New York Times the "Oscars of the Internet," the awards are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a 550-member group that includes Internet innovator Vinton Cerf, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and media mogul Harvey Weinstein. Through its People's Voice Awards, the Webbys also allow voting by the Web community at large.

Which is where you come in. In the law category, five sites are nominated. You can vote for your favorite by filling out the ballot at the People's Voice site. (You will need to register.) The nominees for best law site are:

While you're there, check out and vote for your favorite sites in other categories. At least one other law-related site you will find nominated, in the category Charitable Organizations, is the Innocence Project.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Legal Careers: Two Views, Both Bad

Two items in the news today combine to make a single point: Law is a jealous mistress but not always a generous one.

By way of the New York Law Journal comes word of a just-published New York State Bar Association report on work-life balance in law. One striking feature of the report is its scope. The NYSBA's Special Committee on Balanced Lives in the Law, chaired by Syracuse lawyer M. Catherine Richardson, spent nearly three years on the report, meeting with lawyers in all corners of the state, in all types of practices, of all ages, genders and ethnicities. Across the board, lawyers said they found it difficult if not impossible to find balance.

"What struck us as we reviewed the results of these forums was that the attorneys' responses -- regardless of their number of years in practice, size of firm, practice setting, etc. -- were consistent on one central point: They all were having a very difficult time achieving a balanced life in the law. ... Most felt that their life was not balanced (work dominates their time and attention, at the expense of their personal life). Most felt that, at the time they decided to go to law school, they didn't fully appreciate the extent of the demands a legal career would place on them (the number of hours required to be worked each week, the extent to which work would intrude on their private life, etc.). The law is indeed a jealous mistress, and they underestimated how jealous she would be."

Yet the report goes on to say that, with few exceptions, if given a second chance, the lawyers would still choose a career in law.

Well, at least lawyers are paid well, right? Ask Jeanne Wrenn about that. The 36-year-old Chicago prosecutor, a single mother seven years out of law school, moonlights as a bartender to make ends meet on her $59,000 annual salary. Wrenn is among the lawyers profiled in a Chicago Tribune piece (via ABA Journal) with a title that says it all about the income gap in the legal profession: Two lawyers walk into a bar. One orders a round of drinks for the house. The other one puts on an apron and serves it. Yes, the article says, some lawyers make a fortune, "but these days, far more lawyers make far less than is widely assumed." A Northwestern researcher who studied Chicago's legal community found that between 1975 and 1995, the bottom three-fourths of the profession lost ground in income, while the top fourth jetted far ahead -- and that trend has only intensified in the years since.

Like the lawyers in the New York study, Wrenn might also have made the same career choice if given a second chance. While she sometimes wonders what life would be like for her and her daughter had she gone corporate, she tells the Chicago Tribune, she did not go into public service to become a millionaire. "You're more concerned about doing good than doing well." I'll drink to that.

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Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on April 9, 2008 at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación en RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – BIOCOMBUSTIBLES y asesorías a nivel internacional y están disponibles para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile