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Milwaukee law firm to merge operations with Sheboygan firm

Milwaukee law firm O´Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong S.C. and Hopp Neumann Humke will merge operations on June 1. Nothing much will change post merger except the signboard for Hopp Neumann Humke. The firm´s Sheboygan location will serve as the office for the new merged entity.

Established in 1917, Hopp Neumann Humke is known for its municipal law practice. Besides, it also has expertise in corporate; real estate; construction; employment law; tax and estate planning; and litigation. Mike Bauer, managing attorney of the Sheboygan office, says the law firm is expanding its legal services available to its clients. He said that the firm´s attorneys will continue to offer services in the existing areas of practices, besides adding "extra services from the Milwaukee office." He stated all the lawyers from the prior firm will continue in the same setup.

05-22-2007

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Denver law firms first-year pay tow the national drift

Keeping in tandem with the law firm salary trends in New York and California, law firms in Denver too have raised their first-year salaries to $160,000 from $135,000. The local firms such as Holme Roberts & Owen and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck are still contemplating their moves. However, four top-tier national law firms - Cooley Godward Kronish, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Morrison & Foerster, and Hogan & Hartson have confirmed their raises to denverpost.com.

If the firms want to stay in the race, it becomes imperative for them to raise the ceiling and keep salaries at par with other law firms. Admitting the challenge, Mary Stuart, HRO partner and chair of the Brownstein's hiring committee said, "We're obviously feeling the pressures..."

Clients also often exert pressure on the firms to select nation's top graduates. Cole Finegan, Hogan's managing partner in Denver said that the firm is trying to get the best of lawyers both nationally and internationally. Pay-packages in the Denver-based firms range between $105,000 and $110,000 and may go up to $120,000. Besides its clientele, law firms also have to consider the student debt factors apart from the billable hour requirements, which more often than not drive the decision-making process.

05-21-2007

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Halligan, ex-SG, NY to head Weil, Gotshal & Manges’s Appellate practice

Caitlin Halligan, the former Solicitor General of New York state, is joining Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, as head of the law firm's Appellate division.

Prior to joining Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Halligan served under the then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for over five years as the solicitor general. In that capacity, Halligan looked after the work of 45 appellate attorneys and coordinated legal status of the AG Office. Every month, she was required to supervise preparation of about 120 submissions in federal and state appellate courts.

Before accepting the new assignment at Weil, Gotshal, & Manges, Halligan, on April 30, Halligan won the case she had filed on the state's authority to regulate waste disposal, before the U.S. Supreme Court.

International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP, has over 1,100 lawyers operating from its 19 offices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

05-21-2007

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Miller Johnson forms FMLA practice group

Michigan-based law firm Miller Johnson has formed an entire practice group to help clients deal with the federal Family Leave Medical Act (FMLA) woes. The Act passed 14 years ago in 1993, when President Clinton was in office, allows up to 12 weeks unpaid leave to employees. However, the Act's woes frustrated employers greatly.

Under the FMLA, employers having more than 50 employees will need to grant unpaid leave to workers for up to 12 weeks during a 12-month period. The reasons for leave include birth and care of the newborn child, adopting a child, to care for an immediate family member — spouse, child, or parent — with a serious medical condition, and for the employee's serious health condition. Apart from these, the law also permits employees to get benefit of "intermittent" leave or short off' — to drive a sick relative to a medical appointment on a certain day of the week, etc.

Looking at these problems faced frequently by harassed employers, Miller Johnson decided to pull together a team of experts working in the area and form a practice group specifically for FMLA area. Sarah Willey, an employment and labor-law lawyer in Miller Johnson's Kalamazoo office, said the FMLA continues to puzzle lawyers. Many employers often grant leave fearing litigation from employees, said Willey who is also a part of the firm's new FMLA Solutions group.

The law firm's practice group will offer practical counseling on routine FMLA dilemmas, besides human resources training to managers and supervisors, creating attendance protocols with notice and details for FMLA absences, medical certification documents, among others.

05-18-2007

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New law firm initiates class action practice in Chicago area

Premier class action antitrust law firm Freed, Kanner, London & Millen, LLC, has recently set up its office near Chicago.

Before establishing this new law firm, the six attorneys of Freed, Kanner were with class action law firm Much Shelist Freed Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, P.C.

In February this year, the law firm was approved as a lead counsel in a price-fixing case against many hydrogen peroxide manufacturers. The firm also played an important role in recovering millions of dollars for buyers of high fructose corn syrup, rubber chemicals, and computer memory.

Representing sufferers of frauds and price-fixing in diverse business sectors, the law firm has recovered billions of dollars through anti-trust class action cases.

Though the firm Freed, Kanner, London & Millen, located near Chicago in Bannockburn, Illinois, was founded on January 1, 2007, its founders have over 30 years experience of prosecuting class action cases.

05-18-2007

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Texas law firm teams up with Neighborworks® America

In an attempt to reduce mortgage foreclosures, Texas law firm Barrett Burke Wilson Castle Daffin & Frappier, LLP, has entered into a partnership agreement with Neighborworks® America. Barrett Burke is known among law firms providing default resolution legal services to mortgage banking industry. The firm's attorneys represent investors and mortgage servicers in the resolution of defaulted loans.

The Neighborworks® America created the Center for Foreclosure Solutions to preserve homeownership in the face of rising foreclosure rates. It gives people a chance to live in affordable homes, improve their lives, and strengthen their communities. As a part of the recent agreement, the law firm will merge its loss mitigation practice of the Texas Homeowner's Assistance Division with Neighborworks® Center for Foreclosure Solutions platform and initiative.

The law firm has reportedly avoided foreclosure successfully in approximately 40% of the defaulted loans referred to it. Looking at the firm's crucial role in default resolution process, its merged operations with Neighborworks® will benefit it in its default resolution as well as the mortgage servicers and their borrowers- the homeowners.

The Center for Foreclosure Solutions together with the national nonprofit, mortgage and insurance partners builds capacity among the foreclosure counselors around the nation. Besides developing strategic solutions from studying the local and national trends, the center also carries out campaigns to reach out to the struggling homeowners.

05-17-2007

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Womble Carlyle's statewide program for veterans

"When Duty Calls" — is the title of the statewide pro bono project which Winston Salem-based law firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice has undertaken in collaboration with the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the North Carolina's Bar Association. This project aims at providing veterans with pro bono legal assistance when they seek to file disability claims with the Department of Veteran Affairs.

The joint venture will assist those veterans in North Carolina who have suffered combat-related injuries or other service-related disabilities in filing or to re-file their initial disability claims. Apart from licensed North Carolina attorneys, the project will include paraprofessionals, legal support staff, and law students to provide pro bono legal assistance to these veterans.

The project will provide training about the detailed process of preparing and submitting veteran disability claims. Full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle was established in 1876 and has nearly 550 attorneys representing clients from its 11 offices. The firm ranks among AmLaw's 100 leading law firms in the country.

05-17-2007

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