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Taxation Top Guns join Steptoe & Johnson LLP

International Tax and Transfer Pricing guru Michael C. Durst joined Steptoe & Johnson LLP's tax group as Counsel in the Washington, DC office. A former director of the Internal Revenue Service's Advance Pricing Agreement Program, and erstwhile partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Durst specializes in tax matters, particularly international tax, and transfer pricing. Steptoe intends to draw on Durst's substantial experience in the practice area to fortify their intended global expansion.

Philip R. West, head of Steptoe's international tax practice, had great things to say about Durst's value to the firm and experience in the practice area, particularly in regards to transfer pricing. West said that the skills Durst brings with him will help the firm serve its clients with better efficiency, and also strengthen existing capabilities to expand in the practice area.

In another lateral move, Steptoe acquired Richard G. Reinis, a transactional and litigation pundit. Reinis has been added to the team of the firm's Century City office in California. Reinis is a former CEO of Southern California Krispy Kreme, Great Circle Family Foods.

The firm hopes to take advantage of Reinis's brilliance as an experienced and successful businessman and lawyer. Steptoe & Johnson's 400 attorneys provide counsel and representation in a wide range of practice areas to national and international clients and governmental agencies.

12-13-2006

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The Bonus Buzz

Associates at law firms of all sizes never have it easy. Whether working at a Top-ten firm or a struggling mid-sized firm, associates find themselves tied to the desk, subjected to the whims of firm partners, and stirred by an innate desire to forge ahead to partner status.

To ascend to the rank of partner in a firm usually takes at least a decade's worth of effort. During this time of duress, salaries usually compensate for the pain. What often makes the hard work even more manageable is the promise of a bonus at the end of the year. But due to changes in salary that may happen during the year, speculations regarding prospective bonus amounts abound during this time. Earlier this year, salaries in a number of firms had risen considerably, which caused much speculation as to whether bonuses would also be increased. The trend seems to be that, when it comes to bonus amounts, everything depends on the philosophy of the particular firm.

Bonuses flow in early December for associates in the big firms in New York. A number of Big Apple firms are known to distribute bonuses which, when equated to the firm's annual financial statements, do not seem to appropriate. This is because market competition sets the standards, and firms are forced to cough up the additional amounts in order to gain employee loyalty. Some big firms tend to soft pedal on the bonus criteria issue, fearing that to take a stringent attitude would result in employee losses, or even ward off promising would-be lawyers from top schools.

Common criteria for deciding on bonus amounts are quality of individual performance, and sheer quantity work hours. Legal experts are of the opinion that bonuses help firms achieve parity between pay costs and average annual performance. But many firms adhere to the sliding scale, measuring billable hours against the percentage of a bonus ratio. The less the billable hours accrued by an individual, the lesser the probable percentage of the bonus.

Major financial and industrial giant Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, for example, decides upon bonus amounts based on individual efficiency. The firm believes that bonuses have to be earned through hard work and not from billed hours or the firm's overall performance. Gary Horowitz, executive committee member of the firm, stated that the firm follows the corporate culture in America where bonuses are "calibrated to performance."

In contrast, many other heavy-hitting firms in New York take an across-the-board approach to bonuses. They justify their stand for equal bonuses by noting that it simplifies the matter, and allows junior associates time to adjust to the firm's standards at their own paces.

Firms elsewhere apply multiple criterion to bonus awards, raising the bar for bonus hopefuls. At Philadelphia-based Duane Morris LLP, for example, bonuses are awarded based on an individual's profit contribution to the firm, and both billable hours and performance quality are considered. On the other hand, heavyweights like DLA Piper, which has multiple offices in many parts of the country, uses productivity and performance parameters to assess bonuses in every office except their New York location. In the New York office, the firm employs a parallel system, taking seniority into account to fix amounts among selected high-performers.

Although the most common reasons for offering bonuses are to retain staff, and promote profit-sharing, authorities at San Francisco-based Morrison & Foerster - who have yet to declare their bonuses for this year- are confident that they will base their decisions on individual performance and contribution, together with optional features, rather than simply hours. The firm invests much time creating a fault-free, merit-based bonus payment system. The firm's NY office, however, awards associates who can maintain an overall strong position at the end of the year.

In 2005, Sullivan & Cromwell made it to the head of the pack by declaring bonuses of $35,000 to $65,000. The firm was tailed closely by Davis Polk & Wardwell, and Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP. The firm again created waves in 2006 by raising the associates' salary ceiling to $20,000 to $145,000 in early February.

12-12-2006

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Two leading bond counsel firms agree to unite

Law firms Cincinnati-based Peck, Shaffer & Williams LLP and Denver-based Becker Stowe & Bieber LLC agreed to merge operations on January 1. A national leader and a veteran law firm, Peck, Shaffer & Williams has been serving clients in matters of public finance law for 117 years. Becker Stowe & Bieber, operational for more than two decades, is an expert in municipal, public, and public finance law. The combined firms will take the name Peck, Shaffer & Williams and will have two offices in Denver.

Company officials said the merger would unite two of the leading bond counsel firms in Colorado, and provide clients in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region with a greater depth of knowledge in public finance.

12-12-2006

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San Diego is home to two largest U.S. law firms

San Diego-based law firms, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP and Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps LLP, made the National Law Journal's list of the largest 250 law firms in the country.

The National Law Journal, in its annual survey of the most populated law firms, placed Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins at number 234 with 180 lawyers. This is the firm's first placement among the impressive array of top 250 law firms in the country. The firm has offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Houston, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps with its 178 lawyers is the other firm to join ranks with the top 250. The firm has offices in downtown Carmel Valley, Rancho Santa Fe, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Robert Bell, managing partner of Luce Forward, attributed the firm's success to the escalating head count of quality attorneys in the firm through systematic and consistent hiring. The firm managed to add 40 employees in the past three years.

The other renowned firms who constitute the top layer among the heavyweights like Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, Jones Day, Latham & Watkins, and Best & Krieger have well established offices functioning in San Diego.

12-11-2006

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Colbert & Winstead amicably part ways

Two new law firms grew from the vestiges of Colbert & Winstead, a six-year partnership that parted to embrace Rudy Wood and Courtney Wilbert, respectively.

Kurt Winstead opted out of the partnership with Richard Colbert and joined with partner Rudy Wood to create a new firm, Rudy Wood and Winstead. The new firm has six attorneys on board and is keeping its doors open for more. The second firm, Colbert & Wilbert, led by Richard Colbert and Courtney Wilbert will be operational soon, though details are unknown.

The erstwhile Colbert & Winstead's eight attorneys served an impressive list of clientele that included names like the Tennessee Education Association, RJ Young, One Source Mortgage, and the Tennessee Manufactured Housing Association in areas of banking and finance, corporate, education, intellectual property, labor and employment, personal injury, and real estate. The old clients have been informed of the change and Winstead is hopeful that his new alliance will help him serve clients better with the induction of more attorneys in future.

12-11-2006

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Howrey opens offices in New York and Munich

Founded in 1956 and with a career span of more than five decades, litigation and trial law heavyweight Howrey LLP, a Washington DC based law firm has carved out a niche for itself among top-drawer firms in the global arena. The firm has recently opened two new offices - one in New York City and the other in Munich.

In its New York office, Howrey will be led by Thomas Engel and James McCarney, former partners at Manhattan trial law firm Engel, McCarney & Kenney LLP. The duo will continue to offer their services in civil and white collar criminal litigation to a vast array of clients, both at home and abroad. A former Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Engel's contribution to Howrey will comprise of practical expertise on the local level which will help the firm better serve its clients.

Joachim Feldges, a top Intellectual Property lawyer, will join Howrey in Munich. Howrey recently added a prominent German antitrust/competition practice which will work out of its Brussels base as well as the newly established Munich office. While welcoming Feldges and his team to Howrey, Robert F. Ruyak, the firm's Chairman and CEO, said the addition of Feldges is in the best interest of the firm's clients and also partners. The firm, which had wanted to develop its IP practice in Germany, hopes to leverage on his renowned talent in the area.

In the past year and a half, the firm has opened offices in Salt Lake City; Paris, Taipei, and now New York and Munich. Commenting on Howrey's 2006's all-round achievements, Ruyak stated that the new offices and induction of the renowned faces into the firm is the "cornerstone" of the year's brilliant achievements by the firm.

12-08-2006

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CaseCentral's Corporate and Law Firm editions made more FRCP effective

With the change in Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) that took effect on December 1st, on-demand discovery lifecycle management platforms CaseCentral stated that their internal IT processes must be adapted to keep up with the modification. The new FRCP rules require all companies to clearly define their information technology processes to opposing counsel and articulate the process far earlier in a legal action — at the first meet-and-confer meeting. The Corporate and Law Firm editions of CaseCentral protect and maintain data integrity, better organize information assets, and reduce overall risk and cost. CaseCentral's solutions help clients with a systematic storage and can create a single, complete copy of all data. Apart from eliminating duplication of records, it also establishes a consistent corporate-wide production format that enables companies to reject the opposing counsel's requests for alternative production formats, thereby effectively cutting costs and risk.

12-08-2006

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