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New strategies for law firms' survival

In response to last year's dissolution of two well-known Boston law firms, Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar and the hundred-year-old Hill & Barlow, Richard E. Nicolazzo, President and CEO of Boston-based Nicolazzo & Associates, has released a detailed list of suggestions for how to avoid the pitfalls of law firm restructurings, mergers, layoffs, downsizing, and closings.

Based on his experience in providing Strategic Communications Management programs to a diverse, national client base, Nicolazzo advocates a strategically formulated communications process that reaches beyond simple public relations, a process linked to the core strategy of a client's business. He encourages law firms to embrace effective marketing as the key to survival.

The steps Nicolazzo outlines include having a marketing team that comprises a senior partner, taking time to outline marketing goals, setting aside adequate funds for marketing, focusing on key strengths, and being patient while the new strategies are implemented.

Nicolazzo also advises law firms to create marketing partner positions, and he predicts that in the next few years, most firms will have done so.

06-14-2006

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Second California office for Mintz Levin

Boston-based law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo has opened an office in San Diego with a team of 12 lawyers defecting from rival firm Fish & Richardson. The prize catch was Fish & Richardson's Marketing Director, David Salisbury.

A number of East Coast firms are opening offices in California to cash in on entrepreneurial activity in areas such as life sciences, intellectual property, and technology. Currently, San Diego is witnessing an economic upswing based on high technology startups.

Prior to this, Mintz Levin took over the Reed Intellectual Property Law Group and opened a Palo Alto office. This marked the firm's first major expansion to the West Coast.

06-14-2006

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Strength in numbers for Heller Ehrman

San Francisco-based firm Heller Ehrman has beefed up its ranks on the East Coast by recruiting entire attorney groups from other law firms. This year, 23 new attorneys have joined the firm's New York City and DC offices. Heller Ehrman firm recruited eight attorneys from Kelley Drye & Warren LLP and nine from Swidler Berlin LLP.

Experts see this as part of an emerging trend, a hiring boom for attorneys. As major West Coast firm seek to stake a claim on the East Coast, the number of attorney positions is increasing. The notable exception is for female attorneys, who are leaving firms by the droves after their third-years. Heller Ehrman is making a special effort to retain its female attorneys with new policies aimed at increasing the satisfaction rate for female employees.

A leader in providing innovative legal services to clients throughout the world, Heller has more than 700 attorneys in 12 offices in the United States and overseas in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

06-13-2006

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Fox Rothschild ups salaries

Fox Rothschild has increased its starting salary by $15,000 to $125,000 for its new batch of first-year associates, effective September 1. Starting salaries in the firm's Atlantic City and Pittsburgh offices, however, shall remain unchanged at $115,000 and $110,000 respectively.

Mid- to senior-level associates, those who have been with the firm for a number of years, recently received retention bonuses to prevent them from moving on to larger law firms.

Other law firms that have moved up to the $125,000 mark in 2006 are Drinker Biddle & Reath; Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen; Duane Morris; Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll; Blank Rome; Pepper Hamilton; Saul Ewing; and Buchanan Ingersoll.

06-13-2006

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Employers jumpy over new immigration law

Companies have been turning a Nelson's eye to the status of foreign workers before hiring them and this appears to have now caught up with them. Employers have to pay heavy fines if found in violation of immigration and labor laws. They are now nervous and contacting labor and employment law firms for legal advice.

The issue has been sparked by the April raid on plants of IFCO Systems, a Netherlands-based pallet and crate maker that is headquartered in Houston. Reportedly the largest raid ever in the history of the national immigration service, it resulted in the arrest of almost 1,200 illegal workers at IFCO plants in 26 states, including Georgia.

A spate of audit requests for worker related paperwork by companies has emanated from this event. One of the main worries for employers is over the seemingly innocuous I-9 form required to be filled out for any employee joining a company. They are seeking assurance from their attorneys that their paperwork is in order. The I-9 form has assumed top priority for human resources managers.

Industries targeted by labor officials include agriculture, construction, food services, hospitality, and textiles.

06-13-2006

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Furor in Bahrain

Law firms Baker & McKenzie, Norton Rose, and Trowers & Hamlins are at the center of a storm in Bahrain, facing a revolt by domestic law firms, according to the Lawyer Group.

Three partners and six associates of Trowers are based in Bahrain and Bakers has two partners and three lawyers there. The firms received licensure to practice in Bahrain from the Ministry of Industry & Commerce.

According to the Bahrain Bar Association, however, only the Ministry of Justice can issue licenses to foreign law firms to operate in Bahrain. An operating license issued by any other body is not valid. Bahraini law firms have even gone as far as filing lawsuits against the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in order to revoke the firms' licenses.

06-12-2006

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Law firm among sponsors for financial education initiative

A new non-profit organization called The Financial Institutions Forum has been established by the law firm Powell Goldstein, accounting firm Porter Keadle Moore LLP, and The Bankers Bank.

The three plan to sponsor low budget continuing professional and legal education. The forum has been created to supplement existing state and national educational courses, not to compete with them.

Funding for the events will come solely from sponsorships and registration fees. Conferences offered by the forum will be without charge and open to the public

06-12-2006

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