Just one day after Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced an increase in associate salaries, bringing first-years’ pay up to $180,000, BigLaw firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy told its associates that it would match the new scale, according to Above the Law.

The site also reports that California litigation boutique Hueston Hennigan matched the new salaries only about four hours after Cravath’s announcement.

David Lat, Above the Law managing editor, wrote that Milbank Tweed has more than 600 lawyers and $700 million in annual revenue.

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Above the Law is reporting that BigLaw firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore has hiked annual salaries for associates — ranging from $180,000 for first-year associates to $315,000 for eighth-years.

The report cites a memorandum, which Above the Law received from multiple Cravath sources, as saying, “The increase is effective July 1, 2016, and will be reflected in paychecks commencing on July 8, 2016.”

The author, David Lat, also says the news raises several questions, such as How did this event come to pass? Will other firms match the new Cravath scale? How fast will the matching happen? Will any other firm beat the new Cravath scale? and What does this mean for bonuses? He offers his opinions on each of those points.

Read the report.

A discrimination lawsuit brought against high-powered Boston law firm Mintz Levin by one of its former attorneys can move forward after a decision by the state’s highest court, reports The Boston Globe.

“In overruling a lower court judge who had thrown out the discrimination claims, Supreme Judicial Court justices said evidence supporting the ex-associate’s allegations of sexism and double standards inside the politically connected firm is substantial enough to warrant a jury trial,” writes Dan Adams.

The court also ruled that employers are in some circumstances barred from retaliating against workers who search for, copy, and share with their attorneys confidential company documents that may help them prove discrimination claims. The decision could affect other employment cases.

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An article posted by ContractRoom looks at three principal ways the practice of corporate law is being transformed.

“In the past decade or so, the rise of high internet speeds, collaborative business technologies and ubiquitous system access via the cloud have all combined to elevate the way deals get done in business – including the role and placement of corporate law in this process,” the article says.

The article discusses models for business, legal technology, and new roles within legal practice.

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Some U.S. companies are now paying a top hourly rate of $2,000 to partners at the country’s biggest law firms, according to a report on a survey released by BTI Consulting Group.

The report says the top rate of $2,000 an hour in 2015, up from $1,600 last year, represents a 25 percent one-year increase.

BTI conducted more than 300 independent, individual interviews with CLOs and general counsel at Fortune 1000 companies and large organizations.

The company said GCs pay the highest rates for:

• Bet-the-company IP work
• Enterprise level M&A related litigation
• Large-scale government investigation
• Defense against high-profile activist hedge funds

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Results of a study released by the American Bar Association show that 70 percent of the 39,984 graduates of the 205 ABA-accredited law schools last year now have full-time, long-term employment in positions that require or prefer a JD.

“Among the class of 2015, 1.7 percent had solo practices, 40.7 percent worked for law firms and 14.6 percent had ‘business & industry’ positions, 11.6 percent worked in government, 4.7 percent had public interest jobs, 8.4 percent were doing clerkships and 1.6 percent reported education positions,” the ABA reported. “Almost 9.7 percent — 3,871 graduates — were unemployed and seeking employment.”

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Kristen Jarvis Johnson, 33, says she “encountered blatant gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and a very clear glass ceiling” as she climbed the ladder as a $400,000 a year senior associate at Squire Patton Boggs, in its Qatar office.

As a story in The Washington Post put it, “she had enough of being one of the few women in the upper ranks of her white-shoe law firm. She’d had enough of hitting or exceeding all her targets and being told she didn’t need a bonus. She’d had enough of being told she had to work harder after advising on a case in between contractions as she was in labor.”

So she left the firm.

A Squire Patton spokesman said that 13 of the 29 lawyers promoted to partner globally this year were women, and during the period when Johnson was in Doha, the firm had four partners in the office, two of whom were women.

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The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP has announced that BTI Consulting Group has named it one of the best firms delivering alternative fee arrangements (AFAs). Out of the 650 firms surveyed, 22 firms received this honor.

According to BTI Consulting Group, “top legal decision makers credit their new love of AFAs to improved client focus, predictability in budgets, a more streamlined approach to the work, and the savings—which remain well in the double digits. Clients using AFAs report savings of 13.9% in 2015 compared to 14.4% in 2013. These savings effectively add $2.7 million to the average client’s legal budget.” On April 28, the results were published in Law360.

“The firm strives to provide the absolute best legal counsel at a price that is right for our clients,” said firm chair Kimberly Leach Johnson. “We are proud to be listed as one of the top firms at developing and delivering AFAs.”

To view BTI Consulting Group’s report, click here.

According to Grant Gross from IDG News Service, the banking document record leak now are known as the Panama Papers included 11.5 million confidential documents dating from the 1970s through to late 2015 — 4.8 million emails, 3 million database format files, 2.2. Million PDFs, 1.1 million images and 320,000 text documents. All of these documents were from Panama Law Firm Mossack Fonseca.

Allegedly these leaked documents reveal how dozens of high-profile professionals including public officials in countries including the U.K., France, and China have hidden their wealth abroad to avoid paying taxes, ContractRoom reports on its website.

What is clear is that if indeed these files were hacked from emails or off the server of Mossack Fonseca, this firm was not using a Cloud platform with proper security and encryption to store their documents. It appears they were using an on-site server.

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BigLaw firms Reed Smith and Pepper Hamilton have ended talks about a possible merger, both firms announced in separate statements.

“Early last week, both firms confirmed they were holding discussions to create a mega-firm that would have nearly 2,500 lawyers worldwide and annual revenue of $1.5 billion,” according to a report by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Reed Smith has 1,900 attorneys in 27 offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East, but has lost staff in recent months through departures and layoffs, and its financials dipped in 2015 compared with the prior year, the report says.

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Former Sprint Corp chief executive William Esrey and former chief operating officer Ronald LeMay sued the United States government for allegedly concealing its investigation into accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP’s promotion of tax shelters sold to the executives, Reuters is reporting.

The suit involves a 2002 Internal Revenue Service investigation into Ernst & Young’s promotion of tax shelters to its clients, including the two executives and settled the audit with EY in July 2003, without informing the executives, the lawsuit said.

The plaintiffs alleged that the IRS helped EY conceal the details of investigation from them, which meant they could not defend themselves against allegations by Sprint about their participation in the EY-promoted tax shelter schemes, Reuters reports.

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An article on the website of ContractRoom considers some of the advanced legal technology options that exist to assist in most of the daily functions of practicing law today.

These functions include legal research, document review and evidence compilation, synthesizing research and developing a case, writing legal advice, drafting documents off templates, drafting documents with multiple parties, getting sign-offs and approvals from multiple parties, staying on top of contractual requirements, and collating evidence requested in litigation.

Options are offered for the various functions.

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Morae Legal has posted a discussion about disruption in legal service delivery, involving Morae Legal Chief Strategy Officer Joy Saphla and Pearson plc Senior Vice President & General Counsel Bjarne Tellmann.

In this conversation, Tellmann asserts that the paradox of the massive increase in necessary legal work due to new legislation and regulation — coupled with fewer jobs for attorneys — is foundation for disruption in the practice.

The discussion focuses on how this disruption has altered legal service delivery, including changes in the models general counsel can use to staff matters and build legal teams in new and creative ways.

The conversation covers:

• How in-house teams are changing and growing with highly specialized experts.
• Optimal allocation between in-house and outsourced work.
• Specific examples Pearson has employed to reduce costs and become more efficient within their legal department.

Download the conversation.

Some lawyers at Reed Smith, already unhappy about low morale, attorney layoffs and lateral losses, voiced their displeasure at the way the firm’s potential merger with Pepper Hamilton was announced, according to a report on Above the Law.

Kathryn Rubino quotes one source as saying, “So far the merger has led to bickering in the hallway. Morale has taken another nosedive.”

Another quote: “I mean the partners are happy cuz they can avoid bringing in business again, just buy someone else’s. The associates are just like great, dust résumé off.”

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The global law firm Reed Smith is in talks to combine with the smaller Pepper Hamilton of Philadelphia, the firms confirmed, according to a report on Bloomberg BNA.

“Based on these preliminary discussions, we see many potential benefits to joining forces,” said a Reed Smith spokesman, in a statement. “There remains a significant amount of work to do with Pepper Hamilton to assess those benefits and before any transaction would be ready to bring to the Reed Smith partnership.”

“If the two firms move forward to completion, Reed Smith, which has 1,620 lawyers in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East, would acquire Pepper Hamilton’s 490 lawyers scattered throughout 13 U.S. offices,” the report says.

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The cornerstone of a productive client and outside counsel relationship starts by setting clear and consistent expectations for the legal department at the outset of the client engagement, says Kelly Spratt-Szarzynski, senior strategic consultant on the LexisNexis® CounselLink team.

This involves developing an outside counsel guidelines document that formally communicates the legal department expectations.  These guidelines apply to all external legal vendors and helps hold all parties accountable to the same set of standards related to billing, matter management and corporate policies.

According to Spratt-Szarzynski, outside counsel guidelines generally contain information broken into the following three categories: Processes and procedures, requirements, and policies.

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Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is leaving Houston-based Bracewell Giuliani to join New York-based Greenberg Traurig as global chair of their cybersecurity and crisis management practice.

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP will be known as just Bracewell after Giuliani’s departure, reports the Houston Business Journal.

In a statement, the firm said Giuliani is leaving by amicable agreement, effective Jan. 19. In a separate statement, Greenberg Traurig LLP announced Giuliani has joined its New York office as global chair of the firm’s cybersecurity and crisis management practice and senior adviser.

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Culhane Meadows PLLC, one of the nation’s largest cloud-based law firms, announces expansion into Houston along with the addition of nine lateral partners to support further growth of its technology, corporate, finance, international, real estate, tax and general business law practices in Texas.

The new lateral partners are Jonathan K. Hustis, Ajay Mago, Brent R. Somers, Gordon P. Williams, Jr. (Chuck), and James L. Young (all based out of the Dallas office, with Mr. Mago also practicing out of the Chicago office), along with Alicia L. Goodrow, Michelle D. Nickel, and Cliff Simpson (opening the Houston office), and Kristen Geyer (Austin). Mr. Mago joins the firm directly from Duane Morris LLP, and the other eight partners moved over from Phillips & Reiter PLLC.

In a release, the firm said Culhane Meadows continues to attract experienced, entrepreneurial business attorneys from distinguished organizations who are drawn to the firm’s innovative business platform.

“My colleagues and I considered a number of ‘new generation’ law firms as we contemplated our options for a lateral move,” explains Alicia Goodrow. “Ultimately, Culhane Meadows made it an easy decision because all of us were immediately impressed by the genuinely collaborative environment, the cutting-edge technology platform, and the exceptional caliber of partners who are available to serve our clients.”

Started by a group of former Big Law attorneys, some of whom had worked together for more than 15 years, Culhane Meadows now has attorneys based in seven major U.S. business markets: Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, and Washington DC. Unlike traditional law firms, Culhane Meadows does not employ any associates, and every lawyer is a partner with substantial experience at large national and international law firms or in-house legal departments of respected companies. The firm also utilizes a platform that leverages modern technology and cloud-based commuting.

The release continues:

Jon Hustis identifies the firm’s use of strong technology to drive collaboration, collegiality, and efficiency as a key factor that sets the firm apart from other cloud-based legal service providers. “Culhane Meadows provides a truly collaborative partnership balanced with a business model that relies on innovation to eliminate wasteful overhead typical of many traditional firms,” Hustis explains. “The firm’s commitment to delighting clients with prompt and excellent service at a very efficient price-point, and the growing bench of experienced counsel with diverse backgrounds made it a very attractive fit.”

Brent Somers points to the warm welcome he and his colleagues have received as confirmation of their decision to join the firm, noting that “Culhane Meadows has fully delivered on its promise to provide a better way to practice law.” He adds: “Who knew the practice of law could be this gratifying and this much fun?”

Ajay Mago says his clients’ feedback says it all. “Having spent nearly decade at Jones Day and Mayer Brown, my clients recognize and appreciate Culhane Meadows as the legal industry’s response to their changing needs,” he explains. “Business clients are savvy and they are discovering how to benefit from sophisticated Big Firm expertise without the legacy overhead of expensive offices and legions of untrained associates who train on the client’s dime.”

“This has been our quickest and largest multi-attorney expansion,” says Grant Walsh, one of the founding partners. “It has been a whirlwind of excitement and hard work, but we feel incredibly honored that so many amazing and talented attorneys have decided to make Culhane Meadows their professional home.”

Veritext, the world’s largest court reporting company, announced the release of LawStudio – an all-in-one workspace that allows litigation attorneys and support staff to build their case. Documents, exhibits, depositions, videos, images and more are all in one place and are simple to access by all members working on a case.

A Veritext release said that LawStudio is priced at $299 per month for a single license, includes unlimited file storage, allows access from anywhere at any time and requires no IT support to purchase and use.

“We designed LawStudio to be a complete and robust litigation support platform while remaining easily accessible to any legal professional, regardless of their technical abilities or financial situation,” says Nancy Josephs, CEO of Veritext. “By keeping the cost low and the technology simple, we believe we’ve created a truly unique, innovative and useful tool.”

The company’s release continues:

LawStudio’s simple searching, annotation and reporting capabilities, integration with existing software and services and video streaming help legal teams collaborate easily on a case. Robust features include:

• File and Case Management – Secure data hosting means information is in one place and accessible anywhere, anytime. Files can be added using the “drag and drop” feature, and searching is simple and fast.
• Software and Service Integration – Transcripts and exhibits are automatically loaded.
• Annotation Engine – Capture, categorize and catalog every piece of information, including text and images.
• Robust Reports – Summarize any annotations, have the citations you need to construct a motion or trial document and use the image capture to include the actual image from the document – not just text.
• Collaboration Platform – Advanced security and sharing controls allow users to set the team. Extensive audit trails show who did what and when.
• Secure Share – Securely share large files while adding encryptions and link expiration times.
• Video Streaming – Veritext deposition videos are instantly streamed to users’ accounts, and other videos can be uploaded at any time.
• Client Connect – Built-in HD web conferencing allows users to virtually meet with and show documents to clients.
• Swift Redact – Data is protected and permanently removed before sharing.
• MS Office Integration – Share secure links within an email and upload and send large files right from a message. MS Office documents, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, can be saved in their LawStudio case folder with one click.

LawStudio offers a free 45-day trial and can be accessed from the company’s website at www.lawstudio.com. Pricing for a single license starts at $299 per month and drops as low as $208 per user per month for firms with more than 21 users with an annual subscription.

A new company, Morae Legal, has begun operating, offering law department management consulting, outsourced legal services, discovery consulting and services, and claims management services.

“Law departments no longer have the luxury of viewing themselves as firefighters immune to the use of strategy, process and technology,” said Shahzad Bashir, Morae’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Today, they face the same pressures and need similar solutions as the rest of the business.”

“Days when law departments could focus solely on legal advocacy and rely on the best legal outcome, no matter the cost, are long gone. Today, they must apply processes, data and metrics to make informed and better business and economic decisions,” he continued.

“Law departments looking to improve their business performance are looking for a full service integrated solution provider to turn to for advice, as their counterparts like the Chief Financial Officer or the Chief Information Officer have had. Today, Morae Legal is just that kind of provider for the Office of the General Counsel. And this is not theoretical. Morae Legal has been created from the ground up to be exactly that — a single integrated service provider to law departments.”

Visit Morae Legal’s website.