Lurking in every legal department budget is a giant uncertainty: the outside counsel spend, warns a post on the website of Xakia. According to Altman Weil’s Chief Legal Officer Survey, law firms account for 49.3 percent of legal budgets – the single largest category.

“As consumers of legal services know, when the outside counsel spend is governed by hourly billing, it’s inherently hard to predict, as it can vary with the phase of a project, the demands of the other side, even the habits and styles of the lawyers involved,” according to the post.

Much has been written about the philosophies behind alternative fee arrangements and efforts to align law firms and their clients on value. Instead, because it’s budget season, the paper takes a look at the most popular (and budget-friendly) fee structure and how to implement it for greater success in 2019.

According to Norton Rose Fulbright, the most popular alternative fee arrangements are:

Fixed/flat fee – 77 percent
Capped fee – 53 percent
Blended rate – 42 percent
Performance/success fees – 21 percent
Contingent fees – 25 percent

Read the article.

Download a legal budget white paper and budget template.

Above the Law reports that Baker McKenzie released a joint report last week that admits the way the firm handled the alleged sexual assault by a partner at the firm involved “a number of shortcomings … which we very much regret.”

A partner in the firm’s London office was accused of assaulting an associate after a firm event six years ago, recalls Above the Law editor Kathryn Rubino. “The associate reported it to the firm, and they investigated. But instead of getting rid of the offending partner, the firm just sanctioned him and reached a settlement with the associate who was victimized. It was only after the story became public that the firm bowed to pressure and the accused partner left the firm.”

Read the Above the Law article.

The ABA Journal reports that a Florida attorney is suing San Antonio lawyer Heather Clement Tessmer for using “Ever Argue With A Woman?” on billboards, the internet and business cards to pitch her legal services.

Florida lawyer Melissa Wilson claims in a federal lawsuit that Tessmer and her Tessmer Law Firm are infringing her trademark by using a confusingly similar slogan.

Journal reporter Debra Cassens Weiss explains: “Wilson says she has been using the slogan since at least September 2007, and she sent an email telling Tessmer to stop after she learned of the infringement from confused consumers around April 2014. Her lawyers also tried to contact Tessmer, but Tessmer never responded, the suit says.”

Read the ABA Journal article.

The Ohio law firm owned by disbarred attorney Stan Chesley has agreed to pay $23.5 million to hundreds of the firm’s former clients after a now-four-year battle over money a judge said they are owed, according to The Cincinnati Equirer.

Reporter Kevin Grasha writes that Chesley’s attorneys agreed there was “unjust enrichment” to the firm when it took millions of dollars more in fees than it should have as part of a class-action lawsuit.

Chesley, who was disbarred in Kentucky over his actions, was the sole owner of the firm, Waite Schneider Bayless & Chesley. Legal action against him will continue, said Angela Ford, the attorney who represents the 382 former clients.

Read the Cincinnati Enquirer article.

Above the Law reports that women in the Jones Day Business and Tort Litigation group have been “encouraged” to tell management if they were pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant within the next year.

ATL executive editor Elie Mystal writes:

We’re told that partner Stephen Sozio, who is co-leader of the firm’s health care practice and chair of the firm’s litigation department in Cleveland, added that he understood if women who were in their first trimester were uncomfortable talking to him. He encouraged those women to contact his administrative assistant and tell her about their plans.

The women were told that the information would help the group plan its budget.

Read the Above the Law article.

Fish & Richardson has “reassessed” its earlier decision not to give raises to associates and now has reversed course and will set starting salaries for associates at $190,000, reports Above the Law.

“According to the firm-wide email, the powers that be at Fish ‘continued to monitor market conditions’ and ‘listened to the reactions of associates throughout the Firm’ and whaddaya know, and they’ve ‘reassessed’ their position. Turns out hitting the $190,000 mark for starting associate salaries is good business,” writes editor Kathryn Rubino.

Seventh-year associates can look forward to salaries of $325,000 on the new scale.

Read the Above the Law article.

A former partner at Manatt has filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, on behalf of herself and those similarly situated alleging gender discrimination and retaliation at the Biglaw firm, reports Above the Law.

Rebecca Torrey’s filing details allegations of a “boys’ club” an environment that weighs “heavily in the favor of male partners.”

Torrey also alleges the compensation structure for partners is dictated by a group hand-selected by outgoing firm managing partner, William Quicksilver, and who rarely challenge his recommendations.

Read the Above the Law article.

Above the Law reports that four partners in the London office of Ropes & Gray are being forced out following a strategic shift in the firm’s direction.

Editor Kathryn Rubino quotes a report from Legal Week: “Multiple sources have told Legal Week that the quartet are set to leave following discussions with firmwide management, who travelled into London last week from the US.

“One former partner said of the exits: ‘It seems like a bit of a bloodbath over there at the moment. It has for a long time. The last two years have been shaky.’”

Read the Above the Law article.

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that bay area law firm Archer Norris has filed for bankruptcy and plans to dissolve this fall.

The Walnut Creek firm, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Newport Beach, deals mainly in business and insurance litigation, according to Chronicle reporter Rebecca Aydin. It is closing those offices, where it employs 124 people, according to a notice the firm sent to state officials, and expects all to lose their jobs.

A court-approved interim operations will allow the firm’s employees to be paid to keep working with clients until mid-September.

Read the SF Chronicle article.

Bloomberg Law reports that rising demand and rates pushed law firm revenue up 5.5 percent in the first half of 2018, the strongest performance since the recession.

The information is based on a report by Citi Private Bank’s law firm group.

“The 40 out of 50 largest firms which reported their metrics outperformed,” writes reporter Elizabeth Olson. “The biggest reported a revenue increase of 6.8 percent. Roughly 3.2 percent came from rising demand, and 4.8 percent from higher bill rates.”

Firms in the next category, ranked by size, had slightly lower rates of revenue growth, while smaller, niche firms reported sightly stronger growth.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a law partner who sued her firm, Proskauer Rose, for $50 million over allegations of gender discrimination and unequal pay has settled the case.

Details of the settlement between Connie Bertram and the firm weren’t disclosed.

Bertram, who headed the firm’s labor practice in Washington, sued last year, alleging she was underpaid in relation to her male colleagues and that she was excluded from projects after complaining about it, writes Stephanie Russell-Kraft.

Bertram has remained at the firm since filing the lawsuit in May 2017.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that Brad Kotler, a banking and finance partner, has been elected vice chair of Latham & Watkins, completing its leadership makeover following the abrupt departure of chairman William Voge over questionable contacts with a woman outside the firm.

“Kotler’s selection comes about a month after the firm chose Richard Trobman, another firm veteran, to replace Voge, who resigned earlier this year,” writes Bloomberg’s Elizabeth Olson. “Kotler will serve as vice chair along with Ora Fisher, a partner in Silicon Valley.”

Voge stepped down and resigned from the firm after admitting to inappropriate personal conduct of a “sexual nature,” the firm announced in March.

Read the Bloomberg article.

In a blog post on the website of Muse Communications, Bruce Vincent discusses two stories that are dominating headlines in politics and sports, both of which provide insights on why law firms should always be above board in their public relations efforts.

Vincent starts with an examination of the public relations headaches involving the continuing controversy over the 2016 “Trump Tower meeting.”

The other major PR story is Urban Meyer being placed on administrative leave as head coach of the Ohio State University football team.

“While it may be obvious at this point, the PR lesson provided in two examples above is simple: always tell the truth,” Vincent writes.

Read the article.

Preliminary results from an ABA survey of 1,300 respondents from the nation’s 350 largest firms underscored the disparate challenges, stereotypes and burdens women lawyers faced compared to their male colleagues, even at the senior level, reports the ABA Journal.

One of the findings showed that 81 percent of women say they were mistaken for a lower-level employee, but this didn’t happen to men.

And 60 percent of women said they’d left firms because of caretaking commitments, compared to 46 percent of men.

 Read the ABA Journal article.

The overall employment rate for law school graduates in the class of 2017 rose more than one full percentage point, to 88.6 percent of graduates for whom employment status was know, according to the National Association for Law Placement.

THE NALP reported:

For the third year in a row the actual number of jobs obtained was flat or went down in virtually every sector except the largest law firms of more than 500 lawyers. Members of this class secured just 16,390 jobs in law firms of any size, down by more than 4,000 since the number of those jobs peaked for the Class of 2007. And while the largest law firms of more than 500 lawyers hired more law school graduates than at any time since the recession, the number of entry-level jobs at those firms is still off by nearly 600 positions compared with the peak hiring measured with the Class of 2008.

The study found that the national median salary for the class of 2017 was $70,000.

Read the NALP report.

Big law firms tend to be particular about which lawyers they hire, according to a report from U.S. News & World Report.

Reporter Ilana Kowarski writes:

Thomas J. Simeone, a managing partner at the personal injury law firm Simeone & Miller in the District of Columbia, who spent many years working at big law firms, says these firms typically prefer to hire alumni of elite law schools that place in the top 15 in national law school rankings. Some particularly exclusive big law firms primarily employ graduates of J.D. programs that place in the top five or top 10, and in general, grads from higher-ranked J.D. programs have better chances of finding a job at a big law firm, Simeone says.

Kowarski writes that graduates of lower-ranked law schools “often need to either achieve extraordinary law school grades or gain several years of impressive legal work experience to convince a big law firm to hire them.”

Read the U.S. News article.

A Cleveland lawyer who has already paid a $300,000 settlement to his former paralegal for insulting her has now been suspended from the practice of law for six months.

WKYC reports that the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct accused Howard Evan Skolnick, a lawyer since 1993, of violating professional conduct rules by “verbally harassing” the woman for more than two years. The board recommended a a six-month suspension to be held in abeyance.

But the Ohio Supreme Court issued a one-year suspension, with six months stayed on the condition that he engage in no further misconduct.

Reporter Phil Trexler wrote” “Court records show he called her “stupid, dumb, fat and `whorey’.” He also lodged insults against the woman’s husband and her mother. Records show Skolnick also sexually harassed the woman and a female co-worker by making a request for a sexual favor while inside a car.”

Read the WKYC article.

A firm that represented two software competitors for years without issue can’t ditch one client and then sue it on behalf of the other, a Massachusetts federal court said July 26, according to a Bloomberg Law report.

A Massachusetts federal judge said Sunstein Kann Murphy & Timbers LLP’s breach of duty of loyalty was clear and the situation was not “unforeseeable.”

Reporter Mindy L. Rattan explains: Sunstein represented tech companies Syncro Soft and Altova from 2011 to 2017, until Altova asked Sunstein to sue Syncro Soft for patent infringement in June 2017, the judge said. The next month, Sunstein sent a letter to Syncro Soft terminating the relationship to avoid a conflict of interest. Sunstein then sued Syncro Soft on behalf of Altova in August 2017. Syncro Soft moved to disqualify Sunstein, which the court granted.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Bloomberg Law is reporting that a former Dentons associate who stole the firm’s confidential files and then tried to extort cash and artwork from the firm now faces attorney discipline charges.

The complaint names Michael Bernard Potere, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to federal prison for unauthorized computer access. The complaint was served July 10 but recently posted. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission’s alleged ethical violations based on the criminal conduct.

Potere, an associate in Dentons’ Los Angeles office from 2015 until June 2017, downloaded numerous confidential firm documents, such as financial reports, documents about partner meetings, client lists, billing information, and recruiting-related information, ARDC said. He then threatened to send the documents to a legal website unless the firm paid him $210,000, according to reporter Mindy L. Rattan.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Nationally recognized business leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs will meet in Dallas August 16 for S.H.E. Summit Bacardi Dallas, a full-day program that convenes female and male leaders to network and accelerate the global advancement of women with a goal of reaching gender equality by 2030.

The event will be at the Omni Dallas Hotel.

Dallas-based Munck Wilson Mandala partnered with S.H.E. Summit and Bacardi’s Women in Leadership Initiative to bring the event to Dallas for the first time. Keynote speakers include Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall, who is revamping the team’s corporate culture; fitness expert Ellen Latham, creator and co-founder of Orange Theory Fitness; local WFAA news contributor and former anchor Shelly Slater; and S.H.E. Summit CEO and founder Claudia Chan.

Informative workshops, thought-provoking panel discussions, and keynotes will cover everything from ascending to leadership, to building a network, to breaking barriers in male-dominated industries. Attendees from large and small corporations, including AT&T, Kendra Scott, Bacardi, Southern Glazers, Tiff’s Treats, and many others will hear inspiring stories and meet exceptional leaders.

“S.H.E. Summit is an event that invites everyone, men and women, profit and non-profit, community and corporate organizations to join forces and help raise women to their highest potential,” said Munck Wilson Mandala attorney Jessica Spaniol, a moderator for the program.

Learn more at www.shedallas.com. For more information, contact Shannon Tipton at 972-628-4500 or stipton@munckwilson.com.