Law Firm Seyfarth Shaw has put together a team devoted to assisting clients with legal issues resulting from the suspect illegal actions of Bernard Madoff.  This team is led by Brian S. Cousin and William Prickett. It is an interdisciplinary team consisting of attorneys from all nine of Seyfarth’s US offices and from the following fields: bankruptcy, tax, securities and financial litigation, class action, fiduciary litigation, real estate, and class action.

Source:  www.pressreleasepoint.com

Greenberg Traurig has recently gained some and lost some. The firm has boosted its corporate practice with the addition of Stephan Mallenbaum, Conrad Everhard and Sean Hayes. All three come to Greenberg from K&L Gates. However, the firm has just lost two of its partners to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman. Peter Gillon now leads Pillsbury’s insurance coverage group, and brought partner Geoffrey Greeves along.

Source:  www.abajournal.com

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP has added attorney Michael A. Molano. Molano, who joins from Mayor Brown, will concentrate his practice in Silicon Valley within the Intellectual Property practice group. In 1993, he received his J.D. from St. Louis School of Law, and attended Northwestern University where he received a B.S. In Electrical Engineering. Molano is currently a registered patent attorney.

Source:  www.br.sys-con.com

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has announced its plan to freeze salaries in 2009. Its 670 associates can expect the same salary from 2008. The firm explains that this is in result of a “challenging business environment”, which assuredly, also resulted in their 40 lawyer layoff in November. Those who survived the redundancies, will still receive their 2008 bonuses, ranging from $25,000 to $85,000.

Source:  www.amlawdaily.typepad.com

Cadwalader’s London office has suffered a major hit with the departure of seven partners. It is most likely that all seven will be joining Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker. The partners include: Michelle Duncan, Karl Clowry, Conor Downey, Justin Jowitt, Tom O’Riordan, Christian Parker, Charles Roberts. Cadwalader is left with four partners in London, causing the question: will it close its doors? This news follows the announcement that the firm’s partner profits decreased from $2.725m (£1.8m) to $1.88m (£1.24m), a percentage of more than 30%. Its total revenue fell 13.8%.

Source:  www.legalweek.com

Lovells has created a bribery and corruption practice area. The group will be composed of dispute resolution partners. As the recession continues, it is reasonable to expect there to be an increase in such illegal dealings, as the nation becomes increasingly nervous about its financial situations. It is expected for the US government to enact a bribery bill this year.

Source: www.thelawyer.com

In the past year, litigation in the US increased by 9 percent. According to the Law 360 Litigation Alamanac, 2009 edition, this boom is due to hte growing number of cases involving antitrust and product safety, as well as employment matters. This fact is more than a mere number. It reflects the continuing importance of litigation to US corporations.

Source: www.earthtimes.org