http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com Lawyer - News. Marketing and Law Firm Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:24:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Amid a rash of recent departures, San Francisco-based Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner has notified staff and attorneys that the firm wants to pursue another merger, while saying that no particular deal is in the works. At the same time, the firm is weathering another major departure. A team ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/amid-departures-thelen-muses-on-mergers/ The D.C. Circuit has ruled that sleeping is a "major life activity" under the federal Rehabilitation Act. Reversing its own precedent, the court also held that a plaintiff doesn't have to show that his sleep disability affected his waking activities in order to move forward with a discrimination claim. The ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/dc-circuit-sleeping-is-major-life-activity/ Recessions have forced many law firms to make dramatic and, oftentimes, drastic changes. Managing partners are beginning to believe that the difficult business decisions that have to be made by some firms when planning for a recession will erode the sense of loyalty and close working relationships that once existed ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/strategies-for-coping-with-the-economic-downturn/ Recognize hard work. Pay attention to detail. Treat everyone with respect. Those are some of the tenets Alex Gonzales follows every day as managing partner of Winstead's Austin, Texas, office. They've contributed to his success as a law firm leader. They've guided his relationships. And they're among the many lessons ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/how-fast-food-jobs-helped-lawyers-think-outside-the-box/ A sailing ship in calm water needs kedging -- one team drops a small anchor ahead, while the other pulls the ship forward. Alvin Podboy of Baker Hostetler encourages a similar cooperation between law firm libraries and vendors to keep legal information on a clearly plotted course. http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/legal-information-needs-a-little-kedging/ A New York law firm can be held liable for the failure of a Florida firm it retained to file a client's claim to more than $1.2 million from a Florida estate, an appeals court decided Thursday. Client Alice Whalen was not aware that her Albany firm, DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey, was ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/appeals-court-ny-firm-liable-for-acts-of-retained-fla-counsel/ Mattel won a major victory Thursday in its copyright infringement lawsuit against the maker of the rival Bratz dolls. A jury ruled that a designer conceived the doll characters while working for Mattel. Sales of the Barbie doll -- once a near rite-of-passage of American girlhood -- have slid since ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/jury-rules-bratz-dolls-conceived-at-mattel/ Former Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday disavowed the now-defunct legal reasoning used to justify harshly questioning terrorism suspects, but dug in his heels to defend White House officials who pressured him while he was hospitalized four years ago to approve terror surveillance programs. At the heart of the House ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/ashcroft-not-hard-to-reject-interrogation-memos/ Federal Judge James Robertson denied a request Thursday by Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, to halt his war crimes trial. Hamdan's lawyers had asked Robertson to delay the proceedings so they could test the commissions' underlying legal principles in federal court. Robertson's decision is a key ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/military-commissions-can-move-forward-with-detainee-trials-judge-rules/ The mortgage crisis has spawned a class action by African-Americans in a San Francisco suburb, alleging that the city of Antioch, Calif., has tried to force out minorities who rent homes using federally subsidized housing vouchers. The lawsuit alleges that, as the foreclosure crisis prompted homeowners to rent, instead of ... http://www.jfc-jurfinanz.com/lawyer-news/mortgage-crisis-spawns-class-action-alleging-harassment-of-minorities/