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Musings on commercial real estate transactions in Chicago and beyond
Recent Posts Tagged With 'lawyers'
Changes and transitions
My partner resigned from our law firm Tuesday.It was the right thing for him to do and I am delighted for him, as he had an opportunity he simply could not pass up. Frank is a tremendous lawyer and...
The more things change, the more they stay the same
Seen quotes like this lately?The lawyers of America have laid their heads together and drawn up a lot of proposed reforms--for other people. The unpleasant truth is that the American public feel that ...
Cadwalader chair: "I woudn't have changed a thing."
See here and here in the WSJ for more on the Cadwalader layoffs. I guess this is what happens when a law firm is run like a corporation and not a partnership. The telling comment to me is this:The f...
If you are wondering what dirt lawyers are doing in California
This story may give you a clue. Some California real estate lawyers, especially on the residential development side, are not fully utilized, so they are using the time to work on restructurings, risk...
Cadwalader layoffs
Apparently another 96 lawyers are being let go at Cadwalader today, meaning the total loss count this year is, if I can count, in excess of 130 people.CWT is well known as one the major, major players...
The audacity of excellence?
I got a kick out of this story on lawyer frustration and how to strive to be "above average." Apparently, lawyers are part of an "unintended byproduct of a profession that confines its lawyers to pri...
Chicago legal industry thoughts
An interesting (possible) incongruity I am finding: Half of GCs surveyed are planning to do more work in house and cut back on law firm usage (one big reason -- the cost of hiring BigLaw firms to do ...
What the heck is a "small firm" anyway?
Super-blogger Susan Carter Liebel had a good post yesterday about solo practitioners and small law firms winning not on price but on value provided to their clients. She cites a story from The Comple...
Net, gross, modified, gross...huh?
Someone near and dear to me asked me to draft an office lease for some property that person owns. I received a hand written, one page term sheet with a base rent figure.What freaked me out until I rea...
Here's the latest reminder on salaries
First of all, I hope no one minds the new layout too much. I needed a change and I probably will again soon. I'm planning to retain someone to customize the blog for me and give it a "clean" look.Mo...
Why is an alternative work schedule all about minorities and women?
This piece in the LA Times is, in my opinion, so right and so wrong at the same time. We've been talking about the concerned law students group for a long time now, and the problems have been going on...
Yes, we have no associates...
This Canadian law firm has just shareholders and consultants. Like real estate agents, the consultants rent desk space and negotiate a percentage split of their fees with the firm.I actually love thi...
This can't be right -- law school teaching you how to be a lawyer?
There's an old saying about law school that goes something like this: the first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you to death, and the third year they bore you to death.With all...
Whoops, they did it again
Jenner & Block is deequitizing another 10+ partners. They also did this back in June or so.This is not a surprising trend, what with predictions of a slowdown in legal work all over the board. B...
Fundamental changes coming in practicing law? Wishful but doubful
The always insightful Patrick Lamb has a great post about his participation in a meeting on predictions for business in 2008, and the word is not good. Calling it a perfect storm, Patrick wonders whe...
Here come the capital markets associate layoffs
With CMBS still off those record levels requiring large staffs, Cadwalader pulled the plug on 35 associates today, which is roughly a 5% RIF. While other firms have tried other tactics such as sab...
Before anyone whines about lawyer salaries again....
Read this. Only a handful of law schools -- based on reported data, have an average starting salary for graduates above $100,000. Not a shock here: almost all are all so-called first tier schools.Th...
The end of the Martindale era?
I'm reasonably sure we canceled our Martindale-Hubbell subscription. If we haven't, I need to make sure we have because there are better ways to spend money. Larry Bodine's excellent blog (I believe...
Why just women?
I agree in principle with this op-ed piece originally published in Texas Lawyer authored by Kathleen Wu of Andrews Kurth in Dallas. Wu writes: There's been an awful lot written about what the legal ...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I have been a little light in posting and in creating original content because I am trying to help close a small but fairly complicated deal (it is actually three separate closings). That should be m...
Advice to budding real estate lawyers
I received an email this weekend from a 1L asking for advice about law and real estate. I hope that person does not mind my sharing excerpts from that message with you.The work of the real estate law...
Billing rates - whose fault is it?
This story talks about rising rates at big law firms. With associate salaries (and partner profits) climbing based on a perceived supply and demand issue, do you blame them, or do you blame the clien...
Update on law firms and CMBS
I wrote previously about some firms with large CMBS practices and their plans for what to do with not so busy associates. At the time, one of the firms, Thacher Proffitt & Wood, was not plannin...
Job perks - which path would you choose?
I'm sure everyone on the world is going to comment on this New York Times story about perks for BigLaw attorneys. Hey, I remember those days, too...and I don't blame the firms for offering them and t...
Wow...paid sabbaticals...
I recently wrote about the impact of the CMBS slowdown on firms that have a lot of this type of business. One of them was McKee Nelson, who said they were not laying anyone off and that they hoped to...
Does size matter? Friday guest blogger: Frank Zaffere
I'd like to take a moment to introduce you to my partner, Frank Zaffere, who has graciously agreed to guest blog here from time to time. (In addition to being my partner, Frank's a great guy, even if...
Not every firm is keeping the team intact
The other day I mentioned that the large players in the real estate securitization field were holding on to their staff, assuming that the market would improve. And I liked seeing that in print.But no...
CMBS slowdown hitting law firms
As the conduit market ground to a halt in the last few months, some lawyers necessarily have much less work to do. Most people would be happy to slow down after so many years of go, go, go, but these...
Analyzing trends and catching typos
Jacob Cynamon has some very good analysis of Chicago office trends here. The post picks apart a a recent story in National Real Estate Investor on the topic.What I also like is that Jacob picked up o...