Aebra Coe

Internal podcasts, monthly town halls and piling on airline miles in the name of one-on-one meetings are just a few of the strategies that law firm leaders are employing to keep their ever-expanding network of people connected.

Amid a push by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to crack down on fraud against U.S. investors by foreign companies, a focus on the "gatekeepers" of such fraud puts law firms at risk of being caught in the regulator's crosshairs.

The narrative in the legal sector has long been that the largest law firms are gobbling up more pieces of the pie, and smaller firms are falling behind. But digging into data shows that when it comes to hours billed, BigLaw isn't seeing outsize growth after all — its smaller peers are.

The impending departure of another prominent practice team from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP is raising questions about the firm's outlook and the struggles of elite midsize law firms in New York.

Attorneys looking for firms committed to diversity, equity and inclusion are increasingly relying on informal channels to vet firms, including word-of-mouth, alumni networks, off-the-record conversations and social media, recruiters say.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP will open an office in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a part of a larger group of eight partners focused on collateralized loan obligations joining the firm from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP in the U.S. and U.K., Law360 Pulse has learned.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has opened the doors to its newest office, in Chicago, the firm announced Wednesday, with a quartet of partners who joined the firm this spring from Mayer Brown LLP.

Lawyers who orchestrate massive transactions make up the lion's share of attorneys charging top-tier rates that have broken far away from average billing rates for law firm partners in recent years, experts say.  

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has laid off five staff members in San Francisco following the departure of a group of 20 lawyers from the office amid discord over the law firm's decision to ink a deal with the Trump administration to avoid an executive order, sources say.

The set of client service-related behaviors corporate clients demand from their law firms has dramatically shifted, creating a shakeup at the top of this year's BTI Client Service A-Team ranking released Thursday.