Law School Enrollment Drops.
The law schools with enrollment declines above 35 percent were:
*University of La Verne (down 66.2%)
*Cooley Law School (down 40.6%)
*Catholic University (down 39.5%)
*New York Law School (down 38.7%) – not to be confused with NYU Law School
*University of Dayton (down 38.5%)
*Pacific McGeorge (down 38.4%)
*Widener University-Harrisburg (down 36.9%)
N.D. California Bankruptcy’s Clawback Decision Worries Some Lawyers.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali, who co-contributor Mike has appeared before in a recent case, rendered a decision in the Howrey law firm bankruptcy decision that has rattled some lawyers. Firms that hire lawyers from a law firm at the time of or after its dissolution have long been subject to unfinished business claims by the bankruptcy trustee, arguing that the business of the departing lawyers is business of the bankrupt law firm, but Judge Montali’s ruling says the claim can also be made when firms hire lawyers before a firm’s collapse, according to The Wall Street Journal and to the ABA Journal News (on-line version). Judge Montali made a similar ruling in the Heller Ehrman bankruptcy.
Several Big Law Firms See Revenues Drop Dramatically.
Revenues dropped by $110 million last year at Bingham McCutchen, a decline of 12.8 percent—one due to changing conditions (the recession, with restructurings and securities lawsuits declining), settlements in large cases (bank and BP oil spill case settlements), and partner defections (11-partner securities enforcement group in 2011 and at least five co-chairs in other practice groups). As of last Friday, February 14, 2014, The American Lawyer had published financial figures for 13 law firms; none had a revenue drop as high as Bingham’s. But Bingham is “by no means an exception,” Reuters Legal reported. “Over the last two years,” the story says, “firms such as Patton Boggs; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson have been similarly affected.”
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