How much did an attorney earn in his class action suit alleging that Sears’ stoves had a tendency to tip over? $17 million. How many stoves actually tipped over? None. The attorney only alleged that if you put too much weight on a stove, it could tip over. What did Sears stove owners get from the lawsuit? If they signed on for the settlement, a stove owner could get a $100 coupon towards installation of an anti-tip bracket. How much did Sears pay to attorneys who brought a lawsuit over wheel-alignment pricing? $950,000. How much did the company pay to customers over the lawsuit? $2,402. Or as the judge in the case put it, “Doing the math in this case is easy. For each class member who received a $10 check or $4 coupon, plaintiffs’ counsel received just shy of $3,000.” Bonus Question: Is cow-tipping possible?
How much can a fake lawyer earn by offering to sell green card extensions to immigrants? $129,000. That’s how much a con man earned from 12 clients who believed the non-lawyer could help them avoid deportation. (Note: As some readers know, this blog tracks fees charged by real attorneys as well as fake attorneys.)
What sort of shtick did the non-lawyer use to entice his clients? He had a lavish office in L.A. and told people he used to be a judge. How much did the fake lawyer make by running a fake traffic school? $8,000. And how much did he get by stealing the identity of one of his traffic school customers? $80,000. How many counts of felony is the non-lawyer charged with? 31. Do fake lawyers always have to do jail time? Not necessarily.
How much did the City of San Francisco have to pay in attorney fees to oust a city supervisor accused of bribery? $300,000. How much money was at stake in the supervisor’s alleged shakedowns? $84,000. What reason did the supervisor give for deciding to step down and accept the city’s settlement offer? His legal fees had become “overwhelming.” Bonus question: why is Rice-A-Roni “the San Francisco treat?” Duh!
How much is the former sheriff of Orange County (charged with accepting cash, favors, and gifts) paying for his legal defense? $0. The mega firm of Jones Day is handling the case pro bono (although the ex-Sheriff will pay legal fees for the brief period before he resigned from office). How much does the Sheriff earn annually in retirement pay? $200K.
How much did Former Illinois governor George Ryan pay his lawyers at Winston & Strawn for defending charges of racketeering conspiracy, mail fraud, and tax fraud? $0. The firm handled it pro bono. How much did the defense cost? $20 million. Do you have to pay tax on pro bono efforts done on your behalf? Alas, that’s a murky legal issue.
How much did a North Carolina attorney have to pay after being held in contempt of court for reading Maxim in court? $300.
What happened to the attorney’s copy of the magazine? It was confiscated and labeled as Exhibit A in his contempt case.
What was the attorney’s defense? He argued that Maxim was not pornography, and anyway, it was his girlfriend’s subscription.
Will law firms be affected by the recession? Some say the legal business is already in one. How many associates did Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft lay off this month? 35. How many associates did Thatcher Proffitt & Wood cut at the end of the year? 50.
What legal practice areas are likely to be recession-proof? Real estate. How much has O’Melveny and Myers billed in six months over the subprime collapse? More than $12.5 million.
What’s the “hottest” trend in the legal business? Many analysts believe that climate-change law (advising businesses on global warming) is the go-to practice for the new millennium (and yes, there are treatises available to help).
How much did Baker & McKenzie earn from its “climate-change” division in 2007? The 60-lawyer team brought in somewhere between $15 million to $20 million. What are the hourly rates for climate change partners at the big U.S. firms? $500 to $700. What percentage of energy in law offices is wasted? 30% (.pdf).
What’s the average firm billing rate for a U.S. law firm associate? $348 per hour.
What’s the average hourly rate paid at the Zhuhai Footwear Factory (they make Skechers and Clarks)? $0.40 an hour.
How many Skechers can a first year associate buy with one year’s salary? 2,500
How many hours of an attorney’s time can a Zhuhai Footwear factory worker buy with one year’s salary? 7.14.
Can an indicted state politician use election funds to pay his attorney fees? We’ll find out when the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission rules on a request by an ex-state senator indicted on bribery.
Why was the politician indicted? The senator was paid a salary by a medical school in exchange for doling out state grants to them. In addition, he was also accused of steering work to his law firm while enjoying an expense account that included, among other things, $50 shots of Glenlivet. (Wondering what a $50 glass of whiskey tastes like?)
What’s a reverse contingency fee? Unlike a regular contingency fee (which is based on how much the lawyer recovers), a reverse contingency fee is based on how much the lawyer saves the client–for example, if a $10 million judgment is reduced to $2 million, the lawyer’s contingency fee would apply to the $8 million reduction. For that reason, the reverse contingency is not uncommon among appellate lawyers. The principle has also been approved by the ABA ethics committee. Can a lawyer convert a regular contingency fee agreement into a reverse contingency fee? It’s possible … but not when the client denies knowing about the arrangement. Oops.
