Experts who study women in the legal profession are noting that the idea of a sisterhood of female lawyers isn’t always the reality in the workplace. Women expect female bosses to be nurturing, and the result can be feelings of betrayal when the reality is different, the Am Law Daily reports. California-based consultant Peggy Klaus, who conducts workshops for women in corporations and firms, notes the problem. "As postfeminists, we are told that women are nurturers and that we are all in it together," she says. "Women can accept hierarchy from men, they can tolerate their yelling and bad behavior."…

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, often a swing voter in voting rights cases, asked 17 questions yesterday as the U.S. Supreme Court considered a provision requiring some jurisdictions to get voting changes approved in advance. Kennedy’s questions were “almost consistently hostile” to Congress’ approach in renewing the Voting Rights Act in 2006, according to the New York Times. Section 5 of the act requires federal permission before making changes in voting procedures for the covered jurisdictions, mostly in the South. “Congress has made a finding that the sovereignty of Georgia is less than the sovereign dignity of Ohio,” Kennedy said. “The…

Squire Sanders & Dempsey is cutting associate pay by 10 percent, joining a handful of other law firms that have made similar moves. Is a trend afoot? The law firm announced the pay cut and the layoffs of 32 lawyers on Wednesday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Law firm consultant Peter Zeughauser told the newspaper that Squire Sanders likely won’t be the last firm to cut pay. "It's revolutionary. This trend has never happened before," he said of the salary cuts. "But I think others are going to follow suit." The article identified these law firms as also cutting pay…

Last year was a tough one for the nation’s 15 most profitable law firms. Twelve saw declines in profits per partner, and some of them were steep. Cravath, Swaine and Moore saw a 13 percent drop in revenue and a 24 percent decline in profits per partner. It was worse at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, which saw a 14 percent drop in revenue and a 30 percent drop in partner profits. The American Lawyer notes the declining profits and says 2009 is expected to be worse. In its view, the elite 15 law firms face an uncertain future. Some of…

FBI agents yesterday raided the office of a New York lawyer who apparently killed his family and himself after people who invested with him began demanding their money back. Authorities carried 37 boxes of evidence from the Manhattan law office of tax and estate-planning lawyer William Parente and seized two hard drives, the New York Daily News reports. Earlier this month, police found the bodies of Parente, his wife, Betty, and their daughters, ages 19 and 11, in a Baltimore-area hotel room. Police believe Parente beat and asphyxiated his family before slashing himself and bleeding to death. At least a…

The Atlanta lawyer who caused an international scare by traveling while infected with tuberculosis has sued federal officials for publicizing his condition. Lawyer Andrew Speaker alleges the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention invaded his privacy, harming his reputation and leading to the breakup of his marriage, CNN reports. Speaker says he and his wife split up after the wedding but before they filed the marriage license. The CDC released details of Speaker’s identity and medical history in 2007 and said he had taken an international flight while infected with a drug-resistant form of TB, the suit says. Speaker claims…

Too many lawyers are chasing too little work. And meanwhile a number of law firms are effectively serving as bankers for cash-strapped clients struggling in a difficult economy. After a "disastrous" fourth quarter in 2008, many law firms can expect an even more worrisome 2009, writes Dan DiPietro in the Am Law Daily. He serves as client head of the law firm group of Citi Private Bank, which is known for the financial surveys it conducts among its more than 600 law firm clients in the United States and United Kingdom. More law firm layoffs are likely, DiPietro predicts, based…

Representatives of the Judicial Conference of the United States and the American Bar Association joined federal officials today in calling for Congress to enact legislation to reduce sentencing disparities between crimes involving crack cocaine and those involving powder cocaine. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, a federal district court judge representing of the Judicial Conference of the United States called the differing sentences “a specter that has haunted the federal criminal justice system for more than 20 years," reports a U.S. Courts press release. Judge Reggie Walton of the District of Columbia told the subcommittee that it…

In the latest development in an ongoing controversy over internal government memos about permissible interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked a government attorney who approved them to testify. A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer when he signed two 2002 memos, Jay Bybee has been a judge on the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the past six years. He formerly headed the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel under the Bush administration. "There is significant concern about the legal advice provided by OLC…

Morgan Lewis & Bockius is adding two health care partners and five associates from the Washington, D.C., office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to its attorney roster. They include Scott Memmott, who was formerly a vice-chair of Sonnenschein's national health care practice group. That brings the total tally of Sonnenschein health care regulatory lawyers raided by Morgan Lewis this month to 13, according to the Blog of Legal Times. The practice group at Morgan Lewis now totals 30 lawyers, including six partners from Sonnenschein whose moves to the Washington, D.C., and San Francisco offices of Morgan Lewis were announced several…