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'Train geeks' give railroad agency high marks
Legal Career News |
2010/09/05 23:17
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| pOn the top three floors of an office building wedged between the railroad tracks and the Southwest Freeway in Washington, a tight-knit staff of lawyers, economists and analysts churns out reviews and decisions in one of the most obscure corners of the federal government. /ppThis year, the Surface Transportation Board has held hearings on coal shippers who ignore rules on coal-dust dispersal and a railroad's request to abandon a freight line in Northern Maine. It has investigated community complaints about the merger of Canada's national railway with a Chicago area railroad. /ppPretty dry stuff. Yet the 150 bureaucrats tasked with the economic regulation of U.S. freight railroads came out on top among small federal agencies last week in a survey by the Partnership for Public Service of the Best Places to Work in government. /ppThe self-described crew of train geeks and experts in the arcane field of railroad law gave their office high marks for teamwork (85 percent) and pay (81 percent) and their bosses winning scores for leadership (87 percent). They know it sounds trite, but they describe themselves as a family with parents who are demanding but fair and have pride in what they do, since not a lot of other people understand it. /p |
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BBK lawyers give firm high marks
Legal Career News |
2010/09/04 23:20
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| pRiverside-based law firm Best Best amp; Krieger apparently has some of the country's happiest lawyers. /ppThe firm ranked fifth out of 137 firms nationwide in the level of job satisfaction that its mid-level associates enjoy, according to a survey in The American Lawyer magazine. /ppLast year the firm came in 90th in the same survey. /ppLawyers who have been with BBamp;K between three and five years were asked about 12 facets of the work environment. /ppThese included relations with partners and other associates, training and guidance, management's openness concerning business strategies, pay and benefits and the firm's attitude toward pro-bono work. /ppBBamp;K has almost 200 lawyers in eight offices. /p!-- vstory end -- |
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Gail Koff, Principal in Jacoby Meyers, Dies at 65
Legal Career News |
2010/09/02 23:22
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| pGail J. Koff, who could be considered the silent partner in the national law firm Jacoby amp; Meyers, a sort of legal Wal-Mart for the middle class, died Tuesday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 65. /ppThe cause was complications of leukemia, her former husband, Ralph Brill, said. /ppMs. Koff was not there in September 1972 when Stephen Z. Meyers and Leonard G. Jacoby, his former law school classmate at the University of California, Los Angeles, opened their first storefront office in Van Nuys. But her aspirations matched those of the founders, and six years later she became the third partner, though unidentified in the firm’s name, assigned to open the first New York office. /ppRecognizing that the rich can afford lawyers and that the poor have access to free assistance programs, Jacoby amp; Meyers focused on serving average people who could often not afford to hire a lawyer at prevailing rates. /ppThe firm set off something of a revolution in the field by using mass-marketing techniques and charging flat fees for services. It opened walk-in neighborhood “legal clinics” staffed by general practitioners who had access to teams of specialists in areas like bankruptcy, real estate, personal injury, divorce and criminal law. /pp“My main interest in the law has always been the availability of local services,” Ms. Koff told The New York Times in 1979. /ppBy then, Mr. Jacoby and Mr. Meyers had started the first television advertising campaign conducted by a law firm. The advertising had a folksy appeal, featuring “two guys named Jacoby and Meyers,” and offered free consultations. It appeared in 1977, just weeks after the United States Supreme Court ruled that law firms, like any other business, could advertise their services. /p |
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An Attorney General Bid Sets a Rare Focus Upstate
Legal Career News |
2010/09/02 23:21
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pThe math is easy: As much as 70 percent of Democratic primary voters in New York State live south and east of Bear Mountain. Accordingly, the candidates in this year’s primary for attorney general have spent much of their time seeking votes in New York City and its suburbs. /ppBut with just a week to go before the vote, an unlikely contest is heating up for the allegiance of upstate Democrats, long the overlooked stepchildren of primary elections. /ppSean Coffey, a wealthy lawyer who is a former federal prosecutor, has in recent weeks saturated markets outside the New York City region with television advertising, doubling the amount spent by the next closest candidate, Kathleen M. Rice, the Nassau County district attorney. Since May, Mr. Coffey has spent at least a day or two each week campaigning upstate. And in debates he has made a point of highlighting the issue of high property taxes, an issue with limited relevance to the attorney general’s office but major importance to suburban and rural voters. /pp“I’m running to be the attorney general of the entire State of New York. Not Manhattan. Not Long Island,” Mr. Coffey said at a debate in Rochester last week, a shot at two rivals, State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, who is from the Upper West Side, and Ms. Rice, neither of whom showed up for the event. /pp“I can’t win without upstate, and I know it,” Mr. Coffey said. The heavy investment by Mr. Coffey, a novice candidate, reflects a calculation that his most likely path to victory against more established contenders is to win by large margins upstate and place well in New York City’s suburbs. Westchester County is Mr. Coffey’s home base, but it is also home to another candidate, Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky of Greenburgh. In Nassau County, Ms. Rice is highly popular. /ppMr. Coffey, who is from Bronxville, is also investing heavily to reach out to black and Latino voters, through targeted radio advertising, and to middle-class white voters in Queens and Brooklyn, who are widely seen as the swing vote in this year’s primary. /pp“We’ve actually looked at the history and know that behind every upset victory, upstate has loomed large,” said Bruce N. Gyory, a consultant to Mr. Coffey. “Our read of political history, in a statewide primary, you ignore upstate New York at your peril.”
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Lamb Mcerlane Names New Partner Of Law Firm
Legal Career News |
2010/06/28 08:46
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pLamb McErlane PC, a full service law firm that has built a reputation on delivering the highest caliber of legal service in an environment focused on personal attention and results, has named Thomas P. Hogan as a partner at the firm. Hogan previously joined the firm after working as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as well as an Assistant District Attorney in Chester County./ppWe are thrilled to have Tom join our team of partners, states Managing Partner Joel L. Frank. He brings tremendous experience as well as dedication and a focus on successful outcomes to his practice and to the firm as a whole./ppHogan's practice includes multiple aspects of corporate and internal investigations, government relations, and complex commercial litigation. He has successfully defended corporations and individuals in securities litigation, class actions, intellectual property disputes, civil rights claims, contract issues, product liability claims, private equity issues, and regulatory litigation. He also serves as coordinating counsel for larger clients dealing with recurring litigation issues on a broad scale. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, public and privately held entities, municipal and educational organizations, and individuals./ppLamb McErlane is a full service law firm, comprised of 30+ attorneys, that has built a reputation on delivering the highest caliber of legal service in an environment focused on personal attention and results. Bringing the sophistication and experience often equated with large, metropolitan firms, Lamb McErlane's effective and efficient approach produces work their clients respect at rates they can appreciate.
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