News

Corporate immigration firm hires 40 new staff members

Leading corporate immigration law firm Berry, Appleman & Leiden, LLP, has expanded its practice by adding 40 attorneys, paralegals, and other staff members from Dallas law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist. The move will create a 200-employee base for Berry Appleman, which is also opening new offices in Dallas and Houston. The recent additions include Steven Ladik, Shawn Orme, and Paige Taylor, who are joining the firm as partners. Established in 1980, San Francisco-based Berry, Appleman & Leiden focuses on U.S. and global immigration matters and corporate immigration programs and policies.

Three CT products receive Law Technology News awards

CT, which provides intelligent software and legal-industry service solutions, will receive three Law Technology News awards. Readers of the publication recognized the software provider's CT Summation CaseVault as "EDD System of the Year," CT Summation as "Best Litigation Support Software," and CT hCue as "Best Records Management Software." The magazine's readers include law firm partners, legal administrators, MIS/IT directors and specialists, in-house lawyers, litigation support specialists, librarians, and other legal professionals. Award recipients were selected based on how frequently their products/companies were mentioned with regard to each category. The solutions provided by New York-based CT enable legal professionals to better manage data and workflow.

ALM's Second Annual Paralegal Managers' Institute

Leading integrated media company ALM will hold its Second Annual Paralegal Managers' Institute on February 26 in Washington, DC. Topics discussed at the conference will include "motivating and rewarding your staff in today's competitive market," "working with your clients to build and coordinate teams," "strengthening your commitment to diversity in staffing," and "understanding and effectively managing the e-discovery process." The event will be co-chaired by Julie A. Hooper, Paralegal Manager for Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Washington office. With a focus on the legal business community, ALM operates 37 national and regional magazines and newspapers, including The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel, The National Law Journal, and Real Estate Forum.

Winston & Strawn sees several recruitments

Winston & Strawn, LLP, has appointed eight new lawyers, all of whom will work in its New York office. Joining the firm from Thelen, Reid, Brown, Raysman & Steiner, LLP, are named litigation partners Michael S. Elkin, Thomas P. Lane, and Shari Markowitz Savitt; of counsel H. Joseph Mello; and associates Daniel C. Neustadt, Allison Schrader Dunn, John J. Burke, and George T. Soterakis. An international commercial law firm, Winston & Strawn, LLP, has 850 attorneys working from nine offices, including locations in Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Paris, Geneva, and Moscow.

Dickenson Peatman combines with Santa Rosa boutique firm

Napa, CA-based Dickenson, Peatman & Fogarty has merged with Santa Rosa, CA-based boutique law firm Rybicki & Blevans. The move has added a new practice area to Dickenson Peatman—labor and employment—and will enable the firm to operate a Santa Rosa office. The acquisition will also extend the firm's reach in terms of representing clients in the areas of hospitality, real estate, commercial disputes, intellectual property, trusts and estates, and litigation. Brandon Blevans, Richard Rybicki, and Patrick Sutton, along with two non-attorney staff members, have joined the firm.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to utilize Open Text solution

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, LLP, a premium global law firm, has opted to expand its LegalKEY solution by integrating it with the New Business Intake (NBI) system, which is part of Open Text's legal-solutions suite. The additional system will assist the firm's 1,800 lawyers and legal staff by providing a rule-based automated workflow process that will ensure enhanced intake of new business. It will also systematize the approval processes so that attorneys can do billable work faster. Cadwalader has been using the LegalKEY Records Management and Conflicts Management systems successfully for more than a decade. John J. Kruse, Director of Records and Conflicts Administration at Cadwalader, was named "2006 Champion of Technology" by Law Technology News at LegalTech New York 2007 for his work with the LegalKEY team and for his role in the development of Cadwalader's "user-friendly integrated information management environment."

Microsoft Windows dominates the legal industry

LegalTech New York 2007 attendees agreed that law firms are relying heavily on Windows to the practical exclusion of other operating systems. Dean Turner, the chief administrative officer of Portland-based law firm Pierce Atwood, and Suzanne Mayer, the outsourced legal officer of Rochester-based Lacy Katzen, both cited the lack of legal software applications for other environments as the biggest reason for over-reliance on Windows. LegalTech attendees also said that Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the legal-software marketplace, with the small exceptions of some embedded appliances. Within the legal arena, Windows is increasingly being used for both desktop and server-related applications.

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