Business Smarts: More non-lawyer directors managing law firms 
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: 20 things, Business and Civil Practice, practice management, Your Practice
At the 13-lawyer firm of Butz, Dunn & DeSantis in San Diego, Patricia Groff can do just about everything except sue.
As the firm’s chief administrator, Groff is a jack-of-all-trades, handling marketing, finances, administration and hiring. She also participates in the firm’s strategic planning and shareholder meetings.
“The only thing
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What are the hot practice areas (and what’s not)?
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: 20 things, Your Practice
Are you thinking about changing your practice niche or expanding your areas of expertise? Do you want to grow your firm’s business, but aren’t sure what types of work will usher more clients into your office?
Here’s a look at five practice areas legal consultants and recruiting experts predict will
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Ala. inventor wins $192 million verdict
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
A chemist who accused a global chemical corporation of stealing his hazardous waste recycling idea won a $192 million verdict in state court in Alabama – one of the largest individual verdicts in the state’s history.
Sven Peter Mannsfeld, 72, a German-born scientist who worked at Degussa Corp.
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Paralyzed steel mill worker wins $48 million
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
A steelworker who was paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a ladder was awarded $48 million by an Indiana jury.
The plaintiff, 41-year-old Anthony Arciniega, worked for a steel mill where a contractor, Minteq International Inc., was hired to apply refractory, a bonding spray, to various metals.
$54 million for fatal tractor-trailer crash
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
A jury in Georgia found a trucking company liable for $54.4 million, including $44 million in punitive damages, for the death of a passenger killed when a tractor-trailer rear-ended the car in which she was riding.
One of the challenges the winning lawyer, Peter A. Law of Peter A.
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$55M for Marine families in helicopter case
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
A California jury awarded $55 million to the families of four Marines killed in 2004 when the helicopter in which they were flying collided with a utility tower.
According to the complaint, San Diego Gas & Electric – which owned and operated the tower – was negligent in
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Nevada man wins $60M in bad faith retrial
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
In a retrial that ended up increasing the punitive damages six-fold, a Nevada jury awarded $60 million to a man who claimed his disability insurance payments were unfairly terminated while he was suffering from Lyme disease.
Four years ago, a Nevada jury awarded $1.6 million to G. Clinton Merrick,
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Shell Oil to pay $66 million to royalty owners
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
It took nearly four decades, but an Oklahoma jury ordered Shell Oil Co. to pay $66 million to five royalty owners (several of them deceased) for their share of a lucrative oil well dug in the early-1970s.
The payments will go to two families who owned the land where
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U-Haul rollover victim wins $84 million
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: Top Ten Verdicts
Ted B. Lyon, the attorney representing a 74-year-old man who was seriously injured after a parked U-Haul truck he rented rolled over him, thought the odds were against him when the jury was seated at trial.
“Of the six people on the jury, four were conservative Republicans,” known to
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Lawyers of the Year – Steven W. Williams
By:
Justin Rebello
Published: January 19, 2009
Tags: lawyer of the year
New York attorney Steven W. Williams won the biggest defamation verdict in U.S. history in January, working on behalf of a Mexican contractor who claimed the words of an American businessman severely damaged his reputation. Jose Ramiro Garza Cantu was awarded
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