Wednesday, February 22, 2012

McLane Law Firm expands

Today we dedicate a post for a law firm feature. Our goal is to circulate and contribute on top of the daily legal news we provide to feature local news on attorneys, the work they do, and law firms. Read more for a little background information on McLane's law firm expansion and their commitments and goals for potential and current clients.   

The McLane Law Firm — with offices in Manchester, Portsmouth and Concord as well as Woburn, Mass. — announced the firm has absorbed the Colucci Norman Law Firm, of Beverly, Mass.
John Colucci, William Norman, Larry Plavnik, all corporate lawyers and Andrew Botti, a litigator, join McLane's business-focused firm of more than 90 attorneys, 44 of whom actively serve Massachusetts businesses in some capacity.
"Bringing the Colucci Norman team onboard delivers an opportunity for McLane to establish an immediate and trusted presence within the North Shore business community, a strategic goal we have been working towards for years," said Steven Burke, managing director of the firm's Woburn office.

The addition of these attorneys and associate support staff to McLane's Woburn, Massachusetts office necessitates the second office space expansion within a year at the TradeCenter.
"In a time when most Massachusetts firms are retracting, we're happy to be bucking the trend. McLane has seen a revenue increase of more than 40 percent over the past five years," Burke said. "It goes to show that the breadth and depth of McLane's legal expertise and the fee structure we offer is really taking hold."

McHenry & Associates, LLP - San Diego Immigration Law Firm

At the Law Offices of McHenry & Associates, we are committed to providing exceptional legal representation to individuals, families and businesses that require immigration assistance.  Our law firm is experienced in all aspects of U.S. Immigration law and is committed to helping people live and work in the United States legally.

If you are interested in learning more about Deportation Defense, Citizenship and Naturalization, Family Based Immigration or Employment Based Immigration, please click on the Practice Areas menu to the right to learn more about each of these subjects.

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Lovells law firm to shut down its Chicago office

The Lovells law firm plans to close its Chicago office by the end of October, sending 22 lawyers and 25 other employees scrambling to find work.
The London firm is set to merge with Washington-based Hogan & Hartson on May 1, creating one of the world's largest law firms with $1.8 billion in revenue and 2,500 lawyers in 40 offices. But the new firm, to be called Hogan Lovells, will not have a presence in Chicago.
Lovells said it decided to exit the city after 15 years because the performance of the Chicago office has declined in recent years.
In a statement Tuesday, David Harris, Lovells managing partner, said: "[The reinsurance market] is an area which has seen changes in work patterns and the office has been affected by a number of significant conflict situations. Despite the best efforts of partners in Chicago and elsewhere, this has had an impact on the office's overall performance in recent years and the position is not expected to change."
Conflicts and deteriorating performance had contributed to departures from the Chicago office in recent months. The office used to have more than 30 lawyers.
Yet, legal observers in Chicago said they thought the merger with Hogan would save the office. The decision to shut down was made independent of the merger, Harris said.

Atlanta Law Firm Gets $700 Million Award for Chevron

Atlanta law firm King & Spalding LLP has won a $700 million judgment for Chevron Corp. in an arbitration between the energy giant and the government of Ecuador.
An international tribunal ruled that Ecuador must pay damages for delaying court rulings on commercial disputes with Chevron subsidiary Texaco Petroleum Co. for more than a decade.
The ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague resolves some Texaco claims against the Ecuador government dating as far back as 1991.

The court determined that by refusing to rule on Texaco's claims, Ecuador violated international law by breaching an investment treaty with the United States.
The $700 million in damages includes principal and interest dating to Dec. 22, 2006, when Chevron and Texaco initially filed the arbitration. Further hearings will determine whether Ecuador owes more for taxes, interest and costs.
Chevron and other energy companies have additional arbitration actions pending against the Ecuador government. 

Law firm Thorp Alberga opens Hong Kong office

Richard Thorp and Harriet Unger, formerly with Maples and Calder, will lead the Asian practice.
Both are authorised by the Law Society of Hong Kong to practise Cayman Islands law in the firm’s new Hong Kong office and are also admitted in the British Virgin Islands.
Thorp is a securities and funds lawyer who has acted on a broad range of funds and general corporate matters, including the establishment of private equity and hedge funds and advising the directors and administrators when complex issues arose.
He joined Maples and Calder in London in 1998 and was transferred to Maples’ Hong Kong office in 2001 where he was made partner in 2004.
Unger is a structured finance specialist whose expertise covers all areas of capital markets transactions. She also has extensive experience of banking and corporate transactions and has been based in Asia for almost ten years.
Prior to her work at Maples and Calder, Unger worked for Simmons & Simmons in its London, Hong Kong and Tokyo offices and has been seconded to two major European investment banks in London.