Mcintyre law firm

Law firm merger activity hit a four-year high in the first quarter of 2013.All of the 20-plus law firm weddings listed by the Altman Weil Mergerline, however, involved the acquisition of smaller—and often much smaller—legal shops.“Firms are picking up specialty practices, expanding in strong markets and adding offices in new cities,” Altman Weil principal Ward Bower said0 in a press release.The biggest deal announced during the first three months of 2013 involved Detroit-based Clark Hill, which has 231 lawyers on its attorney roster, and 82-attorney Thorp Reed & Armstrong, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh. Another significant deal brought together Detroit-based Dickinson Wright, which has 282 lawyers, and Mariscal Weeks McIntyre & Friedlander, which has 60 lawyers in Phoenix.“It appears that Detroit-based firms are expanding opportunistically into new markets with greater potential,” Bower said. “This is a strategy that has been … [Read more...] about Law firm mergers surge in 1st quarter 2013

Thinking about timing law-school attendance to graduate at a financially advantageous time?Don’t bother, say two researchers who previously concluded that the present value of a law degree is about $1 million more, on average, than the value of a college degree.Graduating from law school in a bad economy has a relatively small impact on lifetime earnings relative to graduating with a bachelor’s degree, according to a preliminary draft research paper by the researchers, Rutgers University economics and business professor Frank McIntyre and Seton Hall University law professor Michael Simkovic, a visiting research scholar at Fordham University’s law school.Though unemployment levels at graduation affect pay for the first four years, particularly in boom times, the impact fades as law graduates gain experience, according to the new paper (available here) by McIntyre and Simkovic. (The researchers’ previous paper on the value of a law degree is here.)Overall, the … [Read more...] about Why time law school? Value of law degree drops only $30K in bad vs. good economy, study says

White law graduates get a median annual boost to earnings of about $41,000—a figure that is substantially higher than for minority law grads, according to two researchers.The median boost to earnings is $34,000 for Asians, $33,000 for blacks, and $28,000 for Hispanics, according to the study, available here. Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports and TaxProf Blog have highlights from the study, which looks at the earnings boost relative to the value of a bachelor’s degree.Those figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, known as ACS, using a proxy for law degree holders—those with professional degrees who aren’t employed in the professional fields of medicine, architecture, education, accounting, psychology and the clergy. The study includes law grads who are not practicing law and who did not pass the bar.The study notes that law grads may have had a higher earnings potential even if they had not gone to law school, so the earnings … [Read more...] about A law degree provides a larger earnings boost to whites than minorities, researchers say

Leading the Past WeekPresident Obama touched on both new and old initiatives in his State of the Union though avoided rhetorical attacks against large financial institutions.  Instead, that torch was picked up by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who did not disappoint her supporters on the left with her sharp questioning of regulators at her first hearing of the Senate Banking Committee.  Raising issues such as whether large institutions were “too large to jail” certainly generated attention that to date, Senator Warren had worked to avoid.  In the Finance Committee, Treasury nominee Jack Lew easily survived his nomination hearing as was widely anticipated.  Not so lucky was FHA Commissioner Carol Galante, who was grilled by the House Financial Services as part of a series of hearings on the agency’s financial situation.In the Administration, last week saw the announcement of the long awaited executive order related to cybersecurity, which … [Read more...] about Financial Services Legislative and Regulatory Law Update – February 18, 2013

An Oklahoma lawyer says his computer files are being held hostage by the encrypto virus, despite his installation of three layers of protection to thwart such attacks.Oklahoma City lawyer Noble McIntyre tells KFOR.com he plans to pay the $700 ransom for release of the files.McIntyre said the same thing happened to his files a few years ago, and he thought his additional computer security would prevent it from happening again. He reported the prior incident to police, but he doesn’t plan to report the computer virus this time.McIntyre told the broadcast station there is not much law enforcement can do when overseas criminals commit such crimes.Related article:ABA Journal: “‘Ransomware’ software attacks stymie law firms” … [Read more...] about Lawyer resigns himself to paying ransom for release of computer files