U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings are out and the legal blogosphere is abuzz.

The magazine is using a new rankings system, in which graduates’ job placement rates now make up 20 percent of a school’s ranking. The top 20 spots showed little movement–Yale Law School is still number one and Harvard (No. 2) and Stanford (No. 3) switched spots—but this has shaken up the rankings of law schools further down the list.

That said, not much changed for Emory, the University of Georgia and Georgia State’s law schools, which are ranked in the top 100. Emory rose one spot to 23; UGA Law rose a spot to 33; and GSU Law jumped 4 spots to 54.

The National Law Journal gets into the details of the rankings.

Above the Law takes a different tack, delving instead into the drop in LSAT scores and grades that a number of law schools reported from applicants. Is the applicant pool to law schools dumbing down because people with great grades and great LSAT scores have better things to do?, asks Elie Mystal, drawing on Constitutional Daily’s crunching of the year’s statistics.

Simon & Shuster has just released the complete works of Richard M. Nixon as e-books, in honor of his 100th birthday today. Nixon was a prolific writer and several of his 10 works were best-sellers. Among the titles being released are RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon; No More Vietnams; In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal.

“Nixon’s books were best sellers because they offered important views and commentary on the major events which shaped our country and the world. It is clear that Richard Nixon is now being studied and appreciated more and more on the basis of his entire 48 years in the public square,” said the president of the Richard Nixon Foundation, Sandy Quinn via Mediabistro. Nixon, a Duke University law school graduate, was a lawyer with the Mudge Rose firm in New York in the years between serving and vice president and president.

Most of the books cost $13.99 and are available from the Simon & Shuster website or Amazon.com. Robert C. Odle Jr. of Weil, Gotshal & Manges negotiated the deal on behalf of The Richard Nixon Foundation.

The Atlantic has published an absorbing Nixon remembrance on its website, The Operatic Life of Richard Nixon, to mark his 100th birthday. The author, John Aloysius Farrell, is writing a book on the 37th president.

Law firm mergers increased in the last quarter of 2012, a year characterized by a record number of deals with foreign firms, according to Altman Weill MergerLine. In a sign that U.S. firms are continuing to expand globally, there were four major international combinations in the fourth quarter.

K&L Gates, based in Pittsburgh, acquired a 300-lawyer Australian firm, Middletons, giving the firm more than 2,000 lawyers. The deal was announced in December and went into effect Jan. 1.

New York-based SNR Denton announced major European and Canadian acquisitions in November—a combination with Paris-based Salans, which has 770 lawyers, and another with Toronto-based Fraser Milner Casgrain, which has 559 lawyers, for a combined firm of almost 2,500 lawyers. Both deals go into effect in the first quarter of this year.

The other big deal of the fourth quarter was the combination of Houston’s Fulbright & Jaworski, which has 850 lawyers, with London’s Norton Rose, which has 2,900, for a combined firm of 3,750 lawyers. The combination, announced in November, will go into effect June 1.

There were a total of 19 combinations announced in the fourth quarter—nearly one-third of the 60 deals announced in 2012. The annual total matched the 60 deals announced in 2011.

Five additional international deals were announced in 2012 for a total of nine, the largest number since MergerLine began tracking law firm mergers in 2007. That included Baker & McKenzie’s fourth quarter acquisitions of a 91-lawyer Lima firm, Estudio Echecopar, and a 16-lawyer Johannesburg firm, Rudolph Bernstein & Associates, which pushed the Chicago firm over the 4,000 lawyer mark.

Another mega-firm, DLA Piper, acquired a 26-lawyer Paris firm, Frieh Bouhenic, in August. The other international deals were K&L Gates acquisition of a nine-lawyer Milan firm, Marini Salsi Picciau in February and San Francisco-based Carroll Burdick & McDonough’s March acquisition of the five-lawyer Munich firm Schweiger & Partners.

One notable local combination in 2012 was McKenna Long & Aldridge’s March acquisition of the 139-lawyer San Diego firm Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps.

Arnall Golden Gregory raised almost $10,000 in November to combat prostate and testicular cancer, thanks to the moustache-growing efforts of several attorneys.

Led by team captain Aaron Danzig and abetted by Mike Ryan, Scott Fisher and Allen Hirsch, all honorary captains, the lawyers cultivated moustaches for the month, culminating in a firm-wide vote.

Here are the winners, as reported by Kevin Duffy in the firm’s newsletter:

Hirsch was the surprise winner in the Best Moustache Category, having shaved off part of his 40 year-old beard to sport a “Chester A. Arthur” stache.

Allen Hirsch

Matt Wilson won for the Cheesiest Moustache: no surprise there.

Matt Wilson

In a tight race separated by one vote, Rick Mitchell edged out Danzig in the “Looks most likely to be in jail” category.

Aaron Danzig

Rick Mitchell

The other members of the “AGG Moustache Not If, But How” roster were: Russ Arouh, Neil Hoffman, Glenn Hendrix, Henry Chalmers, Jason Bring and Rich Gardner.

Looking for a puppy to give to someone special for Christmas? It’s not too late.

Atlanta’s first-ever Super Pet Adoption day–offering more than 200 dogs, puppies, cats and kittens from local shelters and rescue groups–is this Saturday, Dec. 22.

Ashley Freedman, a lawyer with the Social Security Administration and an animal lover, has organized the event, which will be from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the North Atlanta Trade Center, located at 1700 Jeurgens Court in Norcross.

Many people seek a last-minute pet for Christmas, said Freedman, a longtime volunteer with pet rescue groups and Fulton County Animal Services.

The Atlanta Humane Society, where many turn, runs out of puppies in the weeks before the holiday, she said, and time is running short to adopt a rescue pet from a foster parent.

That prompted her to organize the Super Pet Adoption day.

“It’s one-stop shopping,” Freedman said, adding that people can bring their pets with them to make sure they will get along with prospective adoptees.

All pets available for adoption will be spayed, neutered and current on vaccines.

Visitors can also have pet photos taken with Santa Paws and get their faces painted. Pet-related vendors and low-cost pet micro-chipping and rabies vaccines will be on offer. All dogs adopted get a certificate for a free self-service grooming session at Kirkwood and Smyrna Bark & Lounge, one of the sponsors.

Atlanta Animals Alive, the nonprofit Freedman formed for the event, will collect donations of pet toys, treats, towels and blankets for shelter animals.

“I’m hoping it becomes an annual event for the holidays,” Freedman said.

For a list of participating shelters and recue agencies or to get involved, check www.AtlantaAnimalsAlive.org.

Freedman can be contacted at ashley@atlantaanimalsalive.org.

The Atlanta Young Jewish Attorneys Network is having a post-Hanukkah party on Dec. 20.

AYJAN is a social and networking group for Jewish lawyers who are under 40. (If you turned 40 in 2012, you are still eligible.) It was founded earlier this year to promote relationships among Jewish lawyers by Jody Brown and Eric Fisher at Taylor English Duma, Jeffrey Fisher at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton and Raanon Gal at Ford & Harrison.

The party will be at RiRa, located in Midtown at 1080 Peachtree Street, at 6:30 p.m. The organizers have reserved a private room with complimentary drinks and appetizers.

The Law Offices of Benjamin Y. Gerber and Discovery Litigation Services are sponsoring the mixer.

Contact Eric Fisher at efisher@taylorenglish.com if you are planning to attend. AYJAN has a LinkedIn page with more information about the group.

LINK:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/AYJAN-4257314/about?trk=anet_ug_grppro

Friends and co-workers of attorney Adina Parson are holding a benefit concert for her on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

Parson, an attorney for the state Department of Public Health, was shot eight times as she was leaving her Sandy Springs apartment on April 20–allegedly by her husband, Michael Parson, who is being held at the Fulton County jail.

After months of rehabilitation at Shepherd Spinal Center, she has returned home to continue her recovery.

The Atlanta Institute of Music’s All-Star Monster Band is headlining the show, which will be at Vinyl at Center Stage, 1374 West Peachtree Street, at 8 p.m. The All-Star Monster Band, led by keyboardist and composer Randy Hoexter, is drawn from the Atlanta Institution of Music’s senior faculty and includes some of the city’s notable rock and jazz session musicians. Nathan Arizona Band will open.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. They can be purchased online at centerstage-atlanta.com. All proceeds will go to Parson.

Legal consultancy Altman Weil’s latest survey asking in-house legal honchos how they are controlling costs found that negotiating price reductions with outside counsel is the most popular approach.

In the annual survey of chief legal officers, 71 percent of respondents said they re-negotiated outside fees in the past year. Almost half—47 percent—shifted work in-house and 41 percent shifted work being done by outside counsel to lower-priced firms. About a third—36 percent—reduced the total work they sent to firms, and 10 percent instituted a law firm convergence program.

More law departments (39 percent) decreased their outside counsel budget in 2012 than those that increased their outside spend (34 percent). This is the first time in three years that the percent of law departments decreasing their outside spend was higher than those making increases, according to Altman Weil.

Law departments are cutting costs internally as well. About a third (36 percent) shifted work in-house from lawyers to paralegals and 35 percent used contract lawyers. One fourth of respondents said they outsourced some work to non-law-firm vendors to save money.

In other findings, chief legal officers said the top factor in choosing outside counsel is demonstrating understanding of their business or industry—which they ranked 9.6 in importance on a 1 to 10 scale. In-house chiefs continue to express skepticism about firms’ willingness to change their service delivery model, rating firms’ change-willingness at 3 on a 1 to 10 scale.

There were 204 responses to the annual survey from the 1,297 corporate legal departments invited to participate—a 15.7 percent response rate.

Bouhan, Williams & Levy's Armstrong House

Two established Savannah firms have announced they’ll merge. Bouhan, Williams & Levy, whose roots go back to 1886, is combining with Inglesby, Falligant, Horne, Courington & Chisholm, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

The combined firm, to be called Bouhan + Falligant, will be headquartered in the Armstrong House at 447 Bull Street, where Bouhan Williams is currently located. It will have 29 lawyers if all 17 Bouhan Williams and all 12 Inglesby Falligant lawyers make the move.

One Bouhan Williams lawyer, Sonny Seiler, was the lead defense counsel in the trials of local antiques dealer and preservationist Jim Williams for the 1981 murder of his assistant, Danny Hansford, in Williams’ home, Mercer House. The case was made famous by the book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” published in 1994.

Bouhan Williams acquired the Armstrong House from Williams in 1970, according to the firm’s website.

Bouhan + Falligant’s managing partner will be Lea Holliday, the managing partner of Bouhan Williams.

“Inglesby Falligant will contribute what we consider to be the best group of commercial and residential real estate lawyers in the Southeast, plus an extensive bankruptcy practice,” Holliday said in a statement. “Our trial lawyers, who are well known for litigating business disputes and defending malpractice cases, will be complemented by Inglesby Falligant’s successful products liability, transportation and family law practices.”

The merger marks the first name change in 44 years for Bouhan Williams, which handles corporate law and litigation.

Inglesby Falligant’s senior partner, Danny Falligant said Bouhan Williams has “produced some of the finest lawyers in Savannah in many years. We’ve observed their exceptional team from the other side of the table and now can look forward to being on the same side.”

To see the interior of the Armstrong House click here.

Melba Hughes, one of Atlanta’s original legal recruiters, has joined global legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa. The two other recruiters and assistant at her firm, Hughes Consultants, are part of the merger.

Becoming part of a global recruiter will make her more competitive, Hughes said, and expand the services she can offer clients—particularly contract attorney placements, which she called a “huge opportunity.”

“We find that our in-house clients want to be served by one full-service vendor that can supply contract lawyers, temp to perm, and global search,” she said.

Hughes’ firm has focused on the more traditional recruitment areas of corporate law staff plus partners and associates for law firms. Clients include Turner Broadcasting System, General Electric, Del Monte Foods, MetLife, Paul Hastings and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Hughes Consultants handled the search for Atlanta’s current city attorney, Cathy Hampton.

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