The legal industry is falling apart. Not in the sense pundits meant when they gave that diagnosis in 2008 as firms were hit with the harsh reality of the recession.

Rather, the industry is moving away from a monolithic provider of legal services -- the law firm -- to a fragmented service platform where the competition isn't just a broadening array of law firms, but legal process outsourcers and other non-law firm legal service providers as well. "Law firms are really being circled by these things," consultancy Adam Smith Esq. partner Janet Stanton said.

Firms have to decide where they want to compete and how, and what fits in their business model, she said.

Not only are LPOs and other firms that are adapting their business models a source of increased competition for law firms, Edge International consultant Jordan Furlong said, but so too are clients who are increasingly bringing more work in-house.

Read here: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202473909000&Law_Firms_Feel_Pressure_From_New_Breed_of_Competitors

A major law firm has formed a special task force aimed at defending lenders and mortgage loan servicers as legal challenges to questionable foreclosure practices mount.

Global law firm K&L Gates LLP said on Tuesday it has assembled a team to help companies respond to allegations ranging from wrongful foreclosure to inadequate documentation and lack of standing to foreclose.

"Whether it's us or somebody else, I think all the servicers are looking to get outside assistance," said Laurence Platt, a mortgage banking partner in the firm's Washington, D.C., office.

Legal pitfalls have multiplied "in part because there's a 'gotcha' mentality out there," he said.

In recent years, U.S. law firms have created special teams to help clients handle legal issues triggered by the mortgage market meltdown and the financial crisis.

These teams have included legal experts in areas including litigation, class-action lawsuits and financial regulation.

All 50 U.S. states have launched a joint investigation of the mortgage industry, looking into allegations that some banks used shoddy or fraudulent paperwork to evict borrowers from their homes.

Metro Atlanta attorney Michael Shaw pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing more than $500,000 from Atlanta law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP.

Shaw, a 37-year-old resident of Mableton, Ga., worked as an associate attorney at Greenberg Traurig, specializing in bankruptcy and commercial-foreclosure litigation. From 2003 to 2009, Shaw regularly performed investigative services for clients himself, but submitted invoices in the name of an investigator who also worked for the firm. These invoices totaled $90,000.

At the same time, Shaw performed title-examination services for clients himself, but submitted invoices to the firm in the name of a fictitious vendor. He obtained the vendor’s social security number from federal bankruptcy filings and submitted fraudulent W-9 forms in the vendor’s name. These invoices totaled $425,000.

For almost six years, Shaw regularly performed work for clients, submitted fraudulent invoices to the firm’s accounting department, received checks, endorsed the checks over to himself, and deposited the funds into his personal checking account. He also continued to receive his regular law firm salary.

In June 2009, the law firm completed a client’s billing review, discovered the misconduct and fired Shaw. He was also disbarred by the Georgia State Bar.

He now faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing is set for Jan. 5, 2011.

Broward Circuit Judge Eileen O'Connor cleared the way Thursday for a state attorney general's office subpoena to obtain foreclosure records from the Law Offices of David J. Stern in Plantation, which has filed foreclosures with the courts by the thousands for the nation's biggest lenders.

O'Connor'stwo-paragraph ruling offered no comment or insight into her legal reasoning but authorized the subpoena under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

"She's not required to give any explanation," said Jeffrey Tew, the Tew Cardenas attorney for Stern who asked to quash the subpoena.

Stern's back-office operation, the publicly traded DJSP Enterprises, issued a statement late Thursday saying the company is cutting its staff about 10 percent and an audit committee of independent directors has started an internal investigation with Greenberg Traurig as outside counsel.

O'Connor reached the opposite conclusion of Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jack Cox, who quashed a separate subpoena last week that was served on another law firm, Shapiro & Fishman of Boca Raton and Tampa. The West Palm Beach judge refused Thursday to reconsider his decision.

Attorney General Bill McCollum has been pursuing litigation against four Florida law firms accused of shoddy foreclosure practices.

The Michigan appeals court says it won't review the prison sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who's in prison for violating probation in a criminal case.

The decision means Kilpatrick will remain in prison at least until next summer unless another court intervenes. He was sentenced to 14 months to five years for failing to report assets and turn over more money to reduce his $1 million restitution to Detroit.

The restitution was a consequence of his 2008 guilty plea to obstruction of justice. Kilpatrick had lied at a civil trial to conceal an affair with his chief of staff, a relationship later revealed through sexually explicit text messages.

Kilpatrick attorney Arnold Reed says he's not surprised by the appeals court's rejection and may take the case to federal court.

Armstrong Teasdale lawyer Daniel J. Burke has been selected for the 2010-2011 class of Leadership Clayton, a development program sponsored by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. A total of fifteen individuals have been accepted into this year’s program.

An attorney at the firm since 2006, Burke concentrates his practice in the areas of real estate development, banking and financial services, and public finance. He has also been deeply involved in the creation and development of Armstrong Teasdale’s Future Energy Group.

Burke received his J.D. from Washington University School of Law in 2006 and his B.A., cum laude, in 2003 from Miami University-Oxford in Oxford, Ohio, where he was also selected for Phi Beta Kappa.

Leadership Clayton, which began in 1972, is a nine-month program for emerging and existing leaders aimed at broadening their knowledge of community issues, sharpening their leadership skills and challenging their ability to find solutions to problems affecting the surrounding area. Participants must live or work in Clayton County, demonstrate leadership ability and possess a strong commitment to serve the community.

About Armstrong Teasdale LLP: Armstrong Teasdale LLP, with nearly 250 lawyers in offices across the U.S. and China, has a demonstrable track record of delivering sophisticated legal advice and exceptional service to a dynamic client base. Whether an issue is local or global, practice area specific or industry related, Armstrong Teasdale provides each client with an invaluable combination of legal resources and practical advice in nearly every area of law. For more information, please visit www.armstrongteasdale.com.