SIGNS of the damaging effects of the global recession on law firm business came as the top 10 US law firms with offices in London reported an average double-digit fall in financial figures for 2009.

Often described as the bellwether for how the UK’s law firms will report finances for the year, US firms saw an overall average drop of around 12 per cent in London revenue in 2009.

White & Case, which held on to its spot as the top US firm by revenue, saw London fee income fall from $245.9m to $197m for the year, while Baker & McKenzie saw its numbers fall to $184.5m.

“International law firms with offices in London which have heavily relied on transactional practices had a difficult year in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers crash,” said Baker & McKenzie London managing partner Gary Senior.

US firms have been particularly hit by the drop off and lack of M&A work, as well as a fall off of banking and capital markets work.

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.

The federal government is trying to bar a financial attorney from offering alleged fraudulent tax saving schemes that help wealthy clients, many of them in the St. Louis area, according to a suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court here.

In the suit, the Internal Revenue Service asks the court to forbid St. Louis attorney Philip A. Kaiser and others affiliated with him from promoting fraudulent tax schemes. The suit says those schemes include:

- sham transactions claiming "massive" charitable deductions, with little or no money going to legitimate charities;

- evasion of federal income tax on gains from stock sales by disguising the sales as loans;

- illegal circumvention of contribution limits for Roth IRAs;

- and evasion of income tax on business earnings by using transactions with sham corporations.

Mayer Brown continues to hemorrhage lawyers, despite what the Chicago law firm says are "encouraging signs" for 2010.

The international firm said Thursday that laid off 28 lawyers in its U.S. offices, which represents 3 percent of the approximately 925 U.S. lawyers. The layoffs did not affect partners, only associates and lawyers known as "counsel" who are not on partnership track.

Mayer Brown also reduced its administrative staff by 47 people.

This is the third job reduction since November 2008 at Mayer Brown. The two previous rounds affected at least 78 lawyers. The firm blamed the previous downsizing on the recession, which cut demand for legal services. It said Thursday that demand has bounced back but not enough. In addition, voluntary attrition has dropped, meaning that the firm was overstaffed compared to anticipated demand for legal services this year.

"Although most of our practices are performing well, overall demand for legal services has not recovered fully, and in today's tight legal job market, voluntary lawyer departures have been significantly lower than our normal levels," Chairman Bert Krueger said in an e-mail to U.S. offices. A Mayer spokesman provided a copy of the e-mail but declined further comment.

The layoffs come as Mayer Brown partners are scheduled to gather in Chicago later this month for the firm's annual meeting.

While stating that the layoffs were necessary, Krueger ended his memo touching on the firm's financial performance. "Thus far, the year off to a positive start."

The pace of layoffs across major U.S. law firms has slowed down compared to a year ago, when nearly every large firm resorted to job cuts to save their bottom lines.

Susan Merrill, who is stepping down as the head of enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street's self-regulatory body, is set to become a partner at the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP.

Ms. Merrill, 53 years old, will lead Bingham's enforcement practice and advise clients on regulatory and securities enforcement matters. She will join the firm's New York office this week.

"Susan is a recognized leader in the securities field," Jay Zimmerman, Bingham's chairman, said in a statement. "Her arrival to Bingham exemplifies our investment and commitment to building the strongest securities team."

Ms. Merrill was hired by the New York Stock Exchange in 2004 to help revive its regulation division. She became head of enforcement at Finra in 2007 when the National Association of Securities Dealers merged with the regulatory arm of the NYSE, forming Finra. Previously, Ms. Merrill was a litigation partner at New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

At Finra, Ms. Merrill helped to merge the enforcement departments of the NASD and NYSE, and brought a number of auction-rate-securities cases against Wall Street firms.

The departure of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens adds a crucial task to the Senate schedule, at a minimum, and could peel momentum from looming climate legislation if his successor triggers a searing political fight.

Stevens' announcement arrived more than a week before the anticipated release of a Senate bill restricting greenhouse gases. That timing clouds the chamber's legislative horizon by handing senators a top White House priority in the months leading to contentious midterm campaigning.

That leaves climate change -- still competing for attention with Obama's other big priorities, like an overhaul of Wall Street and a comprehensive jobs bill -- in limbo. The climate bill being drafted by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) would need to gain swift support to outpace the encompassing confirmation of a life-serving justice, according to some observers.

There's a stretch of time between two congressional recesses, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, that provides an optimal window for movement of a bill, said Chelsea Maxwell, a former climate adviser to retired Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). That gives lawmakers an opportunity to bring legislation to the Senate floor before the height of the election season and any political maneuvering over a Supreme Court nominee.

White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley was back in court Monday for domestic abuse charges.

Bradley was arrested again on Thursday after allegedly violating an order of protection from his wife.

Bradley was booked on three charges: harassment, tampering with a witness, and contempt of court.

Prosecutors claims since March 5, Bradley has repeatedly intentionally violated an order of protection not to harass or cause fear. The new charges alleged he yelled at his wife, Fumiko, on five different occasions.

The judge on Monday ordered him to stay away from Fumiko and to attend an anti-violence class.

A city spokeswoman is denying weekend reports saying that Bradley could resign as early as today.

In the first incident, Mrs. Bradley told police her husband confronted her at the house she was staying at and yelled that in order for him to save his career, she needed to enter a mental hospital or tell police she had lied to them.