Squire, Sanders & Dempsey and British firm Hammonds are in merger talks. “While we are still at an early stage, our discussions to date indicate that such a merger would appeal strongly to clients that want high-quality legal services from lawyers who have global experience and who understand and respect client demand for value,” the Squire Sanders chairman said

Two former lawyers at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius have formed the latest new firm in Los Angeles. Neal Salisian and Richard Lee, both litigators, have formed Salisian Lee to cater to entrepreneurs, real estate developers, small business owners, commercial leasing companies and inventors looking for flexible and lower-cost billing rates from lawyers with Big Law experience. Lee hopes to build a firm of between five and 10 lawyers within five years, including partners and associates, with most of them litigators.

Texas billionaire brothers Sam and Charles Wyly, in denying Securities and Exchange Commission allegations that they hid $550 million in trading profits via a maze of offshore trusts and other entities, are pointing at the advice they received from lawyers and financial advisers, according to reports. So, who were the go-to lawyers for the Wylys? Chief among them was Michael French, whom the SEC has also charged with helping the brothers set up the offshore trusts through which they made the trades in question.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to adopt four articles of impeachment against Eastern District of Louisiana Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr., wrapping up a wide-ranging investigation into allegations that Porteous took cash and gifts from lawyers and lied in his own bankruptcy case

Former New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo was sentenced Monday to 27 months in federal prison for attempting to extort donations from lawyers appearing in his court.