TAL Year-end Quiz – Answer Key

1. Which firm has NOT represented MGA in the Bratz litigation?

d. Keker & Van Nest

2. “Sometimes I garble the language,” a partner at one Am Law 100 firm admitted on the witness stand this year while being cross-examined about changes he had made to a property agreement. Name the partner and his firm.

Lawrence Silverstein of Bingham McCutchen

3. Which firms fell off the Global 100 this year?

b. CMS Cameron McKenna and Gide Loyrette Nouel

4. Which Am Law 100 firm succeeded in effectively shutting down D.C. burger restaurant Rogue States, on the grounds that grilling smells were seeping into the firm’s offices and making lawyers sick?

Steptoe & Johnson

5. “It was like spending years singing in the shower and then suddenly being asked to perform on stage in front of a screaming crowd,” said this lawyer about his work on the gigantic Petrobras IPO. Name the lawyer and his firm.

Nicolas Grabar, Cleary Gottlieb

6. Which movie character did White & Case partner Tom Lauria—the lawyer who successfully represented former Pepper Hamilton partner Chuck Greenberg and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan in their bid to acquire the Texas Rangers—reference in a hearing before U.S. bankruptcy court judge D. Michael Lynn in July?

b. John Blutarsky (Animal House)

7. This lawyer started his career in the midst of the Iran hostage crisis, and from the start, played a part in deciding how to legally seize and hold about $12 billion in Iranian assets. Is the lawyer:

c. NY Federal Reserve GC Tom Baxter

8. Which firm returned to the Am Law 100 this year after a 14-year absence?

c. Williams & Connolly

9. "I really believe that if you are going to try to do something that is fundamentally not based on the billable hour, you can't do it in baby steps."

Which of the following lawyers offered this statement for a feature that appeared in both TAL and CC in January:

c. Pfizer General Counsel Amy Schulman

10. “White Sox,” “Texas Rangers,” and “Dos Amigos” were used as code names for

b. Potential merger partners for the faltering Heller Ehrman

11. Last June, in ruling for author Neil Gaiman in a copyright case over characters from the comic book series Spawn, federal district judge Barbara Crabb noted several similarities between Gaiman character Medieval Spawn and another character in the series, Dark Ages Spawn. Which was NOT one of the traits she described?

e. Both wear distinctive skull-shaped helmets and carry oversized battle axes.

12. Which Am Law 100 firm was the first ever to make a female partner a name partner?

Quinn Emanuel/Kathleen Sullivan

13. How much had the estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. paid in legal fees as of the end of September?

a. $478 million. (LEGAL fees, not total fees)

14. When lawyers at K&L Gates talk about “fracking,” what do they mean and why would a fan of Battlestar Galactica likely be confused?

Fracking, as we know from Irene’s December BT, refers to a process for extracting natural gas from shale by pumping a mixture of water, chemicals, and sand into the rock to fracture it. On BSG, it refers to something else; often used as an expletive.

15. If a firm that you’re profiling boasts that 15 percent of its attorneys are minority lawyers, would you

b. give the firm minimal credit, since its percentage of minority lawyers is only slightly above average. (13.4 percent)

16. Which firm grossed more than $1 billion in 2009?

a. Greenberg Traurig