* Billable hours in Biglaw are down 1.5 percent, and 15 percent of U.S. firms are planning to reduce their partnership ranks in early 2013. Thanks to Wells Fargo for bringing us the news of all this holiday cheer! [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]
* Hostess may be winding down its business and liquidating its assets, but Biglaw will always be there to clean up the crumbs. Jones Day, Venable, and Stinson Morrison Hecker obviously think money tastes better than Twinkies. [Am Law Daily]
* How’s that “don’t be evil” thing working out for you? Google’s $22.5M proposed privacy settlement with the FTC over tracking cookies planted on Safari browsers was accepted by a federal judge. [Bloomberg]
* Greenberg Traurig and Hunton & Williams face a $7.2B suit from Allen Stanford’s receiver over a former attorney of both firms’ alleged involvement in the ex-knight’s Ponzi scheme. [Houston Business Journal]
* Perhaps the third time will be the charm: ex-Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins was convicted, again, for helping Refco steal more than $2B from investors by concealing the company’s fraud. [New York Law Journal]
* H. Warren Knight, founder of alternative dispute resolution company JAMS, RIP. [National Law Journal]
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Tags: Allen Stanford, Arbitration, Bankruptcy, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Carlos Loumiet, Deaths, Federal Judges, Federal Trade Commission, Food, FTC, Google, Google / Search Engines, Greenberg Traurig, H. Warren Knight, Hostess, Hostess Brands Inc., Hunton & Williams, JAMS, Jones Day, Joseph Collins, Joseph P. Collins, Judge Susan Illston, Mayer Brown, Money, Morning Docket, Partner Issues, Ponzi Scheme, Privacy, R. Allen Stanford, Refco, Stinson Morrison Hecker, Venable, Wells Fargo