With another round of state budget cuts looming, Margaret H. Marshall, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, warned yesterday that financial troubles are clogging the courts, pulling probate officers from Boston schools, and decimating the ranks of court-appointed guardians.

Problems could range from long delays for hearings to get protective orders in family court to less court oversight of troubled youth to routine business taking months rather than weeks as courthouses are forced to eliminate workers.

“In my judgment, justice is in jeopardy in Massachusetts,’’ she said at her annual address to the legal community in downtown Boston. “These are strong words, and I use them with care.’’

For the first time in Marshall’s decade as chief justice, she focused her talk on a single topic and struck an unusually foreboding and political tone.

Morrison & Foerster LLP, the San Francisco-based law firm, will cut starting salaries to $145,000 for associates based in U.S. cities except New York, where they will remain $160,000, the firm said.

“The market for first-year salaries among national firms is undetermined at this time,” the firm said today in an e-mailed statement. “Given that, we will continue to assess starting salaries, in light of market trends, and may elect to adjust as required based on larger market developments.”

Large U.S. law firms including Nixon Peabody LLP, Baker & McKenzie LLP and Chadbourne & Parke LLP have cut attorney salaries this year. Also this year law firms including Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Latham & Watkins LLP and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP have delayed start dates for incoming associates and asked lawyers to take time off in exchange for a reduced salary.

Law firms in New York City and across the U.S. raised associate salaries from $145,000 to $160,000 in early 2008.

Former U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval has joined the Nevada law firm of Jones Vargas.

Sandoval, a Republican, resigned from the bench last month to launch a campaign for governor.

He said he will focus on building an alternative dispute resolution practice for the firm, one of the state's largest with significant lobbying presence in Carson City.
Sandoval said he isn't worried about a conflict of interest.

"I know there's a government relations department in the firm, but I will be completely independent of that as well," Sandoval said. "I'll have zero involvement with them."

Sandoval becomes one of two gubernatorial candidates working for law firms that are major lobbyists. Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid, a Democrat, is a shareholder in Lionel Sawyer and Collins.

Sandoval is a former Nevada attorney general, assemblyman and chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her nomination process was so tightly scripted that even her clothes were chosen for her.

Sotomayor made the comments when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday.

The New Haven Register reports that Sotomayor spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty, describing her recent grueling nomination process.

State Sen. Ed Meyer was among those in attendance. He says Sotomayor became teary at times but kept the crowd laughing. He says Sotomayor talked about shopping for clothes to wear to her acceptance ceremony. Government officials, however, told her to bring five suits and they recommended which one she should wear.

Sotomayor, the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, attended a luncheon, coffee reception and a 30th reunion dinner with about 50 guests.

San Francisco officials say cigarette maker Philip Morris has dropped its lawsuit challenging the city's prohibition on tobacco sales at pharmacies.

The announcement Thursday by the city attorney's office follows a federal appeals court ruling denying the company's request for an injunction that would have kept the city from enforcing the year-old law.

City officials say the ban makes sense when tobacco products are unhealthy and drugstores are supposed to promote health.

The city still is defending the law in a separate lawsuit brought by the Walgreens drugstore chain. A Superior Court judge dismissed that case, which is now on appeal.

There were 13 law firm mergers during the third quarter of this year, up from seven deals recorded during the second quarter, according to a new report from Altman Weil Inc.

Most of the quarter's mergers were tiny acquisitions, reflecting "the continuing caution of law firms in response to the recent economic turmoil," said Bill Brennan, principal of Altman Weil.

The meatiest deal reported was Boston-based Bingham McCutchen’s acquisition of McKee Nelson, a 120-lawyer firm with offices in Washington and New York. The merge formed a 1,100-lawyer firm called Bingham McCutchen LLP.

Also during the quarter, Washington-based Howrey LLP acquired Day Casebeer Madrid and Batchelder, a Silicon Valley intellectual property boutique.

While those two deals involved large firms, eight of the quarter’s 13 deals were all small regional combinations. Brennan explains that law firms are not looking to assume the risks inherent with big mergers right now and are instead scooping up small firms or groups of lateral partners with portable business.

There were 25 law firm mergers and acquisitions reported in the first quarter of 2009.