Here’s some fabulous trivia, no sarcasm in that statement of course. According to a poll of 5,000 U.S. workers, 74% discovered “misconduct” within their place of business with colleagues who will do “whatever it takes” to achieve business goals.

More than half of workers in banking and finance industries reported trouble in big business paradise. According to The National Law Journal, 60% claim to have seen actions that “could cause a significant loss of public trust if discovered.”

“Restoring trust and confidence in the integrity of our capital markets and institutions will require business leaders to build corporate cultures that reward ‘doing the right thing,’ instead of ‘doing whatever it takes,’ ” said Richard H. Girgenti, national leader for KPMG’s Forensic practice.

“Too often, organizations create compliance programs that look good on paper, but don’t align with how business really gets done,” added Girgenti, also claiming that the tough economy and fears of job losses can undermine ethics programs just when restoring public trust is vital.

“The KPMG data suggest that managers and employees facing heightened pressure to meet revenue and cost targets may resort to improper means of doing so, especially if they think their jobs are in jeopardy if they miss those goals,” he said. “With so much on the line, now is not the time for companies to cut back on the very investments that are designed to safeguard their reputation for integrity.”

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Weeks before the presidential election, all of us bloggers continuously wrote about the crappy economy, Wall Street corruption, bankruptcy, unemployment, lay-offs and foreclosures. However, I must say that after Barack Obama was elected president, our tunes have changed.

What seemed disastrous now has a newfound hope-vibe attached to it and we are able to see that light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. Therefore, even during hard times, the bright sides are revealing themselves. For lawyers, the hiring scale has risen as they are desperately needed to execute layoffs in “every corner of Corporate America.” Now, layoffs are a real bummer for everyone but someone has to make sure the job is done and done right — fair, reasonable, and legal.

According to The National Law Journal, “layoffs gone wrong can trigger discrimination lawsuits, wrongful discharge claims and disparate-impact class actions.” However, with a great lawyer on board, things will run smoothly. Like I said, during difficult times, there’s always opportunities out there for all!

Popularity: 3% [?]

After Lehman Brothers Holding Co. filed for bankruptcy, lawsuits have been flying. One in particular is in the heart of Silicon Valley, California’s San Mateo County. Suing execs and accountants for $150 million in losses, Lehman Bros. is in for a bumpy ride.

Filed Thursday, individual execs such as chief executive officer Richard Fuld and Ernst & Young, the firm’s accountants and others were named in the suit. Accusing Fuld and others of fraud, the lawsuit claims that the team allegedly made it appear publicly that the company was financially strong while in reality they were “scrambling to save it from collapse.”

The suit is asking for a return of exec’s bonuses to repay for damages suffered by the county’s schools, hospitals, transit district and individual cities. Weil Gotshal & Manges in New York are representing Lehman’s bankruptcy case and have not commented on this story.

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Held in New Orleans last week was a panel speaking on the issue of “The Law Firm of the Future - Who Will be the New Winners and New Losers.” With growing financial concern, legal fees are being watched closely as companies and/or individuals are trying to decide if the fee is feasible. That is why a panel consisting of Bruce MacEwen, a New York-based law firm consultant; Sheryl Willert of Williams Kastner in Seattle; Patricia Diaz Dennis, senior vice president and assistant general counsel of AT&T; and Raymond Williams of DLA Piper’s Philadelphia office advise firms to discount rates!

It’s all about a discount now adays!

“We are facing pressure on rates,” said MacEwen, who also mentioned that one company fired its law firm after it became public that firm was charging $1,000-an-hour rates.

According to Diaz Dennis, AT&T sent out a letter to its law firms a few years back, advising them that their budget was too high.

“The ones that stepped up to the plate and offered to share that pain with us are the ones who are still working with us,” she said.

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Downsides always have bright sides and smaller law firms will vouch for that. With big firms usually attracting clients willing to pay even bigger bucks for their services, the economy’s shaky downfall has caused everyone to make financial adjustments. Therefore, those big firms are being traded in for smaller ones due to their much more reasonable bills.

Having fewer ties to the “financial sector’s heavy hitters,” the smaller firms are experiencing less of an impact from the economic meltdown. Although smaller firms do state that certain practice areas, for example, real estate, transactions and public offerings are down, practice areas such as bankruptcy and restructuring are way up, enabling these mid-size firms to possibly even surpass their 2007 financial performance.

“In this type of downturn, we expect to see some negative impact on the firm, but not to the extent you see with the New York firms,” said Alan Levin, managing partner at Indianapolis’ Barnes and Thornburg, which has 446 attorneys and seven offices, including four in Indiana. “Our economy is not quite as tied to the highs and lows of the financial markets.”

Thus, people are turning to these smaller firms for services. For instance, a large Colorado-based client moved his antitrust business from an East Coast firm to Holme Roberts.

“We were $250 or $300 less [per hour] than the East Coast firm,” said the branch spokesperson.

According to Dykema Gossett Chairman Rex Schlaybaugh Jr., who is located in Michigan, “That trend becomes accelerated in tough economic times. Purchasers of legal services have found that there is tremendous value in what I call ‘Main Street’ firms as compared to ‘Wall Street’ firms.”

Popularity: 6% [?]

We don’t have to tell you about the stock market plunge. It’s all over the news with photos of brokers holding their heads in despair. What more is there to say? When it rains, it pours. Calling this Friday afternoon “Black Friday,” especially on Wall Street, relief isn’t yet in sight but it will come…It always comes, eventually.

According to President Bush, “We’re in this together and we’ll come through this together. Anxiety can feed anxiety, and that can make it hard to see all that’s being done to solve the problem.”

And what is being done, exactly?

The United States is exploring ways the government might inject billions into banks in exchange for ownership stakes. Britain offered to pour cash into its troubled banks in exchange for stakes in them - a partial nationalization. Also, a group of nations called the G20 will meet on Saturday evening. Dominating the discussion will be how the world’s finance officials and central bank presidents can better contain the spreading financial crisis

“Addressing these challenges requires the dramatic steps we are taking here in the United States and it requires strong international partnerships,” Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson said this week. “We must also take care to ensure that our actions are closely coordinated and communicated so that the action of one country does not come at the expense of others or the stability of the system as a whole.”

According to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF (world’s financial firefighter), “these actions should help to restore trust and confidence in financial markets.”

Is she right?

We will see…But I think Americans are weary. We’ve lost faith in our leaders. Still, after a storm, the sun always comes back out. During both good and bad times, the one thing that you can always count on is change.

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In the limelight is Staten Island University hospital who is about to cough up $88.9 million to settle allegations it had defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and an insurance covering the military. Considered to be one of the largest civil fraud recoveries ever against a single United States hospital, the federal government will receive $74 million and NY state will receive $14.9 million.

The lawsuits began when Dr. Miguel Tirado, the former director of chemical dependency services at the hospital, discovered and revealed the fraudulent billing of the insurance companies for in-patient alcohol and substance abuse detoxification treatment.

Popularity: 3% [?]