So What's Up With MoFo in the OC?
This rumor, about the Orange County office of Morrison & Foerster, has been making the rounds:
"A couple of my classmates are now scrambling for new summer jobs after MoFo OC told them to start looking elsewhere, because the office basically has no work and they're already moving lawyers to other offices. They just got told this week. MoFo didn't even offer to accommodate them in other offices."
Unwelcome to the OC, bitch?
As it turns out, however, much of the rumor is incorrect. We reached out to the firm, and heard back from no less an authority than Keith Wetmore, the firm's handsome (and openly gay) chairman:
By virtue of some internal redeployments within the firm, our OC office has declined in size and scope of practice over the past six months, to a point where we did not feel we could offer summer associates a full summer experience or appropriate assurances of permanent offers in that office. For example, we are exiting the corporate practice there so can no longer offer corporate experience to summer associates. There is no shortage of work for the lawyers who remain -- one the biggest cases in the firm has historically been, and continues to be, staffed from that office.We offered all the summer associates positions in a number of our other offices across the globe or split summers between Orange County and those other offices. We have also offered them financial support should they want to work in pro bono for the summer. Understandably, some of them have chosen to consider other firms for the summer before they make a final decision.
We thank Mr. Wetmore and MoFo for this information. We especially appreciated the promptness of their response (within an hour of our original inquiry).
(36) Comments
Question - Does this firm really refer to itself as MoFo in the outside world (i.e. outside of this blog, internally, or at cocktail parties?)
How do you choose to "consider other firms" in February when everyone else is finished hiring? This doesn't add up.
Seriously, any bonus announcements this week? I know there are some big firms who haven't been reported here.
3:58 - yes. Their website is www.mofo.com. Their emails are firstinitiallastname@mofo.com.
3:59 - Any firm that hasn't announced bonuses by now is a TTT.
uhhhhh...those (former) SA's are now royally screwed for the summer if they didn't transfer to another MoFo office. How are they going to get hired by any other firm in February???
MoFo mos def did the right thing. Would the summers prefer to spend their entire summer in that office, then get non-offered at the end b/c there's no need for 10 new first years in a shrinking office?
Maybe mofo should have planned this in advance better, but they sound okay to me.
4:04, i definitely would prefer summering at a big firm like MoFo, then reinterview in Fall as a 3L telling people that MoFo didn't have room in that office (assuming they didn't give u an offer to another office anyways)...rather than scramble to find some crappy 2L summer job (if any are even available anymore) and having to explain in the fall why I didn't summer at a firm....
Sure, summer hiring is technically done... but so what. I'm sure there are some big firms out there who got fewer acceptances than they wanted, and would be willing to take on another summer under the circumstances. (Of course, if possible, I'd try to keep open the option of going to another MoFo office if nothing else worked out).
Concur w/4:04 - seems like they made the best of a suboptimal situation.
The firm has lots of other California offices: L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, Palo Alto...
so 4:02, February 8 is the cutoff to be a TTT? I didn't know there was a date. How convenient! I had always wondered what exactly the criteria were. Now there can be no argument!
Didn't they know something about this situation before the NALP cutoffs in December? That wasn't all that long ago.
Also, does anyone think the other firms that had offered these 2Ls might still make room for them at this stage or is that out the window?
I love working at MoFo! We get all the cutting edge work, and we take equity in our clients! I have been working with something called the internets which is like a bunch of computers connected with modems! Along with Wilson Sonsini, Fenwick & West and Brobeck, we're going to be one of the top firms for the next decade! Yahoo!
4:09: I understood the chair's email to mean that Mofo offered all of the OC summers a spot in its other offices.
And would you seriously prefer to get non-offered at a shrinking office, then reinterview as a 3L, with the prospect of starting full time as a first-year at a sight-unseen firm? That's not how most people think.
4:29 - best of the day on ATL. Classic.
Gallion OUT!
Mofo rejects:
S&C's Nazi Litigation department could use a few more good men. Call us at 212-CRUSH-BUG.
They're probably better off not going there anyway - I had a friend who was a summer associate at MoFo Orange County in 2006. It's better to get an offer at a worse place than to show up for interviews as a 3L having to explain why they didn't give you an offer, even if it is for "legitimate" reasons.
4:04, you seem like you have a vested interest here.
Also, do they really have 7 offices out there? Did they go the Jones Day route, taking out local firms and switching the letterhead?
Which NYC firm will be next? In this economy, it is inevitable that offers will get revoked. Either way, the SA's this year will not have guaranteed offers as in previous years...
Yup, 4:57, MoFo has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco, Walnut Creek, Palo Alto, and Sacramento. If you go to http://www.mofo.com/about/offices/index.html, there is a description of when each office was established, etc. I think at one time it was the largest law firm in California, but don't know that for sure (and don't know if it still holds that title).
MoFo definitely did the right thing. It's transparency is commendable.
I'm pretty sure it still has the most attorneys in CA, although MoFo and Latham go back and forth.
I have a friend who summered at MoFo Palo Alto and is going to MoFo San Fran after graduation.
3:58:
It really is hard to believe, but it's true.
http://www.mofo.com
Latham has more CA attorneys by a decent amount:
http://californialawyermagazine.com/fileserver/DJICText/CaLawyer/pdf/2007California50.pdf
I wonder what kind of "financial support" they gave folks who decided to do pro bono instead of working at MoFo. Do you think they'd pay the full SA salary (they will anyway, if the SAs just transfer to another office--only this way it's deductible!)
Because if my firm gave me that option for the summer, i'd totally take it.
what is TTT?
3:58 --
Yes.
They also think the name of their internal newsletter is extremely clever: "MoFo Info."
I like Lat's passive-aggressive thank you, which is almost certainly directed at those firms which do not respond to Lat's posts. Cough cough OMM cough cough
As a MoFo associate, I'm pleased to see this sort of transparency. It seems like the accommodation offered to the summer associates was reasonable. But as a gay MoFo associate, Lat, I find the random comment about Keth Wetmore's sexuality offputting. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the post. Every time you've mentioned sexuality before, it's seemingly had SOME relevance no matter how attenuated. But the fact that we have an openly gay chair has no logical bearing on OC summer associates, so it just seems out of place. Roughly like saying, "Kathleen Sullivan just won a major appellate battle for Quinn Emanuel, and by the way, is a pretty good looking lesbian." Say what?
Talk about a sinking ship! Stay away.
6:30,
You obviously don't know anything about tax. It's deductible to the partners even if it's for a SA salary. In fact, it's better that way because it's not limited (as would be the case if it were a charitable contribution).
8:24, lat is gay too.
8:47, I know he is (or at least has decided not to deny it), but I'd then prefer all the more that he'd mention people's sexuality when relevant and leave it out when not. When Keith Wetmore talks about MoFo's diversity, gay-friendliness, or even progressiveness, his sexuality might be relevant; when he talks about recruiting and summer associate positions, it's not. It's not a major point, and I'm not offended or anything (certainly Keith's made no secret of it, and I'm really pleased that he IS so open), but just thought it was worth mentioning.
Yes, MoFo really does present itself to the outside world as MoFo, a moniker coined by one of its senior partners many millenia ago before it was, uh, well you know, what we know it mean now.
Hey 8:24 (or anyone else who knows) -- Is Kathleen Sullivan really gay?