First

by First Again

Who would they merge with?

Or: With whom would they merge?

This actually makes me happy that I ended up at a TTT large firm that does okay in bad economic times because we have lower billing rates and we aren't dependent on a cyclical corporate group.

is it proskauer?

I have no idea who would merge with a struggling firm like this. No top NYC shop would because their PPP is twice that of Heller. I don't know if most CA firms would either since they already have presences in the large CA markets. Heller to TTT.

No- it's worse than Proskauer though I assume Proskauer is doing okay in this economy since they have a sizable employment law practice. They must be doing a ton of reduction in force.

these comments suck. comment takes a few seconds to load. don't see it immediately. that blows.

12:37 - What comments? Recently, no one has been posting. Lat could throw out a story involving salary increases, tied with abortion and the presidential race, and there would be 40 comments. ATTTL

I don't recall any mention of Heller poaching a top piece of DLA talent recently. Maybe I missed it.

damn it lat. when you're selling a product and it's doing well, you don't change it midstream. you have killed your own successful blog by altering this site. congrats. it is like google taking their search page and turning it into a piece of sh*t.

ATL = Coke II.

Lat dropped the ball here. The format blows and is wildly unpopular: look at the decreased traffic. There is no reason he can't revert back to the old format, and there was no reason to switch. I rarely come now because the format is so horrible. Also, the content is TRAFFIC-DEPENDENT, so by fucking with the traffic, you fuck with the content, and the site becomes crap.

why does it seem like everyone is going to DLA?

i still come here to check the headlines, but definitely read and post less because the new format is reader unfriendly

Heller's DLA poach in early March was Nick Seddon, formerly their Managing Director for Asia.

Agreed with the decreased attention point. I look at this site only once or twice a day now and rarely post. This format sucks.

Lat. SERIOUSLY. Your readers are the only reason this site has done so well. I haven't heard any reader say they like this site. Do a POLL!!!??? I bet 99% of people will say you should revert to the old format.

I use to check this site literally every 15 minutes at work. I would look forward to new posts and new comments. Now I check maybe twice a day, only to see if there is any new headline worth reading. You are killing us here. We depended on ATL to distract us from our mundane, boring, billable hours dungeon jobs.

Lat is suffering from a perfect storm of an unusually prolonged slow gossip/news cycle, and the crappiness of this new format. I'm betting his bosses made him implement the new format because it has more advertising space or something. Sadly, that space will be empty as Lat's readership continues to plummet...

Lat, here's what you bring to the table:

1) ATL's novelty gave you foothold in the market
2) the underneaththeirrobes knowledge-set and contacts
3) your style

once your traffic decreases to a point where 1) is mooted, you'll find that 3) is pretty subjective and that while 2) is important, we'll gladly go elsewhere for a better layout.

We're not even asking you to change the most ridiculous and self-serving feature--that three times a week you data-mine and advertise for lateral-link. We're cool with that. Just change the fucking format.

This site and WSJ blog started to fall apart when L2L retired.

1.33 - he already did a poll a few days ago.

I don't care either way about the format. I still enjoy it. Most people are just pissed off because there is not enough layoff or pay increase news. suck it up folks!

Wang.

If nothing else, please change the hyperlink color from Skadden red to something less distracting.

I would think possible merger partners would include(a) mega-firms trying to get bigger for the sake of getting bigger (Jones Day, KL Gates, etc.) and (b) East Coast/Southern/Texas firms that want a West Coast presence.

Discuss.

East Coast/TX definitely. Chicago perhaps?

winston & strawn is the rumor

I dont think any Chicago firms are looking to merge. Kirkland or sidley are a no way. Mayer just merged. Nothing really left after that in chicago

One potential merger partner: Philadelphia's Blank Rome. It's well known that they've been looking at joining forces with a west coast firm for some time now. Not sure of Heller's PPP, but Blank's is in the mid-600s.

Heller's PEP is double that.

Winston Heller is a reasonably good sounding name for a firm

2:36, 2:25 here. I just looked it up. While it's not double that (I have it as $1M) it is substantially larger. Therefore, the merger I speculated upon above is no longer realistic. I withdraw it from consideration.

Winston is the ticket. That makes perfect sense

How about King & Spalding? They need a West coast presence if they're to stay alive. And I think their PPP is about 1 mil.

Love the new format but bring back SEN.

Comments are down b/c the new format is lousy.

How about King Heller?

Shulte is in good shape. Plus, I know one of our junior associates got into a bar fight with someone at DLA and broke his nose. HAHA DLA and Cravath suck.

A friend worked at Heller last summer and reported that the firm was having such financial problems that it had become almost chaotic day-to-day. He made the almost unconscionable decision to turn down the offer as a 3L, with no other prospects in sight.

It's either merger or serious restructuring; that baby's sinkin'

Heller snagged DLA's Asia head.

http://www.hellerehrman.com/en/news/press/press_3360.html

And I think the chaos is at the West coast Heller offices, not the East coast ones...

change the font to something that all browsers can handle.

Another over the top post about Heller, eh?

The format might have changed, but it's the same old ATL.

Winston is the acquiring firm. But I wouldn't count on it being called "Winston Heller." I think it's just going to be Winston & Strawn like before, but there'll be no more Heller. (Or Winston won't acquire it and there will still be no more Heller.)

They're just waiting a while to announce so all of the partners with decent books of business can jump ship to better firms, like DLA.

3:55 - that fits. My friend was in a west coast office.

Are there any, like, actual talks about Winston? Or is this just name-a-firm?

There are, like, lots of talks. Weren't you, like, invited? That, like, totally sucks for you.

what about 3Ls going to Heller?

4:27 - I find it useful to read previous comments. Before commenting.

this firm is a total dump

new format sucks!

signed,

noncustomized names is the worst

P.S. I'm not sure how I devolved into John Quinn style no-caps.

If I were a 3L heading to Heller, I'd be elated over the prospect of heading to Winston & Strawn instead. It's a win-win.

If you're a 3L going to Heller, learn not to believe everything you read on Above the Law.

Here's the thing about Heller merging: a significant portion of the firm's power structure is the insurance recovery practice group (pro-policy holder). There are only a handful of large-ish firms (Covington, Reed Smith, Anderson Kill, and Heller) that have NO insurance company clients to kill off that practice group with conflicts once the two firms merge. I doubt Heller would merge with any firm that would kill off a practice group that has been vital to the firm.

In any event, all the Heller partners have their retreat in a couple of weeks in Colorado, so we may know more then.

I [Heart] Heller.

Did Lat try to get a job in California and fail? The two firms he most often bashes are OMM and Heller...

Out of curiousity I checked the whois database at godaddy to see if www.winstonheller.com is registered and guess what? it is! registrant's name is some no name company out of arizona called domainbyproxy or something. i wonder if they've registered the name in contemplation of a merger...

I was at Heller on the west coast last summer. I saw no drama or chaos. I'm going there after grad. I'm not worried. Sorry to all you bitter people who got stuck at no name firms when Heller wouldn't talk to you.

I wish this new format would depart for DLA.

insurance recovery has been getting trimmed all year and whenever the larrabee talks about our "core strengths" it's always antitrust, securities, ip lit and VLG, life sciences, etc on the biz side. insurance recovery is suspiciously absent. merger time baby

I'll believe this merger talk when I see an announcement from the firm.

But that said, Winston & Strawn and Heller don't seem like they go together.

12:25 - Your insecurity is laughably palpable.

12:25, something tells me that with an attitude like that, you don't fit into Heller very well at all. Maybe you would enjoy some time at K&S.

I understand that Winston & Strawn merger is the flavor of the week, but what about a merger with Goodwin Procter? I know that this was consistently being mentioned as a possibility not too long ago. I mean, Heller has lost about a dozen attorneys to Goodwin over the past year -- that's got to help the compatability of the firms.

3:54 Good call. My last law firm merger build up experience was very unpleasant. Which is the reason why I have always been a little obsessed with signs that Heller (which, by the way 7:04, I am very attached to but your post makes perfect sense upon rereading my earlier post) may be working toward merger readiness. As for the observation regarding insurance recovery downsizing I am not sure if that is actually true. I actually can't point to one example of it being deemphasized or thinned down. Wildly speculating about this kind of stuff takes the edge off.

hello.

Lat - did you ever pull the fire alarm when you were in school?

I'm not sure many east coast firms would want to join up with a super hippy liberal law firm.

8:05p: "Heller has lost about a dozen attorneys to Goodwin over the past year -- that's got to help the compatability of the firms"? Not so much. Presumably, those laterals came on after telling GP everything they didn't like about Heller, and going back on that will make life difficult for them.

Heller needs to get rid of VLG and all the baggage that came with it. If there was money laundering going on thhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/2578990/California-Bar-Complaint-Against-Miles-Ehrlich

there's not much Heller can do to rid themselves of potential liability arising out of that.

Heller needs to get rid of VLG and all the baggage that came with it. If there was money laundering going on thhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/2578990/California-Bar-Complaint-Against-Miles-Ehrlich

there's not much Heller can do to rid themselves of potential liability arising out of that.

Heller needs to get rid of VLG and all the baggage that came with it. If there was money laundering going on
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2578990/California-Bar-Complaint-Against-Miles-Ehrlich

there's not much Heller can do to rid themselves of potential liability arising out of that.

Heller needs to get rid of VLG and all the baggage that came with it. If there was money laundering going on
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2578990/California-Bar-Complaint-Against-Miles-Ehrlich

there's not much Heller can do to rid themselves of potential liability arising out of that.