second dos ar

My condolences to all the people involved.

Question: Does anyone have any idea where the securities group might be headed?

Nice Elie. Concise, gramatically correct, and interesting. But just for sh*ts and giggles...suck it Mystal.

HellerErhman just got GULVA'd.

I wonder who will get their DC office? It might be the most aesthetically pleasing BigLaw office out there.

Does this mean my totally hot friends and I shouldnt tease Heller partners in exchange for meals at glam restaurants? Someone please advise. Hope Winters

Sad. This whole situation is just sad. Many, if not most, lawyers will land on their feet with their respective practice groups as they get absorbed elsewhere, but plenty of others--and plenty of staff--are going to end up orphaned and jobless in an economy that's in the tank.

Good luck to you all. Your firm was a worthy adversary.

Can anyone provide insight about why this happened??

friday is day. 3:30pm is the time. everyone will KNOW their fate.

#7 - you look more like Shelley Winters aka Belle Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure

#9 - haha hahahaha! You kill me.

RIP, Heller.

MysTTTal-

Time to be useful. You better follow this VC tonight. If Law.com scoops you one more time, ATL will go down faster than Heller.

Great that Heller partners are getting some info.

What about Thelen? Where is the news on that? Seems like it was ages ago since we heard any real news on Nixon Thelen or Bryan Cave Thelen.

It's over Johnny!

Sorry to all the folks that will be shit canned...

Heller took all of its associates off the payroll last week. They're just waiting until the situation "works itself out."

Elie Mystal looks like Tay Zonday.

@17...seriously?

17...hilarious! Maybe some Heller associates can sneak some printers out of the office to work out their aggression.

19, 17 was making an Office Space reference. Please, get out of your office.

17 is false.
Don't believe everything you read.
There is a V/C later today though.

i fear many more firms will follow.

the work is simply not there to support the bloated associate salaries and, more importantly, the legitimate compensation needs of productive partners

not busy = EPIC FAIL AT LIFE

busy in THIS economy = great success

After my ride with Coudert Brothers into the craptastic McLawFirm that bought its NY office, all I can say is good luck.

Heller's headquarters is a block away. I'm going to walk buy tonight and see if anyone is leaving the building in tears.

When I was in law school I remember Heller being on the top of my list for firms at SF. I really wanted an offer. I interviewed with an old-timer from the LA office who told me all about the firm's great history. It's love of pro bono and the little guy. How it was founded by Jews who couldn't get offers from mainstream WASP firms. I wanted to work there, but of course I didn't get an offer, let alone a call-back.

I ended up at a lesser firm making a little bit less money. But I'm still here and my firm is going to survive this down economy because our billing rates are low and we aren't trying to keep up with the NYC firms.

So in hindsight I guess I made out all right.

@25...pls send photos to ATL. Thanks!

ALL GO CHECK OUT DEALBREAKER'S POST ABOUT LAWSUIT FILED BY TOPLESS HEDGEFUND MANAGER - Mystal is fucking asleep at the wheel...

My buddies in high school used to have shareholder meetings all the time. No big deal.

GULC grads at Heller have nothing to worry about. Cravath will come calling soon enough!!!

What is "FW SH VC"?

14 -- That's not possible.

I am getting the Heller out of here.

This is a sad day for everyone in the legal community and this will certainly change the landscape of biglaw in the Bay Area.

Please do a post on the impact of this dissolution over the next few weeks. It will be nice to know which firms grab the most profitable partners and which firms are primed to take come out of this strongest (and avoid the same fate).

Good luck to everyone at Heller.

Firmwide Shareholder Videoconference = FW SH VC

31 -- Firm-wide shareholder videoconference.

I have had a wonderful experience at Heller up until the past month or so. I already hated management, but today I hate them even more. Why do we have to read about everything on ATL?!

This is a sad day for everyone in the legal community and this will certainly change the landscape of biglaw in the Bay Area.

Please do a post on the impact of this dissolution over the next few weeks. It will be nice to know which firms grab the most profitable partners and which firms are primed to come out of this strongest (and avoid the same fate).

Good luck to everyone at Heller.

30: Firm Wide Shareholder Video Conference.

Believe this when you read it: Friday at 3:30 there will be pink slip parties all over SF.

And the SF/SV lateral market gets even more flooded with candidates. Goddamn work has been slow for the past year or so... I was so ready to coast for a few months and then up and leave, and now I'm thankful for my job, shitty as it may be.

I do feel for the HE people--could easily be (almost) any ones of us.

I'm not a bankruptcy expert but I believe that if they declare bankruptcy before payday on Friday then whatever pay is owed to each employee for the past two weeks becomes a lien? Correct? So the employees may never get their pay for the last two weeks. Awesome. I'm sure the partners also won't get much of their capital contribution back.

Aren't the shareholders personally liable for the debt of the firm? What would filing for bankruptcy really accomplish?

This is really sad, and I feel bad for everyone at Heller. I have worked with SF attorneys and paras from all the big firms that have offices here, and the people from Heller are the best. Good luck to everyone - at least you know that everyone in this town will understand that a former Heller employee will be a good hire.

40: what fucking kind of maggot are you? awesome? these are peoples lives. thank goodness you're not a bankruptcy expert. it's clear you wouldn't even make a decent paralegal so what you're even doing on this blog is a mystery no one cares to solve. heller is paying regular paychecks and paying out vacation this friday. get your facts straight. the only thing in question is whether they are going to be excluded from WARN.

dont be a fuckin dick scarin people

SUICIDE sympathy SYPHILIS

from http://www.evilesq.com

Don't expect any updates from Elie on this meeting until sometime late tomorrow morning. Unlike the folks on Dealbreaker (who actually worked during the night and weekend when the Lehman shit hit the fan), Elie will be at home completely ignoring the situation until another legal blog writes a better update. Elie will subsequently write a "3rd grade-esque book report" on the Heller implosion and go back to doing what he does best...whacking off to YouTube clips of Obama talking about CHANGE and HOPE.

45 - hilarious.

- Not 45.

It will be announced at the fw sh vc that due to the exodus of the 15 ip lit partners that the bank is forcing a default on Heller's LOC and dissolution of the firm.

RIP

43 - it may be time to recalibrate your sarcasm detector.

To all the Heller folks reading this - 8 said it best. Good luck

45-There's a legal blog other than ATL?

This happened because $800k wasn't enough for the greedy partners. For all you lazy secretaries, you are going to have to work again for a living.

41, no. After the Brobeck fiasco, most firms, including mine, reorganized as an LLP or something similar, if they haven't already. One of the reasons was to explicitly shield partners from being personally liable for firm debt.

I remember the agony of having to go through every liability clause in our real estate leases and other big contractual agreements to see where our exposure was. When you have 25+ offices around the world, that can get hairy. In the end, it was a non-event to switch to be an LLP.

The partners should be fine... only their capital is at risk.

All large law firms depend on a line of credit because by nature law firms take in more money towards the end of the year since clients wait to pay. So my understanding is the for the first part of the year the firm will use their line of credit to pay salaries and expenses. So if the bank is telling Heller that it can't keep the same line of credit then the firm is f-ked. Most firms don't have major reserves like Fortune 100 companies. They pay everything out to the partners at the end of the year and maybe have a couple months reserves at most I'd imagine. So I think what's happening is that Heller has known for a few months now that things were drying up revenue wise. They may lose their line of credit. They went into merger talks. No one wanted to take on that overhead. Now they are severely f-ked and the best and only decent option is to break up the groups, hope they find other firms, and then dissolve. I give them 48 hours.

I am a bankruptcy specialist. The last 90 days of pay are liens for the benefit of Heller's creditors. Just kidding.

Heller won't shaft you guys too bad.

25 and 27 = ghouls

So, which partners lose out the most here? Could Heller have been saved if they agreed to pay the partners with big books more per year over the last few years?

I want to know who the greedy people were, and whether this was inevitable?

@ 52, you're wrong on at least one of the big firms. I know for a fact that at least one of the firms in the AmLaw Top 10 runs purely on cash with absolutely no debt.

They do use lines of credit to help smooth the cash flows, especially to pay for big expenses like a major build out but it's not a requirement to conduct business. In fact, they could very well do without any lines of credit.

It's true that they collect a huge chunk of their revenue in December, but as long as you maintain enough reserves, you're fine. If you're going to cut every cent to the partners at year's end, then you're in a world of hurt.

Why did this happen? Does anyone have an answer?

Heller just three years ago was running on cash with no debt.

If this can happen at Heller, it can happen at just about any law firm. I'm sure a year ago, people would have called you crazy if you said Lehman would file for bankruptcy before 2009. Good luck to the folks at the future former firm of Heller Ehrman.

58: US was in a surplus budget 8 years ago.

3 years ago was 3 years ago
8 was 8
idiot in office
idiot in office

see the parallels?

57
the partners took one too many sandwiches from the fridge....

55, the partners that stuck with it were the big losers obviously. But it wasn't like this was a win-win situation.

In any firm you're going to have group practices that are more profitable and individual partners that have a big book of business. When everyone's paid equally, those guys are going to get pissed that they're carrying the others. Yada yada about sacrificing a little for the good of the whole, but there is a level where it just doesn't make sense to pay everyone equally and that's when you run the risk of mutiny.

On the flip side, when you compensate partners differently, that's bad for morale and you'll get bitching from the folks who aren't as profitable.

Firms try to get around this with different schemes such as origination credits and what not but it's not an easy problem to solve.

Could Heller have forestalled this by paying certain partners more? Certainly, but it seems there were other problems at Heller in recent years and who knows how long they would have lasted even if they did do that.

Heller has $500m plus in revenue a year. That sounds all good and dandy but think of it this way. Basically all 500m is gone once they pay all expenses and distribute to the partners. They may save a few million a year for reserves but that is how most firms operate. So when shit hits the fan i.e. rainmakers defect, a build-out gets too expensive, clients don't pay bills because the economy sucks, etc. then you are in a big pile of doo-doo. And the sad thing is you won't realize this till it's too late.

This could be happening in NYC right now. Who knows if a firm like Simpson will survive a major revenue drop caused by the economic downturn. They are probably so profitable that they can do it, and they'll just fire associates if it comes to that, but it still makes you wonder. $500m should be a ton of money, but in law firms it doesn't mean much since they don't have assets or reserves like top companies.

#44 is our Frank Chiu

Is anyone live blogging the video conference?

#1, 16, 20, 25, 27, 32 AND ESPECIALLY #40 YOU F****N' PRICK HEAD. IT'S SO SAD THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE YOU OUT THERE WHO MAKES FUN OF THIS KIND OF SITUATION. SOMEDAY YOU WILL BE IN THE SAME BOAT. CURSE TO ALL OF YOU!

We won't all be in the same boat. Heller laid of staff attorneys earlier this year. That was not a good sign. The partners were really greedy and business slowed down. Not a good sign.

haha GOODBYE HELLER!!!! If you can't play with the big boys, keep your a&% out of the AmLaw 100.

"The partners should be fine... only their capital is at risk."

Presumably, though, the partnership could make a capital call in order to cover, say, things like payroll/vacation payouts. That would demand the partners to pony up more $ during the wind-down.

I wonder how ongoing litigation matters will be handled? Partners (and associates) who have any hope of taking those matters elsewhere will still need to keep managing them, if only to extend immediate deadlines until things are sorted out. Brobeck vets, any insights?

68 - fuck off.

-not a Heller employee/associate, but a human being

69- partners move firms all the time and their litigation matters just continue at their next firm. Sometimes they don't even need extensions. I bet a lot of top partners will be at Heller on Friday and their new firm on Monday. That is how this business operates. Partners are grade A cheapskate mofos out to make a even bigger profit. I see it all the time, partners coming to my firm from elsewhere just so they can make another 150k. They don't even take time off inbetween hopes. They move their boxes over and start work the next Monday.

They ain't called Heller Vermin for nothing.

#69, true in theory but who do you think votes on that capital call? I don't want to be a dick, but if it comes down to that, a capital call to pay outstanding vacation, payrolls, etc. they're not going to do it. It sure would be nice, but I'm almost 100% certain it's not going to happen.

Just ask the folks who worked at Brobeck.

70,

So you are a Heller partner?

74: clearly 70 isn't a Heller partner; he said he's a human being.

75: Ouch, below the belt, even if it's true.

76: Actually, it's not true. It was just a joke at partners' expense. As a whole, they are actually really good people who are in a bad situation.

Love,
75

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

73 - former Brobeckian here. They will pay pto because they will be hit by waiting time penalties (up to 30 days pay) on top of the pto.

We all got paid pto at Brobeck. I heard that several associates who did not immediately get paid their pto threatened to take the partners to the Labor Commission. They got paid.

A lot of Heller partners are good people, and a strong minority tried to stop management from doing what they did to the firm (i.e., try to turn a good west coast firm into a NY firm). It's unfortunate that most of the people who caused this mess will have no problem finding a new job quickly. A lot of the junior partners who faught against this mess are now screwed and won't find employment quickly.

Thanks Matt!

Signed,
A former (although now is there any other kind?) Heller associate

79 - I heard the real problem post-Brobeck was getting money out of frozen 401(k)s -- a real issue if you are already/almost retired, but probably not for those of us posting here.

Any news from the video conference yet?

What video conference?

I think the video conference meeting is still going on.

http://www.hellervermin.com

Jeezus is that website unreadable. Is Elie posting there as well?

can you say WARN act notification?

Serious question here. We are a well regarded Seattle boutique firm that would love to pick up some of the associates/partners with a book of business of less than what biglaw requires. How/where can we make that known?

88-try craigslist.

Try law.com too. Call recruiters.

associates have a book of business?

86- ask him what marcia bruggerman hatch did to his sheets... dude's nuts. he may even call you "sweet tits" if you're nice to him.

come on.. where's the f-king update on the videoconference call... hell why cant they just broadcoast it on ATL... we're all going to find out about it anyway...

88-try http://hellerdrone.wordpress.com/ . It's for support staff, mainly, but they'll get the word out.

88- Try Heller Highwater blog - job posting/recruiter section at hellerdrone.wordpress.com

88- Try Heller Highwater blog - job posting/recruiter section at hellerdrone.wordpress.com

Just call them directly, 88. If you've got a decent offer they'll be happy to hear it right now, I bet.

Where is energy going. SB is a toad.

thanks for the shout out 96!

Heller Drone
Cruise Director

88

email me direct at hellerdrone@gmail.com

Heller Drone
Cruise Director

Meeting just ended. Anybody know what was said?

Sad. I hope everyone lands on their feet. Good luck to Heller staff and associates. I will keep my eye out at my Cali. firm and try to get as many in as possible. Though being a cog I have little say. Been there myself before. Just know that you have the support of many, many, of your fellow law -cogs.

88, I would just call them straight out, but call them soon. These are people whose income is drying up rather abruptly, and who knows if they'll like whatever firm absorbs most of them. If not they're going to take the first decent thing that walks through the door, and they're good lawyers so they won't be available long. Happy scavenging.

Is that the real message that was sent? I would think they would include the time of the VC, but maybe this is a reason they need the VC, they are fools.

88: Are you kidding? Heller practially put up a garage sale sign last week. Anyone with a book of business or even a vague idea of where to find one has most likely done nothing this last week than talk to multiple different firms. Unfortunately, there are likely going to be dozens of associates from slow groups and staff people with no parachute. Plus some nice office space.

The message was probably sent as an event invitation through Outlook, so there would be no need to mention the time in the body of the text.

To: All-Hands
I am profoundly sorry that I have not been in direct communication with you recently. We realize that there has been a lot of news coverage about our firm, and it is wrong to have that be your source of information. We have been focused on urgent and significant issues that are facing the firm and carefully considering our options. We also have been focused on trying to get answers to the many questions that we know need to be addressed.

While that may explain some of the private meetings and small-group discussions that have been held recently, we know that there has been a lengthy gap in communication that needs to be filled as soon as possible.

To that end, we are planning to hold meetings with everyone before the end of this week via video conference and/or local, in-person discussions. You will receive an invitation to participate as soon as we can finish gathering important information we know you seek.

Again, I apologize for not communicating with you sooner. We realize the anxiety that you are feeling and we are doing everything we can to find answers to your questions.

Matt

107, did that just go out?

108 - yep, it did

88 - send your contact info to privatemailbox888@gmail.com if 500-600K of transactional work is enough. Some of them would like to have more options.

which "all-hands" did that go out to?

All-hands in Heller lingo means everyone (attorneys and staff). Anyone with a hellerehrman.com email.

no wonder I didn't get it....

http://www.hellervermin.com

85,

That is hilarious.

to 112 from 111 - thats the point - it wasn't a real "all-hands" email...

114 = 85

who didn't get the "all-hands" email?

Honestly, all you people gloating and talking shit should do it without the veil of anonymity. Seriously, go for it. I bet you wouldn't say shit to anyone about anything. The people who come on here and pop a whole lot of mean insenstive shit are the wusses who don't say shit to anyone when they get shit all over. So you can be a tough guy on here all day, but when the partner calls, you'll be holding his blackberry for him while he takes a shit. This is serious shit for a lot of people and you all are trying to be funny on a message board. Go be funny on a date. Try to get laid. Something...That's the fucking FAIL--you ATL shit talkers.

Hear hear, #118. People are losing their jobs here. It isn't funny.

can someone with a anonymous email send larrabee's email to Elie, so he can make it the "breaking news"?

116: your math is off.... 85 = 113
118: you're anonymous.

Agent 41

No, 121. I meant 114 = 85, because the hellervermin.com site is total crap.

-116

Heller has been for many years an excellent firm and I hate to see it brought to this. Sad to think that the banks might have cut it more slack when credit was easier to get, allowing for a gentler transition. Sadder still to think of all the fine folk who are having their lives turned upside down. Go in peace.

122: you're humorless... I lost mine too when you hypocrites raped and pillaged my firm. don't worry. It either comes back. in the interim try Ritalin (SP). And for the second time, I did not post comment 114. I'm not a liayer.

123: a lawyer "Go in peace." That's like telling a zebra to change its stripes. What we need is for somebody to toss us some raw meat.

It's wiser just to ignore those folks reveling in Heller's demise. Like all trolls, they crave attention more than anything else.

121 - but I'm not using my anonymity to revel in other people's misfortune. i'm just pointing out how easy it is to talk shit on a message board. i'm not trying to be a tough guy, but how about this, after i lose my job, which i imagine will be in the next 24-48 hours i'll reveal who i am and you fuckers can come talk shit to me in person.

So what's the news folks? What was said during the videoconference? Obviously we can't rely on Elie to give us up-to-date news. He goes to bed at 5:00 p.m. and doesn't emerge until 9:00 a.m. the following morning.

Heller deserved to fail because of gross mismanagement. Anyone with half a brain could see this breakup coming a mile away. Any partner, associate or staff menber that stuck around at Heller for last few months like an idiot waiting for the axe to fall on their own neck deserves what they got. You can't save a fool from himself. Now, losers, try to find a new job, and, next time this happens, remember to get out before your firm goes under. There is simply no cause for sympathy for anyone stupid enough to stay at Heller this long.

129--cute.

127: deal. just shoot my consigliere an email manny.heller@gmail.com and we'll hook up.

Agent 41 aka 85, 113, 121, 124
http://www.evilesq.com

127: if you were stupid enough to stay at Heller until you got canned, that explains why you will be stupid enough to post your name on this board. Perhaps you should consider another career, as only a firm as poorly managed as Heller would be stupid enough to hire a guy like you. But don't worry too much about finding a new job, I'm sure Thelen is probably looking for people like you.

Anyone on this board responding to #45 is as big a douche bag as he is. Then again he is probably responding to himself, himself, himself.

Enough the crap-talking -what's the point? Does anyone have any real news -perhaps - (a la 128) - what was said at the shareholder video conference?

Speaking of Thelen, 132, I would say that having all the Heller folks on the market will give Nixon pause in considering whether there's more value in scooping up some Heller partners and then waiting for Thelen to dissolve and doing the same all over again. In other words, Heller's death is bad news for Thelen's merger hopes.

134 - my guess is that they'll present options to certain groups (i.e. Baker wants to take XYZ group or Mayer wants to take ABC and XYZ groups). If you're not in one of these groups and you're not going to be protected by an outgoing shareholder, then you're SOL.

The solution here is obvious. Heller needs a bailout from the federal gov. The future of the country depends on it.

137: now that's funny....

Elie- you're a movie star, did you know that?

http://hellerdrone.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/heller-highwater-the-movie/

Antitrust and energy are being courted big time. Serious migration in next 7-10 days.

UVA is still undergoing oriental stealth layoffs.

some details on what happened at the meeting: http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202424780852

Has anything like this ever happened before?

45 & 86 tied for "most insightful comment." Too bad they're true.

57 - Here is my thumbnail take on how it all went down, borrowing from another post on Law.com responding to a story suggesting that the firm's term limits for the chair (i.e., the handoff from Barry Levin to Matt Larabee) explains Heller's transition from significant growth and profits to dissolution. As is often true, it is quite a bit more complex.

IMHO, terms limits had little to do with the fall, as Matt Larabee only carried out (though not as adeptly as his predecessor) the plans made years before. (Someone in another blog suggested that Bill Clinton's term limit had an affect and that is somewhat true because under the last 8 years of Bush, Heller's antitrust group has atrophied from a 90s powerhouse to just a shadow of its former self).

But in fact, the tectonic policy shifts that began during Levin's tenure (i.e., growth as a priority, the bottom line (PPP) as new the top priority, eschewing of of "smaller cases" and "smaller clients", etc.) sowed the seeds of a deep cleavage among the partnership that grew into a deep chasm during Larabee's tenure. (It also killed associate morale because it became clear that with only "huge" cases, associates would never get many substantive experiential opportunities because the stakes were always going to be too high in any given case. That forced a lot of senior associates to move on so that they could actually "do" lawyerly stuff beside drafting pleading and prepping partners. The same proved to be true of junior partners, who fought among members of a case team to take/defend depos or stand up in court, etc.)

Thus, during the past 8-10 years, the firm was ultimately converted from a close collection of California attorneys who worked together with the primary goal of practicing law (i.e., a law firm) to a collection of east and west coast attorneys who were more interested in making money (i.e., a business that practiced law) to increase revenues and boost profits. Consequently, over the past 8-10 years, Heller morphed from being a "kinder, gentler, west coast" BigLaw firm to a firm that was trying so hard to move (culturally, financially, etc) to NYC. Apparently, the effort ran out of gas and Heller ended up getting stuck somewhere in the Midwest (metaphorically, that is).

Many partners didn't like, and weren't interested in, that move and everything that came with it (even if it meant that they could make more money). In the 80s and 90s, Heller partners could have made more money by defecting to other firms, but didn't want the extra money if it came with working somewhere else. A lot of Heller partners (unlike at most other BigLaw firms, were born and bred at Heller and never worked elsewhere in their careers). Heller also intentionally avoided paying top dollar (it paid just below top dollar) to law grads because it didn't want to recruit those grads who were guided primarily by money and would jump to the next firm who gave big raises--it wanted people who were choosing Heller, not just the highest paying firm of the moment. That all began to change with Levin's tenure (or at least toward the end of Rosenfield).

The small cabal that ran the firm in the early 2000s was committed to increasing profits and believed that the best way to do that was to emulate NYC firms and to "move" the firm eastward in all respects (e.g., open/expand offices on the east coast, raise rates, raise billable requirements, work associates harder, etc). With the higher rates (to boost PPP) some partners whose clients could no longer afford the services at Heller were indirectly forced out. Other groups (e.g. employment, environmental, soft IP (trademark), etc.) were given a signal that they were marginal to Heller's future, causing further defections.

Then, some "old school" partners began leaving because they saw the writing on the wall due to the new greed and hubris that had taken over the firm's management. They liked the old Heller community, where attorneys were individuals and people, instead of being perceived solely as profit generators.

When the big cases settled last year it became clear that the whole gig was up because the pipeline was a little dry (particularly relative to the prior few years), and that spawned a renewed interest in a merger to save the ship. Failed mergers and further divisions among the partnership about compensation and firm strategy made matters worse. The old power core consisted of the antitrust group (Rosenfield, Popofsky, Bomse, etc) and the new power core had shifted to IP Lit (Haslam, Fram, etc).

Heller's recent inability to satisfy the members of the IP Lit group was the straw that broke Heller's back. The IP Lit group was the source of the conflicts that broke up the Baker marriage and the IP Lit group had already committed to leave before Mayer opted out (which is probably a primary reason why Mayer opted out).

A tragic tale, where the greed and short-sightedness of few left a lot of people in the lurch. It was a wonderful place for most to work, cut their teeth and learn how to practice law. It was a great San Francisco-based family. I'm going to miss it.

Best of luck to all involved. May everyone land on his or her feet!

Amen, 145, a very accurate and poignant account of what happened.

145,

I recognize your writing style from comments on prior posts. Thank you once again for your honest and thoughtful take.

-Former Incoming Associate

If we had half the money that Bomse spent on those silly, Goddamn plays, we could right this ship!

The law office that became a firm. The firm that became a megafirm. The megafirm who defied an economy. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?

145 has it exactly right. Well said.

I hope that Heller's fall is sort of a wake up call to a lot of west coast firms that are trying to be more like east coast firms. Lots of lawyers chose to go to the west coast because they didn't want to work for an east coast firm.

I hope that in Heller's ashes, another west coast firm -- a real west coast firm with west coast values -- rises. I think they'd get a lot of top notch talent -- even if they paid a little less.

All day I was waiting for news as what was to happen at Heller today and at 4pm my husband called to tell me he lost his job and today was his last day.

All day I was waiting for news as what was to happen at Heller today and at 4pm my husband called to tell me he lost his job and today was his last day.

Why hasn't Elie put up another post about the meeting? This is likely to be one of the biggest stories in the law firm world for months, and we've barely had any converage over the past several days. We got more fresh news from law.com.

Elie's too busy buying Sarah Palin voodoo dolls at the MoveOn meeting to bother with trivial things like real news about law firms.

Elie is sleeping in his flithy bed. His hands and lips are covered in gooey jelly from his stash of doughnuts. He's dreaming--dreaming of a better place--a better life--where he's not hazed by uptight lawyers over his constant spelling and grammatical errors. Sleep precious Elie, you'll fell better in the morning.

Having to interview as a 3L after landing an offer from Heller is unbelievably depressing. I have never worked with such an amazing group of people as I worked with this summer. I will miss them all - partners, associates, and fellow summers. RIP, Heller Ehrman.

"In other words, Heller's death is bad news for Thelen's merger hopes"

135: Hey moron, STFU. You don't sh*t about Thelen. Heller will have little effect on Thelen. Thelen still has plenty of things Nixon wants. If nothing else, the SF and SV offices. If that makes it an acquisition, then so be it.

But please STFU on stuff you can't talk about. You obviously have NO idea what you are talking about.

Conflict? IP Group? WOW big news. Gee I think I mentioned something about that many threads and months ago- SONO. I can commiserate with Elie on being hazed. Too bad everybody lost. ME included.

http://www.evilesq.com

Agent 41

157, did I hit a nerve?

151/152: I'm sorry for your loss. I pray that your family rebounds with better jobs for the both of you.

I think people fail to appreciate that certain levels, certain practice groups and certain markets cannot easily jump ship when things begin to look bad at a firm. There are already a number of laterals in the market (through layoffs or preemptive jumps), there are a number of practice groups that are slow and there are firms that are being conservative in hiring. We were seeing tons of financial services associates last year for the corporate associate positions we were hiring for, I can only imagine how many resumes we'd see now. I know many people who have been looking to lateral for a while.

It's not a matter of not recognizing a bad situation. It's a matter of being able to do anything about it that actually makes sense. Plus, for a time, I'm sure Heller really, really thought that they could merge.

My last few months were slow but have picked up (though I don't know how long it will last in the crappy economy), and I'm thankful for my job. All this xoxo myballsarebiggerthanyours crap is pointless. There but for the grace of God go you.

158 - have you been with the glue again?

That you Sweet Tits?

"157, did I hit a nerve?"

159: Dumbasses aren't allowed to be that close to people to hit nerves. Just STFU about Thelen. You don't know shit about it. It's not like you are a fucking insider.

Anyone have real INSIDE information?

Hey all, Matt Larrabee here. Just wanted to remind everyone not to believe everything they read on the blogs. As far as you know from me and the extremely competent Heller management team, Heller is doing just fine and is still in merger talks with a cutting edge, global firm that shall go unnamed at present. It's a very exciting time. We may announce that we're entering into exclusive negotiations any day now!

I know a lot of you are anxious, but rest assured, I will keep you up to date on what's happening because I recognize that this concerns your livelihood and ability to provide for your families. So, as the fearless leader of Heller Ehrman, you can trust and rely on me to give you straight talk straight away. You know, in high school, I got an A in my "Managing People and Organizations" class. I even took a MCLE course recently on "Effective Communication for Lawyers" and received the coveted high pass (or at least that is what Fram told me). That should put those pesky questions regarding my competency in managing this firm to bed, don't you?

Well, in any case, as I've consistently said all along, don't believe what you read on the blogs. Instead, just close your eyes and ears and wait for me and Heller management to give you the real scoop. And, continuing in the spirit of honest and upfront disclosure, I want to let you know now that and you may have to suffer through some phony apologetic emails from me that will not, at all costs, tell you anything about what is going on and that really have one purpose -- to further delay telling you anything at all. Don't worry though, as soon as you start receiving these types of emails from me, you can take stock that some real information on the future of this firm and your job are coming shortly.

P.S. Don't forget to enter your time in a timely fashion (just as I am updating you on the future of this firm and your job in a timely fashion).

P.P.S. Please excuse any typos as this is a blog and, more importantly, as I have better things to do than communicate information to you.

Take Care,

Matt

164: you need some anesthetic dude.

I don't know much about Thelen recently.... was in S.F. office for a meeting one day. The conference rooms are much better kept than those at http://www.hellervermin.com I'm sure. So that's a plus in your column.

Let me know if you need a sale circular like the one we put together for Heller.

http://evilesq.blogspot.com/2008/09/650-649-648639-lawyer-law-firm-4-sale.html

Their's didn't work but we're refinin' our technique.

Good luck to you!

165: That's hilarious. You want a job at http://www.evilesq.com ?

Evil

Matt here again. In case you need an a example of a "phony apology for delaying while continung to delay more" email, one already went out. See 107. Guess who it came from. Me.

168: brilliant.....

167

Well, according to Matt's message in 107, I'm sure I don't want to be a recipient of a " local in person meeting", (i.e., termination by personal invitation). This is torture, plain and simple. Just shoot us and get it over with, FCOL.

"I don't know much about Thelen recently."

Then shut the fuck up about Thelen. You just admitted you don't know much. Let people who know something speak, not your dumb ass. Isn't past your bed time, anyways? Don't want to keep those legal aid clients waiting in the morning.

Guys in my high school used beat the shit out of guys who made up lies about Thelen and find gay guys to rape them until they bleed to death. It was no big deal.

171, FTW!!!

171, serious anger issues. Get some professional help!

172 here: 171 was the best post I've seen here in a long time. If you don't get it, maybe you need some help.

I'd like to commit battery against larrabee.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/24/national/a172444D31.DTL&tsp=1

171 - chill out.

166 (and author of numerous other nut case comments pushing his shitty blog) needs to be monitored - seriously. Put down whatever crap you are huffing now.

We are talking grumpy, angry ex-Heller client who sounds a lot like Gian Luigi Ferri. Be afraid. Very afraid.

Guys at my High School got hyper-defensive over Thelen all the time. It was no big deal.

I know I'm late but 26, jump off a building

This is a sad situation...

171 needs to get laid.

fortunately it is a slow news day. Elie should feel free to roll out of bed at 9 after letting this post get old for 18 hours.

I hope the most vulnerable here financially - the partners - are ok. The staff can find other dead end jobs easily enough, but finding a firm willing to shell out big bucks for little or no production cos you have seniority is tough.

Good luck to all!

Wow. I almost went to Heller. You know what really sucks... if you're an associate looking for a job out of Heller at this stage, it means you (i) aren't being taken by a group or partner to a new firm, and (ii) didn't see this coming far enough in advance to get out of there before the flood. Sucks to be you this week - sorry guys. (That is, unless you're an IP litigator or reorg lawyer and can find another job tomorrow in the current environment - in that case, take the rare vacation and tell the headhunters to line up interviews beginning in 2 weeks when you return from wherever it is you go to chill.)

Wow. I almost went to Heller. You know what really sucks... if you're an associate looking for a job out of Heller at this stage, it means you (i) aren't being taken by a group or partner to a new firm, and (ii) didn't see this coming far enough in advance to get out of there before the flood. Sucks to be you this week - sorry guys. (That is, unless you're an IP litigator or reorg lawyer and can find another job tomorrow in the current environment - in that case, take the rare vacation and tell the headhunters to line up interviews beginning in 2 weeks when you return from wherever it is you go to chill.)

Hey Lat, your server is generating ugly but uninformative error messages on new posts (or at least some posts) now, but posting anyway, you might want to look in to this.

- 184/185

Hey gang

Heller support staff have their oars all in a row and are ready to come ashore - or use those oars for some good old Heller shareholder smackdown.

Check it:

http://hellerdrone.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/todays-firmwide-meeting-what-to-watch-for/

Heller Drone
Cruise Director

Heller's done on Friday: http://legalpad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/heller-dissolve.html

Heller's done on Friday: http://legalpad.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/heller-dissolve.html

171-with apologies for the late response (hey, some of us have lives), you're full of yourself. I am a Thelen insider and I am the one who made the comment about the Heller collapse being bad news for Thelen's plans to merge with Nixon. Nixon may want to cherry pick some groups from Thelen now but they have no reason to merge with Thelen. Thelen is already crumbling with staff layoffs this week and rumors of some long term Reid & Priest corporate partners from NY on their way out.

If you think that the Heller situation doesn't hurt Thelen's merger talks with Nixon then you need to find yourself a better source of information.