Covington & Burling’s Mystery Meeting
A couple of tipsters have let us know that Covington & Burling has scheduled a firmwide meeting tomorrow.
We don’t think they’re going to announce a merger (because no suitable partner comes to mind). We have it on good authority that they’re not announcing layoffs (or anything else negative).
So what gives? Why does a firm pull all of their associates and counsel into a room? Did they just buy a coat factory?
Let the rampant speculation begin in the comments. We’ll update with actual facts as soon as we receive them.
Update: The actual facts appear here.
(151) Comments
Comments
yeah
oh the glory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
OMG
OMG
OMG
First!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
second
Bring the lube!
The coat factory line made me laugh
perhaps that the heller ip lit group is joining? - see comments from heller ehrman merger threads....
Covington to 190?
Hopefully 2 is 1, or is it Elie?
They are probably just announcing budget cuts, i.e., no holiday party.
Is it a done deal with the Heller IP group?
Let them merge with Ropes & Gray.
Covington Ropes.
It'll be like Wilmer Hale. Look how they turned out.
if you see a goat in the room, RUN LIKE HELL!
4 -- I don't get it.
11- what do you mean re: Wilmer, "Look how they turned out?"
The announcement is to welcome the addition of the Heller IP Group.
14 -- Everyone knows Wilmer Hale is the best firm out there.
If it's not "negative" or a merger then what could it be other than bonus announcements?
Wilmer Hale ... hahaha
how many in the Heller group will join C&B? Heller = Lehman Bros/Bear Stearns?
Does this mean another ATL Idol will be held?
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-limyst0916,0,1055583.story
10: energy and insurance coverage too
They are moving to new digs
Covington Wickersham & Taft
Covington Wickersham & Taft
Covington Lehman!
21: How many total Heller attorneys?
Change of name to:
CovingTTTon Burlap
Clearly no one has any actual details or numbers regarding the Heller group. We will all find out soon enough.
Clearly no one has any actual details or numbers regarding the Heller group. We will all find out soon enough.
They have decided that they need space and are not sure if they want to practice law anymore. The whole office is taking a year off to travel through Asia. They will be back next year, refreshed.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering was such a legit DC firm. WilmerHale is truly a shame. It doesn't deserve bearing the Wilmer name any longer.
It's definitely a group of partners joining the firm. If it is Heller, it'll be interesting. A lot of people at Covington don't like Heller.
it's a firmwide reminder to empty the Flavia machine when the "bin full" light comes on
Didn't Heller's Beijing practice resign together last week? Didn't C&B just open a Beijing office? Not sure that merits a firmwide meeting though.
34: I think those people went to Proskauer
how long does it take to hear back after a WH callback?
Covington is going to bail out the Fed.
20 - you are very silly! lol
36 - callbacks pushed back to next year
33 -- Laughed so hard I spit up my coffee. Back to cleaning the bin.
Firmwide meeting, huh? Let me be the first to suggest:
Covington Thelen?
CovingtonVenable - GULC save the queen.
Suck it Covington!
Baltimore DLA Piper Final Answer
Uh... 20's Elie Mystal has GOT to be related, no?
Covington is merging with Ropes. New name Ropes Covington
Ropes is gay.
Why the hating on Wilmer? Anything specific?
30: You forgot the final tag line: "It's not you, it's us."
A quart of strawberries is missing from the locked kitchen. If the guilty party doesn't turn himself or herself in, the entire firm will be searched top to bottom for the stolen kitchen key.
45: There were merger talk between Covington and Ropes a few years back. Maybe their are back on track? Would seem strange to get back to the table though.
45: There were merger talk between Covington and Ropes a few years back. Maybe they are back on track? Would seem strange to get back to the table though.
From now on, you use the new time sheets if you work on two or more job codes and you need the extra columns to fit it all in. Otherwise, use the old time sheets...
Then why haven't we heard about any Ropes firm-wide meetings?
46
You all missed it. Covington is going to outsource all of its doc review from now on. Bye bye associate bonuses!!!!! HAHAHAAH
- Managing Partner, Covington
53: Ropes doesn't do firm wide meetings. One day the letterhead will just look different.
Covington to 200k!!!
Suck it DC Law!
Baltimore for the masses
33 made me chuckle. thanks.
@52: Love the "Office Space" reference
Heller IP group. and opening of SD office
61: Are Heller associates joining, or is it just partners?
partners cannot solicit associates. but really, I imagine many will go. I mean who doesn't love working for Rob Fram?
20: they look a lot a like. the one in the linked article is older and thinner. not a very common name to find two people. father/son?
a San Diego office for Covington? really?
Guys at my high school used to merge with Thelen all the time. It was no big deal.
65 yes. If you factor in partners, and assocs, you are looking at potentiallly 30-40 lawyers. 15 IP partners are gone.
please god let it be heller. ropes sucks.
It is Heller, 68. Trust me. Any bankruptcy lawyers out there?
Is it the entire IP group from Heller, or just pieces of it?
pieces. Thayer and Madison stay
Suck it Burlington.
Sincerely,
Covington
thank you 69. you help me sleep tonight.
Where else are lawyers coming from for a San Diego office? There aren't that many IP laywers in Heller's SD office.
71: why would they stay?
SD - Blankenheimer and dudes that work with him - 74
74 - I thought Heller's San Diego IP group already joined Cooley.
Only 2, John Benassi and Jessica Wolf
74, that's true. But 3 partners from SD are joining Covington, including the rainmaker Alan Blankenheimer.
Re 62, it's partners and associates.
74 --- Bill Casterone will be joining as well and probably bringing Nancy Rimmington and Tadge Choadely too although they are not confirmed.
79: any truth to the other commentator saying that Heller's insurance and energy groups are heading to Covington as well?
What's going to happen with antitrust?
78, Benassi died a month or so ago - after leaving Heller. Apparently, not even death deters Heller shs from leaving. . . .
79: any truth to the other commentator saying that Heller's insurance and energy groups are heading to Covington as well?
What's going to happen with antitrust?
80 -- who are they? No one told me anything about them.
67
82 -- oh SNAP.
Energy is not going to Covington. There are conflicts, Energy is up for grabs to the highest bidder Both coasts. Baker and Mayer Browne were both keenly interested in the Heller energy group re Clean tech and FERC.
Is there truth to 71? Thayer is staying alone??? (w/ madison)?
Wine tasting.
covington already took a chunk of the insurance practice in SF
Bill Casterone will be joining Covington and probably bringing Nancy Rimmington and Tadge Choadely too although this is not confirmed.
D-d-d-dissolution!!!
82, Benassi left Heller for Cooley (with Wolf) about a month before he died.
87, Hurst is staying too. (Though I suspect they will both be needing to pick up and move somewhere else before too long now that Mayer's sunk.) I hear that Madison is leaving but not going to Covington (basically just declaring independence), but that could be wrong.
Wait, sorry, my bad, that's Cadwalader.
--91
Steptoe owns Covington.
Question for current Covington associates (particularly west coast associates, to the extent the distinction leads to a different answer): how bad are Covington's bonuses, and how transparent?
- Your future colleague
Okay- if Madison's staying put, it's not like Heller's IP practice is completely dead. Just mostly dead.
As for SD- that office has been fucked since they brought the Brobeckers on. Good riddance to them all.
Bill Casterone will be joining Covington and probably bringing Nancy Rimmington and Tadge Choadely too although this is not confirmed.
Firm Orgy?
97, is that some reference I'm too unhip to get? (There are no such people at Heller -- or even on Google.)
20/64: Cut it out. Thanks!
Love,
The Rest of Us
99- All real people. Try again.
33, I died.
97/101 - If they're real Heller people (or even just real attorneys), perhaps you'd like to post links to their bios?
33 = best comment ever
Hey 103
GULC.
Set.
Match.
I see what you're getting at with Rimmington and Choadely, but what's with Casterone?
33 - by far one of the best comments.
98 - could it be????? Funny. Shit. Too.
Maybe it is diversity day. Is there a term other than Mexican? Maybe something less offensive?
Pocket protectors and inferiority complexes for everyone! Firmwide meeting to discuss!!
Sadly, we don't have flavia machines at C&B. Perhaps the meeting is to discuss upgrading our coffee selection.
Any firm that provides flavia instead of real coffee will shortly go under. And will deserve to.
GULC will rule you. You will obey. Obey you will.
What happens to VLG?
ORIENTAL RUG LIQUIDATION SALE
Maybe the two top "independent" firms in DC will merge: Covington & Burling with Arnold & Porter! (No I have not forgotten about you Williams & Connolly people.)
No oriental rugs at Heller. And if you go down to the garage, you won't see a bunch of fancy cars (a few, but not a lot). Working at Heller was never just about money. Apparently, some of the IP lit shareholders got greedy, and decided it would be a good time to f**k over 1000+ ppl by bailing just before the merger that would've saved the firm.
Those IP shareholders have been "saving the firm" for the last 2 years while they've carried everyone else's slow asses. This is the group that worked serious hours while the rest of the firm went home early every day. Your sense of entitlement is offensive.
118: Offensive? You have to be kidding me. What is offensive is the arrogance of the IP lit shareholders. To know that a deal is close that could have included the IP lit group and saved the firm. Screwing over your partners of 20+ years is offensive. The rest of the firm did NOT go home early. There are plenty of people in plenty of other groups who work very long hours. It is offensive that you think the IP lit group alone has carried this firm for the last two years. Fuck you and good riddance.
12-15 shareholders (only 5 of whom were serious rainmakers) leave and a deal for a 560-person firm falls through. Explain to me how these folks were *not* carrying the firm. Mayer clearly thought they were -- and they saw the books. You should write Bob Haslam a thank-you note for subsidizing your lifestyle for the last 2-3 years.
Look, 119. I understand it sucks. But Heller Ehrman was going to cease to exist anyway. You're talking about being acquired by a 2200-lawyer behemoth. These IP Lit guys apparently didn't want to be Mayer Brown lawyers. Is your position really that they had to sacrifice themselves for the good of a firm that would then cease to exist?
Plus, something like 70 shareholders have left in the last year (that's probably a serious underestimate). If you're going to blame shareholders who left for the state of things, you need to expand your guilty class. Haslam, Fram & Co. could have left at the beginning of this slide; it's unfair to hold them *more* responsible for sticking around and keeping the firm afloat.
118, 120, 121: I accept that Haslam, Fram & Co. were integral to the merger, and to the firm. It is sad to see them go, both for their colleagues and the business. But don't be a fucking prick and insist that the rest of the firm should bow down at their feet as they walk out the door. For the most part, shareholders and associates in other groups supported themselves, and Haslam, Fram & Co. were fairly compensated for the business they brought in. Maybe your an IP lit associate and you don't feel that your bonus was fat enough. Well, it is about to get fatter over at Covington. But, then again, look at the partners you'll be working for.
Covington bonuses aren't very good.
No one is asking people to bow down at their feet when they leave. They're just pointing out that it's ridiculous to blame them for the demise of the firm. If Heller had been a well-managed organization where all of the partners carried their weight, the departure of IP wouldn't be enough to sink the ship. That their departure seemingly has done so very clearly indicates that the firm has not been well-managed for some time, and that the remaining partners are not carrying their weight. If they were, the firm still would be taking a hit right now, but it wouldn't be on the brink of insolvency.
I get that people are scared right now, and for good reason. But hurling blame irrationally isn't going to help the firm survive, and it's not going to find you a new job. Accept this for what it is, and start putting together a plan for what you'll do next.
When is the Cov meeting today?
I think it has something to do with the epic action movie Apocalypto.
-Mel Gibson
Covington meeting is at noon eastern, 9 pacific.
It's Log, Log, Log! It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood. It's Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good! Everyone wants a log!
Ren & Stimpy songs apply to everything.
They're probably just getting together to play a round of Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence.
Live by the sword, die by the sword....
http://www.evilesq.com
It's probably related to yesterday's banking news.
It's probably related to yesterday's banking news.
114: I suspect they'll go to Orrick like the first batch did in '04.
Something Something Dark Side
Something Something Dark Side
So what was the meeting about?
Wood. See 128.
As in getting rid of dead wood???
Heller Ehrman LLP
Complex Commercial Litigation
Recent Decisions of Interest
Greedy Shareholders Suit Involving D-bag's Who Can't Pull Off a Merger Gets Boot For Lack Of Personnel Communication
So no inside news on the Cov mtg.? Guess their ppl have better things to do than to blog all day....
141, like packing their offices and calling recruiters?
C'mon Elie, post some more goddamn details of the meeting. Unless C&B is better at keeping the lid on rumors than Heller was.
I have spent the last few minutes struggling to grasp how anyone could possibly care so much about a alleged meeting being conducted by a law firm at which they do not work. I failed.
That said, I am confident I know what is going on behind the doors of this much-discussed meeting. Here is the short version, as told to me by the fairy that lives in a cave in my backyard: A senior partner in the firm paid (in the tears of children) a witch to capture the last remaining unicorn for him. Why did the partner do such a thing? Well, the partner was in possession of an ancient text of dark magic that told of a potion which could be made with the following ingredients: ground horn of a unicorn, the blood of an asp, and absinthe. Said potion is said to imbue any mortal man who imbibes it with eternal life and mystical powers, not the least of which is the power to break the will of weaker minds. The partner, eager to have all of the firm's associates (and lesser partners) close by when he consumed the potion and assumed his dark mantle (thus allowing him to quickly enslave them all), called a firmwide meeting. However, the partner is in for a rude surprise - for when he drinks the potion, it will in fact cause him to melt, much like the Nazis who refused to look away from the Ark at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
144: quit being such a douchebag. Most of the people reading this are Heller attorneys and staff, who've learned more about the fate of their firm from a fucking blog than they have from their own shareholders.
And the rest of us have nothing better to do.
I think 145 gets it right . Remember all of those promises that that Management made recently to keep us associates informed if/when Heller decided that it would not be pursuing additional merger opportunities? Well, I just read about it on the front page of ATL. Fucking disgusting.
For those of you not with Heller, have some respect! Put yourself in the same situation, then read all the negative comments... See how you feel about it. Be careful what you say, it could happen to you too!
For those of you not with Heller, have some respect! Put yourself in the same situation, then read all the negative comments... See how you feel about it. Be careful what you say, it could happen to you too!
146 - Management never thought in their wildest dreams that the blogs would take on such a life of their own in spite of their denials and talking with rocks in their mouths. It's the 21st century now - new wars, new rules.
One can only compare this to be like one waking up in the morning and seeing the break up of your marriage on the front page news and being the last to know. How humiliating to say the least.
all would be well if that s.k.a.n.k. Linda Goldstein was "dismissed"... imho