Open Thread: Will Your Firm Get Some Scraps?
More law firms are benefiting — at least in the short term — from Wall Street jumping the shark.
The WSJ Law Blog has a roundup of the newest firms to come away with a piece of the bankrupt pie. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised Barclays on their scavenging Lehman’s North American business, while Davis Polk & Wardwell helped your nominally “free-market” government bail out AIG.
But the financial crisis is far from over. Which firms are still left to benefit as the financial sector careens down the off ramp of success? We know Simpson Thacher has done a lot of work with Washington Mutual, and we know WaMu is about as stable as Courtney Love after a Seattle rainstorm. Will Simpson be able to cash in on a WaMu sale, or will Weil just add another bloodied notch to their belt?
Anybody else with their hand out? After the jump.
Even the law firms with stable clients can’t be sure if they’ll get the big-time fees that are floating around out there. When Morgan Stanley buys something (their financials are great! no really!) what are the odds that they jump to Wachtell like everyone else?
Most associates don’t really care about which firm has what client, until bonus time. Firms have been crying poverty for most of the year, but with the fees that some of these firms will be earning … let’s just say that we can’t wait to see what Weil doles out this Christmas. Some associates won’t stand for tepid bonuses when they read about all the high profile clients their partners are bagging. “You should be happy to have a job” simply won’t fly at some of the top law firms, economic indicators be damned.
So which is the next firm that will be made stronger by the financial implosion? And will any of that blood money trickle down to the associate level?
Meltdown World: A Mid-Week Legal Round Up [WSJ Law Blog]
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First? Does it matter?
First? Does it matter?
First?
Simpson Thacher? Come on Elie! You're doing a great job with content, but you write for a living now. Clean it up.
"we know WaMu is about as stable as a Courtney Love after a Seattle rainstorm." - thats best you could come up with?
Bberg estimates $900m in fees total for LEH bk...thats between lawyers, accts, and advisers...
Considering Weil got 164M for Enron...things are looking up for them.
"Some associates won't stand for tepid bonuses when they read about all the high profile clients their partners are bagging. 'You should be happy to have a job,' simply won't fly at some of the top law firms, economic indicators be damned."
And you know any of this, how?
Bberg estimates $900m in fees total for LEH bk...thats between lawyers, accts, and advisers...
Considering Weil got 164M for Enron...things are looking up for them.
But I don't think Weil will lead the market in bonuses (even if their bankruptcy department booms).
STB doesn't do debtor work, at least it doesn't have the manpower to handle such a large bankruptcy (if there were one).
Wall Street is all about "free market" until their greed gets them in trouble. Then they want the government to step in and bail them out of the messes they've made.
If we're going to let the pigs run wild, shouldn't we let them fall on their faces too?
Any word from Milbank, Mayer or White & Case?
3,
that's how you spell it...Simpson Thacher. Lay off Elie
how about cravath?
Guys from my high school used to write lazy, error-filled blog posts all the time, it was no big deal.
I heard Paul Hastings NY was getting all the business.
3,
that's how you spell it...Simpson Thacher. Lay off Elie
My Texas-based firm (with a wannabe NY presence) is too worried about conflicts to get any work out of these Wall Street problems. ATL - any chance you could do some open threads on how biglaw is doing in various markets. I'd love to hear from ATL readers who the biglaw market is in the Twin Cities, in Austin, in Denver, etc.
My Texas-based firm (with a wannabe NY presence) is too worried about conflicts to get any work out of these Wall Street problems. ATL - any chance you could do some open threads on how biglaw is doing in various markets? I'd love to hear from ATL readers how the biglaw market is in the Twin Cities, in Austin, in Denver, etc.
Sorry for the double-post - my computer is frustratingly slow today!
Doesn't matter if they do. Any firm who tries to raise salary/bonuses will force others to do the same, so no one will. Price is fixed, people. All we can hope for is that the partners make more and are therefore in a better mood and more gracious when they kick us in the *ss.
finally elie gets with the program. i doubt it will last.
Gallion
Elie: Wall Street hasn't so much jumped the shark as jumped while bleeding into a tank of sharks.
You're off your game, man. Take a day or two off to get yourself together and take some pride in your work product!
Locke Lord blows worse than UVA during preppy season.
# 19, you are forgiven one last time - we keep very high posting standards here you know
"WaMu is about as stable as Courtney Love after a Seattle rainstorm."
What does that even mean, MysTTTal? Try to use analogies that those of us born after 1980 will understand.
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"'You should be happy to have a job' simply won't fly at some of the top law firms, economic indicators be damned. " -- why, because associates at the top law firms are going to lateral down to firms below V10 which are stealthly or not so stealthly laying associates off or don't have enough work for the ones they have and aren't hiring? During this economic climate, if you're already at one of these top firms like STB or Weil you should stay there, which means there's no incentive for firms to offer further economic incentives to get associates to stay.
"WaMu is about as stable as Courtney Love after a Seattle rainstorm."
What does that even mean, MysTTTal? Try to use analogies that those of us born after 1980 will understand.
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Can we get a post about Bonus predictions for 2008?
Can we get a post about Bonus predictions for 2008?
Feels like middle school compared to Dealbreaker.
our bonuses are being paid out to severed associates and departing partners who must be paid their equity when they leave.
Here's $5000 now go back in your office and give me another 6 hours, smart guy.
thats because Dealbreaker isnt flooded with idiot trolls refugees from XOXO.
For 27: "WaMu is about as stable as Nick Jonas after an all night Snickers and Pepsi binge."
27 is an idiot.
25/27 - you should be shot. 20, agreed. No firm is going to raise salaries/bonuses in an attempt to retain associates. Everyone else will match and the trendsetter will have lost their competitive advantage and be out of pocket to boot.
34 is a tool.
35: Why should 20 be shot? He's just thinking what the rest of us are thinking.
no, he said that 25/27 should be shot.
36: I Agree with 20, who should remain unshot. 25/27 should be shot.
-35
34, 36, and 38 should be shot twice.
Somebody should knife 25/27 and 39 in the back.
Somebody should knife 25/27 and 39 in the back.
there are 3 of them. 38 would survive.
I don't understand what's going on here. I see a couple of posts about getting shot, and several about being knifed.
Wouldn't count on firms being held hostage for raises. The true top firms (i.e. AmLaw 10-15), the ones actually capable of going to 190 without blinking, are competing with I-banks/hedge funds/PE shops for the true top talent. And, wouldn't you know, i-banking, PE or hedge funds jobs are going to be in very short supply for the foreseeable future because of all the carnage on the Street. It is those opportunities for young lawyers that drove the salaries to where they are at, not competition with the rest of the AmLaw 200.
Where's Rodge's shout out for sticking it to NY state and the Fed?
My prediction: Obama will "streamline regulation" and create one glorious financial/securities regulatory body for which he'll need hundreds of thousands of talented securities lawyers. Govt. lawyer to 190k.
Where's Rodge's shout out for sticking it to NY state and the Fed?
Only the V10 will survive. Sorry Debevoise.
33, that comment made me laugh. hard.
Wow. Wamu is gone.
Washington Mutual Begins Auction to Sell Itself
September 17, 2008, 3:58 pm
Link to This E-mail this Topics Mergers & AcquisitionsIndustries Financial Services
Washington Mutual, the struggling savings and loan, has put itself up for auction, people briefed on the matter said Wednesday.
The unsurprising announcement comes as the bank, which has suffered badly from losses on mortgages it had made, continues to stumble. Shares in Washington Mutual fell nearly 10 percent on Wednesday to $2.09; they have plunged 94 percent over the last 12 months. This week alone, investors have been frightened by Standard & Poor’s cutting of the bank’s debt rating to junk.
Goldman Sachs, which Washington Mutual has hired, started the auction several days ago, these people said. Among the potential bidders that Goldman has talked to are Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC.
TPG, the private equity firm that led a $7 billion cash injection into Washington Mutual in April, said Wednesday afternoon that it would waive its right to be compensated if the bank sold more shares to raise capital. “Our goal is to maximize the bank’s flexibility in this difficult market environment,” TPG said in a statement.
The April deal gave the investing group roughly 822 million new shares, diluting existing shareholders by nearly 50 percent. TPG bought shares for roughly $8.75 each. Those shares have since fallen to $2.14 a share, meaning that the value of the investor group’s holdings at Tuesday’s close had declined 75.5 percent.
While the bank has a strong deposit base, the uncertainty of the markets and the increasingly poor housing market have increased concerns about Washington Mutual’s outlook. The bank plunged into the option adjustable rate mortgage business.
??? how are the Vault 10-15 the "true" top firms that could raise w/o a problem? you're saying that Arnold & Porter w/ ppp of $910k can raise but Latham w/ ppp of 2.3mm can't?
Think. MAYBE, just MAYBE, he/she/it was referring to either 1-10 or 1-15, however elitist you decide to be.
I heard Milbank was appointed counsel to the creditors' committee of Lehman.
You heard right.
You heard right.