you folks at ATL should be doing a hell of a lot more with the wall street meltdown story.

im feeling 90% ok, 10% laid off

Re: #2
www.dealbreaker.com

Re: #4
Dealbreaker has the angle from the banks but you don't think this affects law firms in 1000 ways too?

I just sent this request to the tip line, so, if there are any lawyers out there with bankruptcy experience, please chime in and help out with the issues:

Since this is a legal blog and since (at least I think) the most pertinent legal questions going on right are are related to the BK of Lehman and possibly AIG, can we have a post on the various issues surrounding those BKs? For example, what happens to employee salaries, do they get severance, can Lehman sell of a portion to Barclay's, what are the ramifications of such a sale? I'm not a BK attorney (corp. finance), but I'm sure there have to be some out there who would be willing to help.

Plus, it could probably help our brothers out at dealbreaker out.

Err ... Shouldn't "Merrill Lynch represents well less than 10 percent of the firm's overall business, so they think they should be fine." actually read "Bank of America ...."

I thought Bank of America was the big Sidley client, no?

7: The post is correct. Why would having a big client acquire a company cause concerns?

ATL's coverage of the events on the Street is horrible. Yes, there's DB's great reporting, but ATL should cover the legal angles of the situation instead of posting about the spam that hits their inboxes.

@8: I think some of it has to do with redundancies. My firm also represents BofA and Merrill (both in essentially the same capacity and for the same types of deals). I don't think that, with the merger, BofA will be able to offer us its original revenue stream plus Merrill's old revenue stream. Rather, I'm sure that, because there will be lesser competition, there will be fewer deals with the new entity than there would have been with both entities.

I think the "business" term for this is canibalism/canibalizing, but I don't feel like looking it up.

I read the email, thought it was refreshingly candid, then deleted it and went back to billing. not concerned.

what does this mean for law firm hiring? Especially if all the banks are going to be consolidating--is there really going to be less work to go around?

Suck it GULC2L!

IS DLA PIPER A GOOD FIRM?

#6: The people at lehman who were laid off last week have not yet received severances....and those are people who have been there 7+ years. They have to wait to hear whether there will even be enough money to get a severance. They haven't even been given a firm timeframe for how long it will be before they hear whether they'll get anything at all.

Wait, does anyone actually think that any attorney worth two shits really spends valuable time reading 'legal' blogs, much less posting well-thought-out comments in an effort to be useful? Giggle. Giggle. If anyone who posted here really knew anything about practicing, this MIGHT be the legal blog you dream of. As it is, this IS the legal field's version of Perez Hilton. Give me more on what judges wear under their robes. If I caught any partner at my firm reading ATL, I might have to quit the profession entirely.

And before Captain Obvious busts down the door, clearly, I am not an attorney worth two shits. Duh.

@16: And hence the superiority of Dealbreaker. They have a certain level of retarded and asinine comments like ATL, but they also have some poignant insight into the market. As a corp. attorney, I'm on that site a lot because it helps me understand and gauge the markets.

I would love to see this blog given a makeover, but alas, I think it will always be filled with insecure children who berate others through the mask of anonymity.

- 6&10

@16 -- I find your comments offensive and completely lacking in taste and class. You sir are the gun in the mouth of society.

@17: You're an idiot.

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

@17: You're an idiot.

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

-Anonymity Annie

@17: You're an idiot.

MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

-Anonymity Annie

18 - Thank you.

- 16

18 - Suck it!

Sidely = GULC repository

Take the severance and run.

http://endofesq.com/?p=159

Look, my point is that all you can reasonably expect from a site like ATL is to help keep you aware of what is going on in the profession. If you want serious discussion regarding the ramifications of the reported happenings, don't look to the posts of anonymous readers comprised, apparently, mostly of law students and junior associates.

ATL does a fairly good job of collecting a range of industry news and thankfuly sprinkles in a liberal dose of gossip to keep things light and fun. Yes, it would be nice if the ATL staff were more insightful, but it is not as if we are making up for their shortfall with our informative comments. Instead, we're hell-bent on being "firsty," or trying to find clever ways to trash the thread's content (usually failing in the clever department).

I think it's nice that 6 thought s/he could have a serious discussion here, but you can't. Let's not pretend. Right, 18? 'Gun in the mouth of society?" Pull my trigger then, ass-hat.

Sincerely,
16

10% is a big chunk of business. If I were a Sidley equity partner, I'd be panicking right now.

@26: Good point. What are some solid legal blogs? I know dealbook has one, but does anyone know of others that are intellectually engaging?

--6 and other numbers

Can we hear about Heller imploding?

Sidley has a (smart) policy of not allowing any one client to take up more than something between 5 and 10 percent of business at any given time.

Excellent.

But thats firmwide- ML may have been less than 10% of the firm's worldwide 15+ international offices' business, but what about the NY office specifically?

These pretzels are making me thirty-firsty.

Merrill has long been Sidley's top (or #2) client in billables. On the other hand, they do a ton of work for BofA too.

these pretzels are making me thirty-thirdsty

I heard that 18 sucks. Can anyone elaborate?

IS DLA PIPER A GOOD FIRM?

Isn't AIG a big Sidley client too? How will that mess affect things?

is Merrill Lynch a good firm????

@35 YES. DLA is a good firm. They'll get picked on here because most people on this site don't work. But I have some good friends there and they do some pretty sophisticated stuff. Plus, they have offices all over the world. Truth is, no matter where you go, you'll be doing the same shit, so, as long as you're getting paid the same amount, don't even sweat it.

The post is a bit off---the total business at Sidley represented by AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman COMBINED adds up to less than 5% for 2008. Same story with 2007.

Perhaps ATL should verify the source a bit. That being said, I had the same reaction as #11. Was good to know. Then I went back to work. Busy times these days.

"Merrill has long been Sidley's top (or #2) client in billables"

If you consider 8 years "long"--Merrill was a BIG Brown & Wood client which was the appeal (along w/ a cheap lease in 2WTC) of acquiring Brown & Wood. I would expect that some B&W legacy partners might be retiring a little early, depending on how BofA handles it (and if the merger actually happens).

"10% is a big chunk of business"

Yes, and that's why the message was "well less than 10%", which implies more than 6% (b/c if less, then "just over" 5%) but under 9%. And it really matters if you're talking about current year or last year--they probably were a bigger chunk last year.

"what about the NY office specifically?"

I'd expect the NY finance group to suffer badly, but that's with or w/o the ML/BofA tie-up. They have 58 associates at least partly in StrucFin/Sec'z'n in the NY office. That's probably not sustainable right now.

Merrill Lynch has historically been one of Sidley's biggest clients, but then why did Shearman represent Merrill in the BofA acquisition? Conflicts, or something more sinister?

Anyway, let's not pick on Sidley. All of us outside the bankrupcy practice at our respective firms have a lot to worry about. Sidley will survive. They're diversified enough.

Yes, DLA is a great firm for associates who enjoy being stealth-fired and for law students who feel like rolling the dice on their 2L summer.

"Yes, and that's why the message was "well less than 10%", which implies more than 6% (b/c if less, then "just over" 5%) but under 9%. And it really matters if you're talking about current year or last year--they probably were a bigger chunk last year."

#40---the "well less than 10%" was introduced on this blog. The letter from firm management actually stated the percentages, which tallied less than 5% for all three clients for 2007 and 2008.

Jim VanChoade just lateraled to DLA Piper Baltimore from Venable so suck it UPEN!

31: Post of the year.

Subject-verb agreement is key.

I am just shocked that 6 works in corporate finance yet doesn't understand even the basics of bankruptcy. Some minor redemption if 6 is not a lawyer, but if he or she is the age of specialization has taken things a bit too far.

For the record: wages are first on the preference list, almost certainly no one will get severance unless they have a contractual right to it, yes, they can sell subs or portions of the business, since it's the holding company and they've gone 11, they can sell subs (and they will sell Neuberger, because that's the crown jewel), the sale would be a normal corporate transaction probably subject to approval by the bankruptcy court.

"Plus, it could probably help our brothers out at dealbreaker out."

Most of those guys need a job, although hopefully most of them can make do with their $400 in unemployment per week and their millions saved over the last several years. So there's not much that some bankruptcy basics can do for them.

Classic "why lawyers are not businesspeople" error. A troubled firm represents 10% of our client [revenue] base. Therefore if they go under we will be fine.

Ummmm...revenue is not profit. The key metric is not revenue, but PROFIT from Merrill work. Duh!!!

--Your handy legal eagle WITH an MBA and more common sense than a goose

@47: Asking a question and being ignorant of an answer are two different things. Others who actually do work in bankruptcy would be far better equipped than I to answer any of the questions I asked (which were simply examples of a miriad of issues surrounding this bankruptcy). And while I do understand the preference of payments in a bankruptcy, certain issues like severance are not quite as clear cut (i.e., to receive post petition severance that isn't part of your employment contract, the company must petition to the bankruptcy court to have it considered an "administrative expense"). Plus, as a non-bankruptcy attorney, my answers to these questions would be surface at best (and probably not even remotely accurate). My job is not to know the bankruptcy code.

The point of my post was to hopefully get people more familiar with bankruptcy to step up and offer insight, but I see that is lost on this board, so I give up. Instead, we can look forward to asshole comments like yours where, instead of willing to help out even a small bit (which it seems that you might be ableo to) you decide to ridicule a post that was intended solely to seek out the advice of the knowledgeable and hopefully shed some light on what, to many (especially those working at Lehman), is a very important issue.

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? I may be done with ATL.

48---where is this 10% value coming from?

I like the way the post was worded.."A bunch of guys from North Carolina?" Charlotte is already the second biggest financial center in the country and is gaining on NY by the day. Bank of America and Wachovia are HQed there.

I recognize most people north of around Philly don't even realize the South exists, but try not to sound so ignorant.

48 got readingcomprehensionpwned.

also, is the title to this post a West Side Story reference?

48 got readingcomprehensionpwned.

also, is the title to this post a West Side Story reference?

48 got readingcomprehensionpwned.

also, is the title to this post a West Side Story reference?

48 got readingcomprehensionpwned.

also, is the title to this post a West Side Story reference?

Sidley = biggest pile of TTT crappy make-work hour-monkeys masquerading as a firm

Sidley = biggest pile of TTT crappy make-work hour-monkeys masquerading as a firm

aw, it looks like 56/57 was so furious about his Sidley ding he had to post it twice...

56/57 = bitter associate who works on small routine cases/deals that "hour-monkeys" would take a dump on.

why didn't you post the email Mystal?

MY DAD WORKS AT DLA PIPER.

40 -- Your facts are way off. B&W was in 1 WTC, not 2 WTC. That alone says you probably don't know very much about the firm or the NY office. In addition your securitization associate count is too high by more than 20.

49/6, 47 here. I might have been a little harsh on you, but I think that is pretty basic stuff for a transactional lawyer to understand. I probably could have been a little harsher about it, and I think that you are looking in the wrong place if you are looking for in-depth substantive analysis here instead of more academic legal blog or places like the WSJ law blog. This is, after all, a legal gossip blog.

It is suspicious that the memo was not posted. If you really wanted to generate some traffic, why not say "well less than 50 percent"? It's equally true and only slightly more misleading.

Sidley's ML business isn't going to vanish. That's just stupid. The ML bankers who survive whatever restructuring BoA has in store will probably keep using the same lawyers (including sidley lawyers) on their deals. Hopefully not too many ML bankers will be shown the door in restructuring by BoA since BoA has no ibanking of its own to speak of. Of course, a crappy economy and lack of deals will lead to layoffs of bankers and lack of work for sidley, but that would happen even if ML were still independent. This, by itself, doesn't mean much.

Any 2Ls considering Sidley NY - avoid it like the plague! I summered there this past summer, and the firm is all nice and pleasant (I believe "humane" is the word they like to throw around), but the moment you leave, they treat you like crap and show you their true colors. Sidley is a very inflexible firm regarding your needs and goals, and I was told as soon as I got back to school that I wouldn't be able to work in either of my two top practice areas -- this in spite of having spent 90% of my summer in those two areas. They basically have a "we gave you an offer, consider yourself lucky" attitude regarding their summers. Also, since Sidley is run out of Chicago, their NY office gets almost no respect in the city, and this shows not only in the quality of work the office gets, but also in the quality of lawyers it attracts.

66 You have no clue what you're talking about. Sidley Austin has an excellent reputation in NYC which was specifically noted in the days following 9/11. You're just upset things didn't go your way.

66 You have no clue what you're talking about. Sidley Austin has an excellent reputation in NYC which was specifically noted in the days following 9/11. You're just upset things didn't go your way.

66 You have no clue what you're talking about. Sidley Austin has an excellent reputation in NYC which was specifically noted in the days following 9/11. You're just upset things didn't go your way.