These pretzels are makin' me firsty.

Lat -- no. Seriously, no, we don't like it. It is a simple game of numbers. He puts out way more articles per day than you ever did in the past. There are way more updates. Therefore, more page views. And there are more unique visitors because, as with anything else, more know about ATL. The economy also probably helped somehow.

In short, Elie sucks. Really. If it takes people not visiting the site to make you realize that, then so be it.

Well, that's it then. My last visit to ATL.

Just leave Lat. Enough with the long goodbyes. And 3 is right - Elie sucks.

Crowd favorite? How patronizing.

Talk about burying the lede: Half a dozen NY law firms are planning layoffs? That is the real story, not how many page views the site got.

Elie used to suck, but is now actually doing quite well, if you've been paying attention. Hope Winters is so awfully bad that she creates entertaining comment clusterf*cks. But Marin is awful, with a capital TTT.

Glad to do my part.
BTW, I went to Harvard.

This post is really informative.

I'm a high school Junior and I want a job!!!

-nervous Northeast boarding school Junior

Half a dozen major New York law firms plan lawyer layoffs in the first quarter of 2009? Care to elaborate to your [now very nervous] readers?

7, 12 -- he's just teasing.

Elie does a fabulous job - I really mean it - PLEASE DONT LISTEN TO THESE HATE MONGERS WHO THINK ITS SO COOL TO CRITICIZE OTHERS when they can't do nothing themselves - ATL is great and I speak on behalf of 20others at my firm Elie is great and doing a great job. Thanks Elie

Winner - Director's Cup.

14 -- Of course it's not cool to criticize others. Do you work in the government?

14 - "when they can't do nothing themselves"

Your firm must suck.

This is not good news, the amount of work associates have and the amount of time they can spend on your site are inversely correlated. Your page views going up is an indicator of things to come. Enjoy (responsibly) while it lasts.

Yes, Elie is better than Lat. That's why site traffic is up.

Thanks for insulting our intelligence. Sounds like you are emplying MysTTTal's own fallacious argument, i.e. post hoc ergo propter hoc.

1. Unless you back up your comment about layoffs with a source, I think you are simply trying to increase traffic, since apparently that's all you care about.

2. The reason for the unique pageviews is all the references to Above the Law in other publications. There have been a record number, and that draws curious eyes.

3. Elie is improving, I'll give you that. But he is certainly not the source of the increase in traffic, unless he has 325,000 mothers who all think he's cute.

Law students and associates flooding ATL because they are freaked out about the job market does not mean anyone likes Elie (aka Harvard Fail).

Why would they wait until 1Q09 to do layoffs? If they've decided the need is there, why wait?

22 - maybe b/c they don't want to look like jerk stores for canning people right before bonus time.

Whaaaaaaa??? All I ever see in the comments is how everyone hates Elie. I don't like him either. Epic fail! Bring back Exley.

A lot of the increase in pageviews are mine -- I'm panicked I won't know I've been fired until I read it here.

25 = Elie

Lat - Elie sucks. People are visiting ATL more because the legal market is tanking and they want more information on what's going on.

Dave, are you actually reading the comments? Elie is a disaster.

Don't trip on your race to the bottom.

MysTTTal

LaT
MysTTTal

Um, did anybody ever pick up on the obvious fact that all of Elie's "problems" with proofreading, grammer, jokes, etc. have been a ploy to get haters to hate vocally (and thus generate page views). You don't think Lat and Elie have known what they have been doing? And you wonder why nobody trusts Wall Street lawyers. Shame on you.

Lat, that was a truly great post- I'll be laughing all day about how you punked us by saying Elie is a good writer and how you had the sac to mention Hope Winters.

Congrats on the high traffic.

This whiny apoplexy makes me laugh. If all you grammar Nazis and self-proclaimed experts really hate the site so much now that Elie is posting, stop commenting and stop coming here.

Oh, that's right – you don't, you won't, and you won't.

Bitches.

p.s. "Boycotts" are for dumbass communists who don't know they're communists. People vote their preferences in everything they do.

half dozen firms planning layoffs? whhhaaaaa????

i think this is probably as sarcastic as the rest of the piece but for christ's sake man, do not jest in these times!

(for the rest of you freaking out: why would they wait until 09 *after* they have to pay out bonuses?)

The silent majority of ATL readers (i.e. the people billing, not sitting around with their thumbs up their ass in Con Law class) love Elie. Keep up the great work.

Agree with 14 and 36. Elie does a great job. A handful of commenters do not speak for the majority of readers.

The reason ATL got so many hits is because the new first year lawyers don't have anything else to do all day.

It should come as no surprise that more layoffs are coming, and soon. The current crisis/downturn/meltdown/need for bailout/whatever you want to call it is far worse than last Spring and all of 2001 put together. If layoffs were necessary then, they are unavoidable now.

As for the timing of said layoffs: as one poster already pointed out, waiting until after bonus season to drop the guillotine might help soften the blow. It also would provide some cover for the several firms that just finished canning people last Spring (and may have "promised" the survivors that no more layoffs were coming inthe near future).

38, that's why I'm here.

I don't believe he had the balls to pretend that Hope doesn't suck. I am now completely convinced she is a creation of Lat used as a stick to punish the readers who say things like MysTTTal.

Seriously, Lat, WE DO NOT LIKE ELIE. He chooses TERRIBLE stories. And posts them. And misspells, misstates and uses improper punctuation in his boring, not-at-all-funny discussions of said stories. So where do you get this idea that we like him?? Could you please please pretty please come back???? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase?????

Elie stole Lat's identity and posted this....the only explanation.

Ask your parents/senior partners about what the double-dip recession of the early 1970's was like. That's a starting point for a frame of reference.

Lat, what's that about those layoffs at half a dozen firms?

WE LOVE YOU MYSTYLE!

Layoffs won't be commonplace before Christmas/New Years, but NO BONUS, SMALLER BONUS, AND LESS LOCKSTEP ON BONUSES will be the rule. If business doesn't pickup, layoffs (stealth & actual) will dominate the 1st quarter. The hard decision for firms will be whether they should lay off more people so that hiring will approach past years.

Elie Misspell is getting somewhat better as time goes on.

NYC to Depression (both kinds).

47 - Word

Elie has ruined this site for everyone.

Agreed, 38.

No one could be worse than Hope.

I'm a chubby-chaser, and there are a lot of us who are now addicted to ATL in recent months.

i fucking hate hope winters. i cannot fucking say it any fucking more fucking clearly. fucking hate her.

Dealbreaker should have great numbers - Carney did an awesome job of the LEH AIG debacle and Bess has been spot on with the carnage that has ensued.

Elie - it's more like a traffic wreck - just can't take your eyes off of it and so you keep looking. But keep up the good work fat boy. Maybe Lat will buy you box of krispy kreme.

Again, I fucking hate hope winters. Lat - you still rule.

Nice, ATL. Keep up the good work, I feel the site is only improving and I'm glad your traffic numbers reflect that. I am certainly a loyal reader. Congrats to all the writers, you brighten my day (well, except Hope Winters).

I agree with 36. I am a member of the silent majority - no longer silent, given his comment - that thinks Elie is doing a nice job.

23 is right. I am at one of the firms that is rumored to be planning 1Q 2009 layoffs. They are putting off the layoffs because they want us to have happy holidays (but the anxiety doesn't make for much holiday cheer).

Haha,

Lat is playing you all for fools. He knows you hate the nonsense that he puts up, but you still come and comment and drive up his page rankings. Then he has the audacity to taunt you. Calling Hope Winters a crowd favorite means he knows that you guys have nowhere else to go

58 is absolutely right. Unique visitors and pageviews don't measure reader / poster satisfaction. The worse Hope Winters' posts get, the more people click-through to see the train wreck, the more people post negative comments about them, and the more successful ATL looks.

I want names -- tell me what firms are planning layoffs. Is it only NYC or other offices? How does Chicago look?

elie is fat and smells like TTT

This site is a far cry from their sister sites dealbreaker and fashionista. Whats the point of following a blog if I feel like im just getting the same news as mainstream media? Ellie u need to step up your game.

28 - Of course Lat reads the comments (at least some of them). This post reads like a rebuttal to all the complainers.

The more I think about this, the more pissed I get. What's the point of this site if it doesn't reveal what firms are contemplating layoffs? I can get gossip on what lawyers royally screwed up, what's going on with Sarah Palin, and whether Heller is dissolving from countless other sites. What I can't find elsewhere is rumors about salaries, bonuses, and layoffs. If you don't write about these issues when you know something, what's the point of me coming here? You suck, Lat.

I think the issue is that Above the Law is too big. Too many partners know about it, and too many mainstream media sources report on it. In response to this exposure, ATL believes it needs to become responsible, less tabloid-like. But sometimes tabloids get the real story first (like John Edwards). They serve a niche in the information marketplace. And associates need that, particularly in a time of economic crisis.

Knowledge is power -- if we know our firm might have layoffs, we can protect ourselves somewhat by upping our hours.

So, if you refuse to talk about the critical issues here, Lat, then start up a covert second site, bury the address in a 294 comment clusterf*ck, and leave ATL to the gawkers.

This website has noted a number of firms that no-offered or laid off associates. This year many firms simply don't care about their future reputation. I can't wait until 2010, hopefully the economy will recover and we will remember what firms screwed over summers --- what firms were too stupid to look to the future and project hiring needs.

Elie has done a good job the past 2 weeks or so

CROWD FAVORITE?

Seriously, I dare one person to say--genuinely--that they like (or can even stand) Hope Winters' writing. As a fellow Ivy Leaguer, it appalls me that she constantly brags about her credentials while consistently demonstrating poor basic spelling and grammar skills. Her stories also follow one pattern--absurd hyping leading up to terrible letdowns once the "punchlines" occur.

Hope Winters? Is terrible. Why let her write here? Gross.

just because elie got all his friends and family members to visit the site doesn't mean he's doing a good job as the editor.

most of our comments stem from our frustration caused by his poor writing and unnecessary partisan remarks.

Lat: why don't you give out some free ATL swag or have a prize for whoever can the Supreme Court judge who was a nephew of George Washington.

Summarizing the correct statements by above commenters:

1. Unique page hits are going up because there are more articles being written, and the greater quantity keeps bringing back bored/lacking-for-work associates. Which is all ATL management probably cares about.

2. But don't think for a second that the quality has improved -- it's gone way down. And in the great American tradition, the race to the bottom has, undoubtedly, contributed to increased viewership.

3. There's a lot going on in the news: it's election season. The economy could fail at any second. Law firms are breaking up. As compared to, say, a year ago, much more people (read: associates and law students) are on the web, checking up on these topics. Leading to more visits to ATL. This will remain sustained through the rest of the year and early next year, but I 1000% promise you ATL's page views at this time next year are down compared to now.

4. I know Elie from law school. He's a good guy, and can be very funny. But his posts have really taken ATL in a different direction, and not a good one. As soon as the political season wears off and he can't resort to inserting quasi-zingers of a political stripe, and he no longer attracts attention for his needling of certain political views, he's not going to be able to sustain ATL's readership. Guaranteed.

I'm a fetus, and I want a job!!

-nervous privileged teat suckler

Suck it, LaTTT

Congrats to Lat, Elie et al. It must be satisfying to know that so many people are reading your stuff (and maybe helps to make up for the really nasty venom that certain posters feel the need to spew at times). Pretty cool that Lat created this (and UTR before this) on his own and its grown to be a force to be reckoned with in the legal reporting world....

Lat, you are clearly insulting our intelligence.

Don't confuse quantity for quality.

Lat, unless this is MysTTTal hacking his account again, has clearly joined in the general TTTrolling that most of the editors on this site have taken to doing. Lowest Common Denominator = more droolers hitting refresh to see everyone pile on MysTTTal's latest mistake = more $ for ATL in short term. Of course, if ATL keeps getting scooped on, say, EVERY MAJOR STORY or rumor as layoffs hit...site numbers decline.

"Oh I've heard there may be six firms laying off people in January" = The worst kind of fear-mongering/TTTrolling; Names, even unconfirmed, please.

Mystal is like Howard Stern. You hate him, but can't wait to see what he will say next.

Judging from the comments, the increased traffic seems mostly law students graduating from AutoAdmit now that they know the difference between i.e. and e.g., and your advertisers can't take much solace from that, Lat. Law students spend other people's money, either borrowed (from the government), or stolen (from parents), and both of those sources are drying up. This isn't a pro bono blog, Lat. You're in the marketplace and if you don't do something about quality control, soon you won't be.

Do the numbers take into account the page view inflation causes by your awful site and server? When I post, the message doesn't show up until I hit refresh 1-3 times. This post alone will get you 3-5 page views.

That's fine I guess, but it's not quite legit.

64 is right....

Give dealbreaker Elie.