Thelen Reid & Priest

Thelen Associates: English M*therF%$#*r Do You Speak It?

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If there are Thelen associates that are not actively trying to get another job, if there are “incoming” Thelen first years who are waiting for “concrete answers” from the firm: this is your last warning. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just remember that your closest exit might be behind you.

This morning the Recorder sounded the latest alarm bell:

While Thelen is looking for firms willing to pick up various pieces, a core group may choose to stick together, and Thelen partners are meeting on a weekly basis to discuss their options, said the partner, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Nixon Peabody merger is off. All the white knights Pollyanna sees on the horizon are actually scavengers looking to pick up useful pieces.

More alarmist rhetoric and mixed metaphors after the jump.


Whether or not Thelen can actually survive should be totally irrelevant to current associates, because at this point doing everything you can to secure another job is clearly the smartest option. If you get another offer, you’ll have two options if Thelen is able to get out of this death spin. The one thing that the Heller experience should teach people is that partners survive and move on. Associates are on their own.

You can bury your head in the sand and try to ride it out:

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At least some associates have been assured they could move with partners, a lawyer close to the firm and a legal consultant said.

But I can’t imagine that the previous statement would actually inspire confidence with any associate. “Assured they could move,” what does that even mean?

From what we are hearing, lots of associates are already reading the writing on the wall. We’re being told that the market is flooded with Thelen resumes. People are leaving:

When the Brown merger took place, Thelen announced that the combined firm would be home to 630 lawyers. The firm now has 417, according to its Web site. Thelen has lost more than 100 lawyers since March, not including the 26 associates who were laid off that month. About 50 partners have left the firm this year.

But at this point, every associate should be aggressively pursuing other options.

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Don’t confuse loyalty with denial.

Thelen Looks to Parcel Out Sections, Core Group May Stick Together [Law.com]

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Thelen

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