Brain trust?

Brain Trust?

FOURTH MUTHAFUCKAS!

3 - my alter ego
-2

Why hasn't Cahill Gordon announced their bonuses yet?

Mayer Brown's 33 are among the 1,700+ layoffs tracked at the BigLaw Layoff Tracker at http://www.lawshucks.com (story originally broken by ATL, of course).

What about Mayer Brown's other offices?

other offices, likely half of these numbers if any bonus at all. Mayer's probably one of the 5 V50 firms most likely to dissolve next year.

All your bonuses are belong to us!

Whoever leaves before 9pm tonight is probably going to get fired next Friday. Just sayin.

9 = 2L rejected by MB.

MB's revenue this year will exceed 2007 (which was a record year).

If it exceeds 2007, then why didn't they ball out and pay big-money bonuses.

6 - CGR waits for everyone else to announce bonuses first, they will match market i bet

Ok, so this isn't surprising to anyone because Cravath obviously (and unfortunately) set the market in NYC and with everyone else following of course Mayer Brown was going to do the same thing.

The actual news would be what they're doing in DC, Chicago, and LA, where we don't have all that many data points as of yet, and the data points we do have are rather scattered. I take it there's no news on that though?

12 = MB HR flunky

Anyway, the Refco creditors and shareholders will be happy to know that. More money for them at the end of the day.

13 - because of what 15 said and why K&E and lots of other firms with good years aren't blasting away at those thresholds: because it's the new market, because they can get away with it, and because they probably think it the prudent thing to do with an uncertain 2009 in the future.

It will be interesting to see what they will do in Chicago, however, since management has twice told associates that there were "no plans to change the current bonus structure", which would mean that at many levels Chicago would exceed the NY levels. I'm not sure they will actually do that now.

9 = same bitter MB-hater that always posts inane comments. Move on.

16: Why am I an HR flunky for saying one generic fact about the financial health of the firm? And you are right that the Refco creditors and shareholders will be happy to learn that, but they still have a very, very, very long way to go to get any of it.

9 = same ex-MB partner that always posts here and is still pissed about getting kicked out last year for being dead weight.

Is the guy actually named "Brian Trust," or is it supposed to be "Brain Trust"?

Is the guy actually named "Brian Trust," or is it supposed to be "Brain Trust"?

Is the guy actually named "Brian Trust," or is it supposed to be "Brain Trust"?

I find "national" firms funny. Especially ones that have harmonized their associate compensation across offices. Does a MB associate in a non-NY office that doesn't do premium work and therefore cannot bill at a premium rate justify an NY salary. I also note that MB matched NY salaries for their non-NY offices earlier this year. Therefore, a huge associate compensation increase has to be hitting their bottom line.

Does this mean Chicago associates are getting screwed again? If so, I'm going home.

The New Math:

PPP
+ TTT Associate Billables
- TTT Associate Compensation
- Half-Skad Bonus
__________________
= WARN Act

24, your comment is wrong in so many ways I don't even think I could fit in a good response here. 1) MB matched in the offices that have the most associates before "earlier this year". 2) Doesn't MB do their primo work mainly out of Chicago and DC? 3) To that end, are you so sure MB NY associates are billed out higher than their counterparts in DC and Chicago?

The salary is what the market dictates if a firm wants to stay competitive in the associate hiring market. If the market dictated that the salaries be raised in the cities outside of NY, then that's what firms pay. I've never heard of MB leading the pay raise movements.

Did you laugh at Skadden when they raised to 160K across all offices in the first instance, including Houston and Wilmington?

More MB layoffs to come. Their NYC office was a securitization shop (bye bye), and now their own business is some shit IP lit case that is keeping their corporate associates busy on doc review

I told my buddy to get the hell out of there when Refco went down.

To address a couple of comments:

MB NYC still has a large securitization dept, though it was hit pretty hard by last month's layoffs, along with the rest of finance/corporate.

And revenues will be highest ever this year, as they damn well ought to be what with 200-odd new lawyers from the JSM merger. PPP is likely to take a hit, but they can certainly afford to pay bonuses this year.

All that could change with RefCo, but how many of you have ever seen a case like that against a major firm go to verdict at anything close to the claim? Come on, you know better than that.

27, elite firms are capable of premium billings in all of their offices. Firms with names that clients recognize at the drop of a hat don't have to waist there time justifying the spread.

I don't know if MB falls into this category. You be the judge.

27, elite firms are capable of premium billings in all of their offices. Firms with names that clients recognize at the drop of a hat don't have to waste their time justifying the spread.

I don't know if MB falls into this category. You be the judge.

17, it's true that management told Chicago associates that bonuses would be the same as in other years, but at one of those meetings they also said they weren't going to do any lay-offs like Cadwalader. I can't speak for other Chicago associates, but management doesn't have much credibility as far as I'm concerned.

28 may be the first person on the planet to call the Google/Youtube vs. Viacom case a "shit IP lit case"

munger bonus memo out. no hours requirement. no lockstep. very broad spread in each class year, where top end exceeds (in some cases significantly) cravath model but bottom end is below. criteria not spelled out (i.e., not solely tied to hours) and no indication of distribution. no salary freeze.

Man, Mayer Brown is really in the shitter. Dequitizing partners, layoffs, Refco, their bread and butter practice group no longer existing (thank you CDOs!), and now more layoffs to come.

Man, Mayer Brown is really in the shitter. Dequitizing partners, layoffs, Refco, their bread and butter practice group no longer existing (thank you CDOs!), and now more layoffs to come.

I'm not sure I can think of anything more pathetic than sitting around on Christmas Eve submitting negative comments about a firm that you don't work for anymore.

You didn't make partner. You got asked to leave. Get over it.

Seriously, if MB really sucks as bad as you say it does, then you shouldn't be so bitter about no longer working there.

37 - I can. Sitting around on Christmas Eve submitting critical comments of someone's post on ATL. OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEA YOU JUST GOT SERVED!

We know anything about salary increases?

In Chicago so far we have:

Normal: Skadden, K&E

Freeze: Latham

Unknown: Sidley, MB, JD, pretty much everyone else

The Class of 2008 bonus suprises me. I thought first years in their stub year didn't get a bonus? What's the policy across offices?

MB only increased its revenue this year because of the merger with JiSM. Otherwise it was a shiTTTy year for a firm which is clearly on the way down, even in the current crisis. They didn't pay their equity partners for the first 5 months of the year and stopped paying capital back to their (many) departing partners. This says it all about the state of the firm, especially as his happened a long time before Lehman went bust. They're uninusured for te Refco case, which could very well see the matter to a jury and a crushing judgment.

Pay Freeze List of Shame
-----------------------------------
Latham & Watkins
McDermott Will & Emery
Bryan Cave
Womble Carlyle
Venable
Squire Sanders

Everyone Else
---------------------
Orrick
Skadden
Cravath
Simpson
Davis Polk
Cleary
Dewey
Milbank
Clifford Chance
Willkie
Boies Schiller
White & Case
Paul Weiss
Schulte Roth
Debevoise
Ropes & Gray
Fried Frank
Allen & Overy
Gibson Dunn
O'Melveny
Wachtell
Cadwalader
Sullivan & Cromwell
Sidley
Quinn
Hogan & Hartson
Weil
Dechert
Kirkland
Jones Day
Proskaur
Mayer Brown
Munger

=====================
Latham threw a pity party and nobody came. How pathetic is that?

41 - I give that comment 3 out of 4 Pinocchios. The only true statement in your comment is the one about MB having increased revenues because of the merger. Everything else you said is BS and reeks of resentment.

revenue =/= profit or PPP

revenue does equal lawyers times billings so if you add, say, a shit ton of lawyers via a "merger" your revenue would go up

profits might too but real metric is PPP

protect those who produce and let those who do not (associates and counsel) fend for themselves

- scrape em off Claire said Lumpy and he was RIGHT

Chicago stubs are not up for year-end bonuses, but did get $10,000 summer stipened. Not sure if NYC stubs got both.

CleMarsh 2L here. Just discovered this web site. It's awesome. O I wish I was a Mayer Brown wiener.

This is funny. MB's secondary offices pay strict hours related bonuses just like my firm, and they're actually pretty good. There will be tons of people in the those offices that will get twice what the NY people got this year.

I bet that goes over really well ...

Now that Kirkland lowered its hours based bonuses to more closely adhere to the Cravath scale, what do you think the odds are that the "secondary" offices of MB will actually pay the same hours bonuses they used to?

One reason they may not have announced outside of NY is if they're going to give Cravath bonuses to the other offices instead of the usual hours-based scale. If they told everyone now that their hours over 2000 didn't matter, everyone who had billed over 2000 already would disappear for the next week. It's not like most of the partners will be in the office to notice you aren't there and working anyways. Where would the incentive be to get yourself to 2100, 2200, 2300 or 2400 over this last week?

41 is that same guy who comes on all the time and says the exact same things, and they don't get any more true as he repeats them. Not getting paid the first 5 months would be news to the partners I know, since they all were getting paid. And as for the capital, as far as I've heard they're exercising their contractual right to pay it back over time instead of all at once. That's not a sign of a dying firm, that's just smart business, what with the time value of money and all, not to mention cash is king right now with credit availability in the toilet.

key words "associates performing at or above the firm's exspectations". Feedback suggests that those who don't get hours (and let's face it, we don't have much work) target won't get bonus, even of th half Skadden variety.

43 - you're post would get 100% of pinnochios you MB troll.

For the facts, suggest you do a Google search, which may show up news articles such as this...

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202426195707

41's posts are reliably confirmed by the media (and even the firm itself). MB isn't doing gret right now.

i don't know about not getting paid for the first 5 months of the year, but everyone working here in NY knows that the partners didn't get their draw for March and April

why the hell would a firm pay a bonus to an associate who did not make hours? firms are for profit businesses not social programs for shiTTTlaw grads.

Who calls the Contracts teacher Daddy-o?
Mayer Brown,
Mayer Brown,
he's a clown,
that Mayer Brown.
He's a TTT,
just you wait and see.
Why's everybody always picking on me?

PEANUTS AND CHEEEEESE, MUTHAFUCKAZ

A Bonus of Cement Shoes for you all!

Mayer Brown pays outside offices on hours basis, not lockstep. The scale is a flat number that gets multiplied every 150 hours above 2100. The starting number is 10-15,000 based on class year. I think the most a first year is eligible for is 33,500 or something like that. That would be for 2400 hours, and there are plenty of them in my cities' Mayer Brown office that are up there. It is NOT more profitable to do work in NYC, it is just more expensive. Revenue does not equal profit for all of you smart people out there.

Haha, 56 - what city are you living in? Chicago circa 2006?

There aren't a lot of transactional associates ANYWHERE hitting 2400 this year. Although, kudos to working the day after Christmas!

One of our two local business is being taken over. And the other is buying two more. There is a lot of editing to be done to all of the outstanding deals, and somebody's got to do it. With all of the recent layoffs, there aren't a lot of people left to do the work. As soon as I'm done though, and there is no longer a local economy, I'm getting the hell out of here. Those are all the clues about my location. (Oh, and I'm pretty sure the litigation associates were very busy this year)

-56

56, are you sure you work at MB? The multiplier is for every 100 hours, not 150. and are you in Charlotte? that's about the least representative MB office I can think of.

and for those of you talking about JSM, their revenue is a drop in the water and the numbers I was referring to excluded their input.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason a few people (who were shown the door) always pop up on these MB threads spreading disinformation. If you guys hated it that much, be glad you are gone. But realize that you would still be here (and happy) if you hadn't been shown the door. everything you say (and how you say it) smacks of jealous ex-girlfriend/boyfriend.

57 - I know people in every practice area in Chicago (including finance) who are hitting 2400 this year.

i'm with 59 on this one. honestly, people, leave us alone here. things couldn't be worse in this office and these comments really don't help. i've been here for 3 years, and have witnessed practically everyone with a brain in their head pick up and leave. we lost our bankrupcy group to Orrick, our bond group to White & Case, our private equity people to Latham, and our profittable finance people to Allen & Overy. the only thing we got left is litigation, and if you are one of the few transactional associate like me who didn't get hacked, you are doing doc review to stay here. please guys... no more comments, since we are all fucked regardless.

I don't work at MB, but I am sure at the MB bonus policy for Charlotte. It is every 150 hours over 2100 with a max hours bonus at 2400. (So there are three levels).

I agree that it's not very 'representative' but it is nonetheless going to pay pretty good bonuses for their associates that have actually had a significant amount of work to do this year.

I don't work at MB, but I am sure at the MB bonus policy for Charlotte. It is every 150 hours over 2100 with a max hours bonus at 2400. (So there are three levels).

I agree that it's not very 'representative' but it is nonetheless going to pay pretty good bonuses for their associates that have actually had a significant amount of work to do this year.

And for the record, I actually really like Mayer Brown, the people I have met are smart and talented, they are incredibly hard-working and aren't even horrible people. I even like the people i've had the pleasure of working with from some of MBs other offices. There are a few folks in Chicago I would regard as top of their practice.

-56

56,

You might actually be right given the truly odd situation your city is in at the moment. But what about the long-term future of that market?

(NYC associate who always thought Charlotte might be an okay place to live some day)

-57

62/63 -- in that case the Charlotte structure is different than in Chicago. Chicago has operated on 100 hour increments and at least the last few years started at 2000 hours.

Oh, and 56:

Do you think MB Charlotte (or anywhere else) would actually set bonuses such that they would exceed NYC/Chicago?

I.e. those NYC associates that are on hours-par with the busy kids from the other offices would make less?

I would doubt that. But, hey, enjoy your CLT cost of living while you can -- that's a bonus in and of itself.

MB NYC is so sweet. It has a great structured finance department and a even sweeter appellate litigation practice.

I don't even know why they have to pay people to work there!

How good are satellite offices of bad law firms? Not MB NYC, of course.

I'm only talking about firms with thousands of lawyers but still manage to lag behind competitors in terms of revenue and profits per partner.

No, wait, I was talking about MB NYC.

56 here-

I don't think they ever envisioned that the bonus structure would exceed NY. I don't think they planned on cutting the NY lockstep bonuses when they put the CLT plan in. They probably thought no one in CLT would hit that many hours, so at best, if they did work as hard as the NY people, both locations would make the same.

57/67 is right though, CLT this year is a unique situation. There are a few people (that weren't fired) that have a lot of work closing these deals out. Long term is a whole different story. MB has fired people, CWT has decimated its associate ranks, Dechert and Sonnenschein are shells of their former selves and Dewey Leboeuf shut down here altogether. These are representative of what firms see the future of the CLT market to be, or at least the future of finance practices in Charlotte. I would tend to agree, which is why I hope to not be here for much longer.

-56

56: I know your pain. I'm an NYC midlevel finance associate who has also been busy as heck since the middle of september when everything hit the fan. I guess we should be happy to be busy -- and it has actually been interesting work.

You might be being a bit pessimistic about CLT though and your "two main employers". Sure, one is rolling into a very conservative parent, and it sounds like that work will mostly be retail and consumer stuff. But let's not forget that that the other is going to be a financial juggernaut. Is the thought that all the high-value stuff is moving to their new palace in NYC? One would think that they would keep some of it at home.

Sure, there's probably a temporary (even for a couple years, probably) dislocation of securitization work in CLT, but I can't imagine that it won't continue as a banking powerhouse in one form or another.

They got to at least have some top-notch legal presence left there. They can't leave it all to the local firms. That's just my take -- probably motivated by the fact that I'd like to have a non-NYC city where I could actually move someday.

49 -- stop giving away the partnership's secrets. You must be non-equity.

What a pathetic shell of a firm - can't even inspire a decent flame war anymore.

Nice try 73 (who is probably the same bitter poster as all the above). People are sick of hearing the same old BS and things are going pretty well at the firm, all things considered. That's why there's no flame war.

Yep, the firms' are doing great, judging by all the positive publicity it generates...

(cash flow issues, departing partners and law suits)

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1208861014082

http://blog.bluestonelawfirm.com/articles-mayer-brown-facing-legal-malpractice-lawsuit-for-17-million.html

(drop in profits)

http://www.legalweek.com/Articles/1103666/Mayer+Brown+in+Euro+profits+dip.html

(senior partner charged with fraud)

http://www.legalweek.com/Articles/1180016/Target+practice.html

(lay offs)

http://abovethelaw.com/2008/11/mayer_brown_layoff_numbers.php

(management problems)

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/career/markettrends/2007/4dyz782q.pdf

All things considered, I guess things are going pretty well.

Those are very selective articles and many of them are very old news (I could do the same for pretty much any firm). It's not even worth discussing each of those points since they've already been discussed ad nauseam. It is sad and pathetic that you actually bothered to put that list together - I agree with whomever above described posts like yours as a jealous ex. Be glad you got kicked out if you are so bitter and think the firm is doing so poorly. Those of us who know better are glad you are gone and know that the firm is doing well. Mayer Brown is here to stay and is positioned extremely well (both in terms of geographic and practice group diversity) to weather the current economic storm. Get over it.

Sounds like someone hit a sore spot... if the articles posted by 75 are "selective", I'd hate to see the full range of articles. I also don't see too many other firms (ex CWTTT, Heller, Ttthelen and Thatcher Profittt) getting this much heat over such a long period of time.

Still it's sad (almost pathetic) that someone (and it seems to be the same sorry soul) feels they have to respond so desperarately ("Mayer Brown is here to stay" - who says that?) to every slight on their beloved firm. Must be something in that blue colored koolaid they drink at the 2008 intake.

saying that a $1.2bn revenue firm isn't folding anytime soon is "responding..desparately" and "drinking the koolaid?" Nice try.

78 (also know as 76, 74, etc)

$1.2bn = less than the damages asked for in the various Refco law suits against the firm. Even those who only work at MB because they couldn't get a job elsewhere would have to agree... the amount claimed is certainly a lot more than the firm is insured for.

If the firm was in such good standing you wouldn't feel the need to respond so meekly to every post that critices the firm. Perhaps you should get over it.

Just read some of 75's articles. If the firm is doing so well, why was it taken over by a UK firm? I mean, they're being run by the head of the London office, aren't they?

I'm 78 and am not 76 or 74. I work at MB and had my pick of the top Chicago firms, and there are plenty like me. Sure, Refco is out there, but nobody knows how that will end up and, given the novel nature of the claim, it is certainly premature to declare the firm dead. And if my short response is considered "meek", it's because these topics have been discussed thoroughly enough before. People know how to use that "search" button at the top of the box; what's the point in re-hashing arguments and articles (some of which are from 1-2 years ago)? And no, 80, they are not being run out of the London office. There's a certain someone in the London office who would like to think so though.

Wow, how much of a douchebag to you have to be to spend this much time bashing the V27 firm? Seriously! Someone has some issues...can you imagine someone spending this much time attacking the 27th ranked law school? Fordham haters unite!

74/78/81

The repeated use of the lame "Nice try" gives you away.

Nice try , though.

BTW, if you had the pick of the Chicago firms, why did you go to the fallen angel with the most problems and lowest profitability? Did I just hear someone say "BS"? Or is there a hint of buyer's regret in your desparate defense of your chosen firms?

83: I say "nice try" all the time. It's not my problem if someone else says it too (even in a firm with 1900 attorneys and 500 in the office I work in). I have friends at Sidley, Kirkland, and Skadden and trust me, I have no buyer's remorse.

Based on your comments, I'm sure you are one of those people who chose their firm (as a 2L) based solely or even primarily on PPP? What a joke.

I'm not sure what you mean by "fallen angel". I've seen nothing but positive changes since I've been here. If anything, MB was late to the game in making those changes (i.e., firing crappy partners and associates).

84/82/78/76/74/61/37 et al - you'd think a great firm like Mayer Brown would hire people who are better at covering their asses than you seem to be. How fucking lame.

61, I can certainly feel your pain there. But don't worry about the private equity practice going to Latham - that doesn't qualify as much of a brain drain when compared to the other losses. I mean, can you really be that upset about losing a couple of service partners who couldn't make rain during a Seattle winter.

Please don't respond to 85. He/she is just egging you on. Just let it go.

No word yet on bonuses in other offices?