Ahoy mateys H&H! Abandon the sinking ship while there is still a liferaft!

SkaddenDC says come on in, the waters fine.

bubbles

*wonders if my firm will offer me a buy-out before i even start, i would gladly take it*

-nervous T-10 1L
soon to be nervous 1L sa

Thank god I work at Venable.

Venable = TTT

always take the money. ALWAYS.

Nervous T-10 1L,

I don't care what the others say about you posting. I think you are funny. Keep it up!

8 = 4

Venable = STD

Venable is next.

nervous T10 1L = terribly unfunny schtick

When times are good, buyouts are a good idea. You generate a pretty good response because people will take the money, get another job, and consider themselves fortunate.

When times are bad, buyouts do little to encourage attrition. Those who were thinking about retiring or quitting for other reasons will take it. Everyone else will realize that there's no way in hell they're getting another job in this market and they'll stay put.

In this instance, 4 weeks + 1 per year is OK. However, Ropes gave 12 weeks flat (of course, the staff didn't have a choice there). Then again, other firms gave less than 4 weeks flat. Some gave nothing. This does seem more compassionate than layoffs, but I don't know if it's any wiser for either the firm or the staff. Of course, if the firm only wants to get rid of about 50 positions, this might do the trick.

9 - get a life and 12 loosen up. Geez people you are the stiffest bunch.

These comments are offensive. Please moderate and remove. This blog is for professional attorneys discussing important relevant topics concerning BigLaw.

offended

How is Hogan doing in general? There hasn't been much discussion about that here.

Maybe H&H can be even more creative and hold a "Deal, Or No Deal" game show in its conference room. H&H can fill various suitcases with severance packages, pink slips, or they get to keep their job. Didn't H&H have a "Price is Right" show for its staff where the "winners" got to keep the crappy products they guessed right on?

PROOF: Islam really is the religion of peace:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1139505/Horrifying-video-militants-beheading-Polish-engineer-released-Pakistani-Taliban.html

The "offer was made as an alternative to layoffs, not as a precursor to future layoffs" comment is pure BS. Only a few people are likely to take the buyout offer. (Apart from semiretired people, who is going to do this when lateral options are impossible to find?) Then the layoffs will start. They wouldn't offer this kind of buyout if they didn't want to get rid of a lot of staff. They're just trying the nice 'voluntary' approach first. Real layoffs will follow when no one bites.

17: Now that is creative and funny! Way to think outside the box! Of course, the show you are really refering to is "Let's Make a Deal."

12--

Couldn't agree more. I want to punch that asshole in his fucking mouth.

Don't have the numbers to back it up, but word on the street is that Hogan had a pretty good 2008, considering the state of the economy. However, they have historically had the reputation of being conservative/tight-fisted with bonuses, etc.

12 -- Huzzah! nervous AIDS-10 1L needs to tackle a bus.

I worked at Hogan for 10+ years and always found the firm to be very fair to its employees. I think it is great that they're "offering" people the opportunity to leave rather than just letting them go with no notice. But I agree, unless someone is nearing retirement, it is very unlikely that people will give up their jobs -- even if they get 3-4 months pay -- because it will hard to find another job in this economy, and especially one that pays the wages that Hogan does (they're close to the top for staff wages).

I'd take the buyout and run - it doesn't bode well for the firm's future (obviously) and the worst thing would be to work there indefinitely and get let go with very little notice and no severance (a la Heller Ehrman).

The buyout terms are a little lame, though. A month won't cut it for most people.

I'd play it by ear. If it looks like Hogan is not going to hit the number of acceptances it's looking for and I think that my position may be vulnerable, I'd take the offer.

of course, how does one tell if Hogan is hitting the numbers and in this economy are there any "safe" positions?

Perhaps Hogan can come out and say roughly how many staff they’d like to take up the offer and provide employees with weekly or monthly updates on how many have taken up the offer. More information can’t be bad, can it?

They should have taken the associates' advice on this point and offered it months ago before the whole world fell into the crapper. Everyone is too scared now to take this stuff.

20 = stiff assed partner who hasn't watched TV in 20 years

I was a paralegal at H&H before law school. Good place to work.

This is the right way to try and cut staff. If people don't take it, then maybe you have to lay people off, depending on how bad it is. But at least you offer the option of a graceful exit and, at least in this case, relatively generous severance. Thumbs up to H&H.

The other good aspect of this is that you reduce the number of staff that you have to lay off. If you want to cut 100 and you get 50 through this plan, then the pain of the layoff only hits 50 people. It's a good approach.

The ship be sinking...

Everyone knows that layoffs are coming at Hogan. Out of the 250-300 who got this letter, they expect that a few will take it, the ones who will take it, are the ones who want to retire this year. The result will be this- not enough people will take the offer and Hogan will make more cuts to hit their goal of removing an estimated 20% of their staff while Associates are immune. Believe me people, Hogan is NOT sensitive, despite what Gorrell attempts to convey. His interview comments are such BS- I think he consulted with a Public Relations goon!

Hogan's billing started to drop in November 2008 and this year it's also low and there does not seem to be any sign that this will improve. Most 1-2 year level associates have a VERY manageable load, (read BORED) so the numbers ain't great- and that's the bottom line. when numbers are bad and they are overstaffed, layoffs are around the corner. Hogan's ratio of assistants to attorneys is one of the highest of any DC firm... this will not last. They do not want it to last. H&H want to cut that ratio by almost half.

Take the money and run!

Here's a problem with the "opt in" approach: sometimes the really good employees--the ones who could find another job, even in this economy--are the ones who take the deal, while the average (or poorly performing) employees stay put.

34, what is the ratio of assistants to attorneys? Latham has high ratios. Anywhere from six to 1 to eight to 1. If the assistants are let go without any attorney layoffs, those attorneys will pair with what's left of the remaining staff pool, which will make the ratios even higher. How does that work?

Staff.

29: Any firm was a good place to work three years ago. As you may have noticed, times have changed.

Gorrell is a mercenary cunt, and would do anything to protect his $4million+ draw. Take the money and run, there are ugly things coming down the pipe at H&H.

Gorrell is a mercenary cunt, and would do anything to protect his $4million+ draw. Take the money and run, there are ugly things coming down the pipe at H&H.

37-Apologies, two thoughts merged into one. The staff levels are too high, in particular the ratio of secretaries to attorneys is far too low. Meaning they have, on general 3 attorneys (2 associates and 1 partner) per secretary. Many secretaries have 2 and some have 4, but the average is 3. Latham, as you cited is the norm with an average of 6 attorneys per staff/secretary.

This isn't the only bad news at Hogan....