"Sonnenschein has closed it's Charlotte office. 11 attorneys we be relocated or let go." tsk tsk tsk. that's not even close.

Sonnenschein is a firm people like to dump on, but all I know is they have made some incredible partner hires the last year. Charles Newman, one of the nation's premier class action litigators, is just the latest. With Bank of America in the shitter I can see why Sonnenschein is no longer wild about keeping its banking practice presence in Charlotte. They are probably the first of several firms who will abandon having a banking practice in that city.

why does anyone troll for any firm? who cares? seriously people.. do you think you're changing anyone's mind or that somehow you'll be considered special because you defended the firm on ATL?

i just dont get it. someone please explain this phenomenon.

So MWE getting rid of coffee on the 45th floor and K&L Gates not having firings today (but, OMG, the chairman has an out of office message up!) get their own posts, but Sonnenschein closing its Charlotte office doesn't? Way to prioritize your posts.

4-its simple. They are paid by the firm to do this. They work in marketing or something. Besides, anything you can do to justify your job in this economy so you don't get whacked... But I agree. Its pretty useless.

WSJ will be financially bankrupt in 3 years. It's already morally bankrupt

I actually agree with the prioritization today.

No one gives a damn what happens in Charlotte but that dumb hick Ken Lewis.

Isn't Sonnenschein the firm that paid a starting salary of $160,000 back in the day? In Charlotte?

5 - The Am Law Daily post is perfectly good. What would an ATL post add?

There is only one voice of god.

And he knows the autumn wind is a pirate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiVYFueNvQ

9 - That office never had any first year associates (they rescinded their offers and then cancelled the following summer program), but even if it did they would not have been paid $160k. That office was never on the $160k pay scale, not even before the firm gave those associates a 10% pay cut. In Chicago, NYC, DC, LA, etc. the firm does pay $160k to first years (and second years now) though.

Any word on the office and class year breakdowns for the Lath-offs? And how many associates did Acela Bob boot today?

Sonnenschein's Charlotte office was apparently in the business of helping to issue commercial mortgage-backed securities for such princely financial clients as Wachovia (er, the Wachovia division of Wells Fargo) and Bank of America (home of the Merrill Bonus Boys and the Incredible Disappearing TARP). Now the firm has told that office to put its lawyers where the Sonnen don't schein. Not entirely surprising, perhaps, but most unfortunate for those affected.

lol it's all over bitches - go dust off your resumes you fat fucks. let's hope doc review is considered work review by a real company

UPenn State!!!!

How likely do you think the CLT offices of Bryan Cave, Cadwalader, Dechert, King & Spalding, KMZ Rosenman, Mayer Brown and Winston are to survive this year? I think that Dechert will probably make it. There is a partner who still brings in a fair amount of finance work and several fund lawyers who seem busy.

Question: How will law firms adapt to a world where corporations are no longer willing to subsidize 140k starting salaries for new associates that offer no value to their pending matters?

Answer: They won't. Large law firms will collapse because demand for their services will not return until their prices are lowered.

Brilliant analysis 18. You should write a book.

17, this is my take:

Bryan Cave: This was a Pogo office, one cobbled together to do defeasance and cmbs. Aside from 1 good partner, this is a motley crew of an office. I give it till after summer, then closed.

Cadwalader: They will maintain a Charotte office, but there will be more cuts, and I have heard there will be a cut of the charlotte salary (expect many more "national firms to do that).

Dechert: I find you own take interesting, as it goes against everything I heard. The office was opened by a mini tyrant who took his ball with him to open deweys office. Dechert is only slightly more secure than that. They have nothing to do. Expect this office gone come 2010.

King & Spalding: They are doomed. I am not going to get into the personal side of things, as they were all former colleagues, but something bigger than lost work happened there and they will not make it. The work dried up, apart from their tragedy.

KMZ Rosenman: This is Katten Muchin. They don't do much Wachovia or BofA work, but were a big CMBS shop. The fact they have corporate and litigation group that is more than window dressing should mean they make it.

Mayer Brown: I hear 2 different stories. One group say they are busy and getting stimulas work. Others say dead man walking. Depending on who folds first, I think they pull through,

Winston: Doomed. Talk about bad timing.

You left out Alston, which is doing the best out of all of them. We, K&L, are on a knife edge about layoffs (we expect it to be deep) but long term, we'll be fine.

Thanks, 20, for taking the time to put together some good analysis. I can say that for Dechert, another partner who came in from Mayer Brown when the office started (and stayed after the ones you mentioned departed) does seem to have kept bringing in business. There are also several '40 Act/mutual fund lawyers who have a regulatory type practice and haven't been as hard hit by the slowdown as have structured finance lawyers. Hopefully that is enough.

I wonder where washed up partners from failed offices will end up. I'd assume that they still have some work, but some of them have burned many bridges along the way.

Query whether A&B in CLT is really doing that well, considering that resi, CMBS, and CDOs are all dead. How much old-deal litigation could there be (and wouldn't that keep other people busy)? Some of them are talking a good game. We have no where to jump to once we eventually get canned. Can't even go/go back to NYC or the banks these days.

Problem with Dechert's CLT office is that one partner is supplying work to about 3-4 associates. And there are only 3-4 Fund people. Would you keep an office open for 6-8 people? I guess it depends on how much business the partner is bringing in.

I also heard that Dechert's CLT office is bringing on too many 1st year associates in the fall. Hopefully they will move them to a different office, or looks like they'll continue layoffs into 2010.

Interesting info folks. Am a 1L learning about firms in Charlotte and would love to hear more. Any info on the offices of Richmond firms or on KS? Also, seems strange that Dechert's office is so small compared to other folks. Wasn't Dewey's office similarly sized and did the exact same work? Why did Dewey go away but Dechert didn't?

Also, out of curiosity, any theories about significant parts of MVA being acquired by one of the nationals? Seems like it's more likely than RBH and Parker Poe to be picked off, and any resistance that was shown before must have been weakened by the economy and MVA's poor performance. The potential to cash in with a national firm might be more attractive now that things don't look so bright. Seems like it might make a good match for Dechert. If you are going to keep an office in Charlotte anyway, might it make sense to go after folks with the best books of business?

24 -

The difference between the firms that stay and those that go comes down to how busy the lawyers are, prospects for them to get busier, outlook on Charlotte as a legal market in the future and firm culture. I have heard that both Dewey and Sonnenschein's Charlotte offices were really, really not busy, and Dewey's office in particular was very dependent on real estate related structured finance work from Wachovia (i.e., not likely to come back). I think that Dechert's office didn't see quite the drop-off in work and is more diversified in terms of clients and work done.

Firms normally tend to have be relatively close in terms of profits per partner and billing rates (in addition to everything else working) for a merger to happen. MVA and Dechert do not line up on either point, so it wouldn't happen for those firms. MVA might line up better with other national firms on ppp and rates, so there could be a merger down the road. My guess is that most firms are going to avoid a firm that is mostly in Charlotte and has a very significant exposure to finance until things shake out.

I couldn't tell you much about Parker Poe, other than that it isn't involved with the same sorts of bank finance related work. Robinson Bradshaw has a very different culture, and my understanding is that they are not interested in merging with anyone.

Final point- no one "cashes in" in any real sense in a law firm merger. They get done because for other reasons, like synergy, an opportunity to cross sell practices, and so on.

20 and 25 make good points. One thing to keep in mind is that all of these "office closures" being fretted about are small branches of national firms opened almost solely for the purpose of doing crazy niche finance work for Wachovia and BofA. It is not at all surprising that when this work completely disappeared, that these firms closed these offices. However, these closures are not really an accurate assessment of the CLT legal market. The larger general practice firms (and the large local offices of same) are generally pretty healthy because, almost by definition, they did not have all their eggs in the crazy ass finance work basket. Employment law is doing well, bankruptcy/restructuring is doing well, commerical litigation is doing well. While there may be some cuts at K&L (formerly Kennedy Covington) and have been some at MVA and Parker Poe, most Charlotte firms are fine. As to Alston and Bird's CLT office, they have a big general practice office so they will be fine in the long run. Robinson Bradshaw will be fine -- and I seriously doubt will merge with anyone (they are generally an independent lot and value the collective "academic" atmosphere).

In the long term, the CLT legal market will be fine. If anything, this will force firms to diversify their client bases (and CLT to further diversify its corporate base) to avoid the current bloodletting in the future.

20 and 25 make good points. One thing to keep in mind is that all of these "office closures" being fretted about are small branches of national firms opened almost solely for the purpose of doing crazy niche finance work for Wachovia and BofA. It is not at all surprising that when this work completely disappeared, that these firms closed these offices. However, these closures are not really an accurate assessment of the CLT legal market. The larger general practice firms (and the large local offices of same) are generally pretty healthy because, almost by definition, they did not have all their eggs in the crazy ass finance work basket. Employment law is doing well, bankruptcy/restructuring is doing well, commerical litigation is doing well. While there may be some cuts at K&L (formerly Kennedy Covington) and have been some at MVA and Parker Poe, most Charlotte firms are fine. As to Alston and Bird's CLT office, they have a big general practice office so they will be fine in the long run. Robinson Bradshaw will be fine -- and I seriously doubt will merge with anyone (they are generally an independent lot and value the collective "academic" atmosphere).

In the long term, the CLT legal market will be fine. If anything, this will force firms to diversify their client bases (and CLT to further diversify its corporate base) to avoid the current bloodletting in the future.

What is going on in K&S's CLT office? A friend from law school is there. As I recall, that office was set up by a group of litigators and not finance types. What gives?

K&S is basically dead in charlotte. Heavy hitters went to SNR and Atlanta is not rushing to replace. They are limping along. They recently lost a bankruptcy partner to KMZ Rosenman in Charlotte. Who loses a bankruotcy partner these days?

As for Alston, dont they do a lot of IP and work for Nascar?

When is K&S lease up? I would plan around that...............