March 6th, 2009

On Tuesday, we were able to tell you that Orrick would be giving a $75K stipend to 3Ls who are willing to defer for a year. We are now able to bring you additional information on Orrick’s plan for its incoming first year associates. First and foremost, we understand that the $75K stipend is available […]

* You know who really is as cool as everybody says he is? Charlie Nesson. Don’t get me wrong, if the man wasn’t a law professor he’d undoubtedly be one of those people you’d never make eye contact with unless you were packing heat. But, safely locked inside the Ivory Tower, the man’s awesome. [Intellectual […]

We started hearing a lot of reports about impending layoffs at Akin Gump, earlier the week. One tipster put it succinctly: Expect attorney and further staff layoffs this Friday. Remember, Akin laid off 65 staffers in January. At the time, Akin indicated that there would be no attorney layoffs: “There are no planned attorney layoffs,” […]

Well, it’s been a tough few months for Mayer Brown. And now we are looking at the biggest casualty of all. Mayer Brown chairman James Holzhauer informed the firm that he would be stepping down at the end of the year. From the firm wide email: Thus, it was with great difficulty that I informed […]

Today’s National Law Journal takes an interesting look a the mental and emotional health of recently laid off attorneys. Quite obviously, people lose a lot more than a paycheck when they lose their job: For the first time in their lives, many of these lawyers are struggling with a profound feeling of failure. And while […]

Marking a new low for the legal industry, there was only one practicing lawyer in the NYT weddings section this week. We were able to round out our contestant list with a 3L and a non-practicing JD, but LEWW remains alarmed about this decline in our profession’s visibility. We hope there is no truth to […]

Last month, Simpson Thacher announced a new public service fellowship program. The move was widely praised as a creative, public-spirited way of dealing with the downturn. Some commenters wondered whether it reflected work slowness at Simpson. If STB is willing to let 15 junior associates go off and do public interest work for a year, […]

Update (5:40): King & Spalding has confirmed this report. Read the statement after the jump. We’ve heard all kinds of things about King & Spalding over the past week. We now believe that layoffs are in fact happening at the firm today. The preliminary numbers we are hearing are that about 80 people will be […]

Admit it, you knew this was coming. We’ve got a firm capitulating to the market realities and cutting first-year associate salaries. McGuire Woods chairman Richard Cullen left a voice mail (!) to his attorneys last night. He let everybody know that the firm was cutting 10% off of first-year salaries, from $160K to $144K. UPDATE: […]

The T.V. people are saying that there may be a plea deal in the works for Bernie Madoff: Prosecutors have filed a motion indicating a Bernard Madoff plea deal is in the works, according to the Associated Press. I hope the deal includes an opportunity for all the people he swindled to slap him in […]

We are hearing a lot of chatter about Kirkland & Ellis, perhaps in response to our post last week about possible layoffs there. In New York, at least four associates were recently let go. And conference space has been blocked off by partners today and no one knows why. There was a time when partners […]

We’ve been hearing talk of interesting developments at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, the litigation powerhouse founded by the legendary David Boies, which seems to be doing well despite the downturn (see their bonuses). If you have info to share, please feel free to email us. Here is some news that we can confirm. The BSF […]

* I can think of nothing funny about the February jobs report. [CNBC] * Dr. Sanjay Gupta doesn’t want to be Surgeon General. Word on the hill is that Patrick Dempsey is still available. [CNN] * It’s okay Mr. Mayer, just tell us the truth. “Well, Spidey said that mommy wouldn’t mind. And then, he […]