The best information that I am getting indicates lawyers being cut tomorrow, staff next week.

deep fried hotdogs are bad for you anyway!!!

Dear Fried Frank Chairman:

As a beloved rainmaker, you've undoubtedly felt the need to surround yourself with an awesome, handsome right-hand man - particularly in light of your firm's anticipated layoffs. Your search is over. I am a natural fit for your right hand.

I, Barney Stinson, recognize that you are a man with precious free time. You cannot afford to comb though the stack of tree-killing, archaic paper résumés that have inundated your office or luxury yacht because as a… human… of great power and influence, you don't have time to read. As such, I proudly yet humbly present to you my video résumé:

www.barneysvideoresume.com

Suit up!

"We'll have to wait and see what comes out of Fried Frank over the next week. There are lots of possibilities, but almost all of them are bad."

This is how Fried Frank's clients usually feel too.

2- Expect to be one of the attorney's let go. The Management Committee diligently created several hundred different leaks regarding our plans. Based on the wording of your post, we have already identified you for termination.

As usually, under-investigating a rumor -> the meat of an ATL post. "Well, we can't find anything, so let's make a post and THEN ask questions."

(insert joke about some type of fried food here)

Tell them to check the Dow before taking any vote. The recession is over.

sadly 7, for the moment, where there's smoke there's fire, and since the partners won't talk (or worse, LIE), ATL rumormongering is the only way to tease out stories.

ATL was the only source for news ahead of teh dissolution of my firm, and i suspect many other s-canned associates have Elie to thank for their heads up as well...

Allow me to take this opportunity to beg for an offer of one-year sabbaticals (paid or unpaid).

GIVE ME BACK THAT FILLET-O-FISH!
GIVE ME BACK THAT FISH...
GIVE ME BACK THAT FILLET-O-FISH!
GIVE ME BACK THAT FISH...

Yes. But what about Michael Best?

It is "number" of attorneys, not "amount." Please.

12... learn the real lyrics, please.

Time to fire up the grill boys! It's time to get this sausage fest started!

Fried Frank was one of my clients. HAHAHA

8 - Actually, I'll just insert my frank. Then withdraw. Then insert. Etc.

So glad I jumped the sinking ship that is FF in October. Worst. Firm. Ever.

So glad I jumped the sinking ship that is FF in October. Worst. Firm. Ever.

Incoming 3L FF'er here. Just got a call; deferred to March 2010. They are still working out stipend $$.

11 - you will get something very similar to a one year sabbatical at a lowered salary. except you can't come back after a year.

dump partners. only answer for all these firms.

7 - You are dumb. They put in a call for comment, there was no comment - that is how reporting works.

This is happening. The only reason there isn't more on it is b/c no one knows for sure what's going to happen. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be painful, and it will be coming soon. So please, fight the urge to be a douche.

Seriously 12, you fucking suck.

Its "Give me that fish."

Sincerely,

Your Embarrassed Mother

As a junior associate from a top school, having incurred in 190k of debt, and having studied my ass off during my 1L year, I deserve to be paid 160-180k plus bonus. Additionally, as a WASP, I deserve to be on partnership track at my firm. I will not tolerate this!!

Partnership apparently voted for an incoming associate deferral program (to f*ing March 2010). Wonderful.

-incoming FF 3L who should have gone to Paul Weiss

26 - so, what are you going to do about it?

27 - yes, you should have.

Michael Best? That firm is no longer listed on NALP.

You heard it here first: Fried Frank is opening a Philadelphia office with a large contingent of Dechert lawyers. Stay tuned.

28 - Project Mayhem

-Not 26

27 - what is wrong with you? Even in the best of times you should pick PW over FF. It's a no-brainer.

"They are still working out stipend $$" = deep trouble.

Not suprised this did not happen sooner. Good luck to all those affected.

All will be well.

The Market will provide.

Passover starts April 8th, not the 9th. Get jewy y'all.

Thacher Proffitt & Sonnenschein.

27, hate to pile on here, but what in god's name were you thinking. What exactly did they sell you on? I'm really curious.

Thacher ???? Profittt

You are all idiots. I went with Skadden and never looked back.

Also, you are all idiots.

Word on the street not too long ago was that partners were being "reviewed" and , presumably, on the chopping block.

If they were paying "market" stipend, there would be nothing to work out.

Love how we have developed market severence and stipends in place of clerkship bonuses and hours targets.

31, that's preposterous. Why would Dechert lawyers leave for Fried Frank?

Wachtell took down bios of first years who are not yet admitted. Even though they passed the exam, they haven't yet submitted affidavits for character and fitness. Apparently Wachtell found out or came to the belief that it should no longer list not yet admitted attorneys on the website. The one attorney who is listed on the website as not admitted is an LLM, foreign attorney, and different rules apply. No layoff story here.

http://eliemystttalspeaks.ytmnd.com/

Looks like we're headed for another sterling PR effort by FF.

Fried Frank...the Akin Gump of law firms.

I'm an incoming 3L - no call or communication yet. Where are you tipsters getting your info from?

A fried frank with mustard, onions and jalepenos sounds good right now!

49 = fail

Why is anyone surprised by this? I was in the DC office in the fall and a lot of formerly occupied offices had nameplates that read VAO, or something similar. I was told it meant Visiting Attorney's Office and the nameplates were up because the office was looking too empty due to the stealth layoffs that were occurring. Then, a couple days later, one of the attorneys who I met with was let go. I'd be petrified if I was a 3L going there.

43, Dechert and Fried Frank may be merging. Mmmm . . . Fried Dechert. . . .

Also an incoming FF associate. No word yet either.

Wachtell associates can't clear C&F for several months?

I thought selling your soul wasn't a reportable offense.

There are no layoffs at Fried Frank. I can assure you that those villains will recognize, will discover in appropriate time in the future, how stupid they are and how they are pretending things which have never taken place.

This would never happen in Texas. Please do not infect Texas with your filthy, classless firms that are overflowing with the offal of the NE.

Fried Frank called me up and offered me a position. I told them I'd only return to the profession if the majors called me up, not the Busch League.

Baghdad Bob shoots . . . and scores!!!

GO FUCK YOURSELF, BARACK OBAMA

51--you must be a smart tack if someone had to tell you what VAO stands for in a law firm office. Good luck at Skadden!

Oceans rise...
Cities fall...
PAUL WEISS remains.

47--what's that supposed to mean?

Former friends frequently fried franks for Fried Frank before they were fired for not frying enough franks, it was no big deal.

FRIED STUD

If profits per parner are down, why not cut partners?

62: 47 is telling a joke. One of my professors in college told a similar one: "Puccini is the Wagner of music." The form of the joke suggest an analogy (Puccini : music :: Wagner : ?), which is funny because it suggests that, (1) whatever Wagner does, it isn't music, and (2) Puccini sucks.

Deferred start dates at WEIL!!!

@64, What makes you say they have not . If a firm cuts 40 associates but does not acknowledge it, even internally, why do you think they'd be willing to announce partners cuts.

PAUL WEISS REMAINS

A death camp

67=fail

69= FF partner

64 - because the asso-shits have to go first. Oh, and 56, in New Yawk, we say viscera. Stay in Bumfuck Texas where you belong.

I have to say the mystery about this confuses me. They have been stealth laying off corporate associates in NY.

I have to say the mystery about this confuses me. They have been stealth laying off corporate associates in NY.

Indeed, 72. I know at least one of them.

79=fail

This Frank is Fried

I don't get it. Does this mean I fail?

I'm calling bs on the 3L who claims to have received a phone call.

It is an 'open secret' that some Partners have been and are on the 'chopping block.' Several have already left from FFDC over the past year. But unknown is how many were and are on the chopping block and have already left from the NY office. The sad truth is they put out staff and put out Associates under the guise of non-performance when, in fact, if they had started with their dead weight Partners many jobs may have been saved. Even sadder is if they had not been so greedy to keep their own millions and not part with a penny personally they could have saved many jobs of the staff and associates.

By any chance does anyone know if they have bought any one-way tickets back to the UK?

I am 75.

86 = racist fried franker

81 = Nostradamus

I bough oil about 2.5 months ago, and I am making a crap load of money. It feels good to be this smart and making this much money. Lawyers = Fail

I bought oil about 2.5 months ago, and I am making a crap load of money. It feels good to be this smart and making this much money. Lawyers = Fail

79- FF staffer (or former FF staffer due to August 08 layoff).

Why in the hell would partners be willing give up their gravy train. They paid their dues in whatever currency was required, and NOW THEY OWN THE PLACE.

All you associate douchebags are drunk if you think a partner will willingly surrender their ownership to save some sniveling little puss-bag's job. The only way partners are going to give up their cash flow is if the other scum sucking partners throw them out. So stop the damn whining, go fuck yourself, and start your own law firm.

I'll fire every single associate before I'll give you my job.

Fat, happy, vested partner in charge

Going to FF was one of the worst mistakes I ever made in my career. So glad to be out of that sinking ship.

Been expecting this move for a while. PPP's were down 23% from last year.

88 - please. you can't compare this to a boom year. regardless ppp for 08 were well over 1 million.

20% layoffs means about 70 associates what about the secretaries sounds like 15 or so will go how can they do this again how will the victims be picked if you lose 2 attornies do you go to or do they have secret list and you could go even though no attornies lost who decides

Fried Frank to Associates:
You put your fried frank in.
You put your fried frank out.
You put your fried frank in.
And you shake it all about.
You do the hokey pokey.
And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

Fried Frank is still the nation's preeminent TTT. So there.

89, you are right that the core percentage drop without context is unhelpful. That 2007 was a boom year is one point of context. Here's some additional context.

Ah, have you looked at the PPPs of the hordes of other firms that did layoffs. Did any of them really strike you as not having reasonably high PPPs. Let's look at a model: 21% drop in PPP in 2008 from 2007, $1.8 million in PPP during 2008. Guess what, the firm was Latham & Watkins. Can you tell L&W to rehire everyone because "you can't compare this to a boom year" and "regardless ppp for 08 were well over 1 million."

A 23% drop is higher than the average drop in PPPs that has been reported by other firms. Again, this is an unusually high drop.

No one likes to make less money. It doesn't matter much what PPP actually is. If the partner's are making less, then there is a natural tendency to look to cut expenses.

Most firms have a lot of excess capacity (meaning lots of associates sitting around with less work to do than is desirable from the firms' perspective), making it easy to cut associates and staff.

Since there is plenty of blood in the water already (meaning that many firms have already done significant layoffs), there is less stigma attached to doing massive layoffs and the firm's layoffs will be lost amidst the vast crowd of other firms doing layoffs. All of these firms doing layoffs are providing cover for each other in the no firm really ones to be the only one that needed to do layoffs, but many firms are perfectly fine with being one of many.

2008 might actually be a decent year in comparison to 2009 if the economy doesn't pick up in the latter half of 2009. The first half of 2008 was slow, but not all that bad from a transactional perspective. I predict dire things for the biglaw community if all of 2009 is like the latter half of 2008.

The partnership's assets are highly mobile. Rainmakers can leave if they sense another firm would be more stable, more willing to cut expenses (including personal) or more profitable.

I'm not saying I have inside information or that layoffs are guaranteed. Just that I would expect layoffs given a read of the market, FF and its disappointing results last year.

90 - the first to go are those who cannot spell attorneys

Any word on what the severance package will look like?

F the haters. Fried Frank is actually a really nice place to work compared to most of BigLaw - anyone who's lateralled there from another firm can attest to that. It gets an unfair rep on this site because it is really more of a super-sized boutique firm (finance industry, NY commercial real estate) than most other comparably-ranked firms. To you outstanding 3Ls, you accepted your offer there for a reason - keep that in mind as events unfold.

There is no way they are firing 20% on top of a previous round. That would be far and away the largest cut by a firm yet.

4 months vacation
only 10% salary as allowance
no guarantee for return

soooooooooooooooooooo cheap

Yo, assholes, this motherfucker's dead!

I just wish they would get it over with. It's gotten so distracting that I can't even work.

98- way to set the bottom of a market. no way that's the severance.

100 - seconded. even those of us that have work have dropped to about 50% productivity over the last week or so.

agree 100 and 102 -- i can't sleep, am constantly jumping whenever the phone rings. and every day there is a new rumor that the layoffs are happening that day. it's terrible.

100 - fourthed. Watching the partners lower their eyes and shut their doors for weeks on end while the associates continue to whisper in eachother's ears has been unbearable. It's gridlock. Let's get it done and move on. Partners, we could use some communication - we're big boys and girls.

I understand that FF needs to cut - they want to keep up their profits. It's a business after all. Two problems:

No communication. Partners should tell people what's going on and stop dragging out the process as other people already commented.

Loyalty. Fuck the summers and fuck the 3Ls. I hope FF feels like it owes more or is more invested in its associates rather than some law students. They could save a few million from the summer program and another few million from not having first years next year. At least the current first years might get some experience that way.

105, I understand where you are coming from, but of course that's just a selfish viewpoint. The partners are saying the same thing about the associates.

Can I just say that I hate hate hate the way this firm is being run and want them to get it the f over with. This is despicable and most of all just so unfair to everyone who works hard and makes the partners money.

106, of course its selfish, but FF could get some good PR out of it.

They could say, we're a business and we have to make some painful choices. But, we do respect our relationships and we invested in our associates. If possible, once you're in the door we'll keep you here, we'll train you and we'll value your input.

Of course the partners value their profits more than anything, but they could make a statement to the current associates that they feel some kind of commitment to them.

89 -

Fair point. '08 to '07, which was a record year for FF and many other firms, is not a fair comparison. A more helpful context is the pre-boom years (roughly 2004-2007) before cheap financing gave rise to the types of deals that enabled FF to have record years in 2006 and 2007. Do a google search that will generate a FF press release from 2004 and you will see that FF described itself as a firm with ~520 attorneys. Don't know the current numbers, but my guess is it's about 600 (after the November layoffs). Subtract 15% and you are back to about where you started before the bubble/boom. The 20% number does not seem way off at all.

93 - you are spot on, there are some rainmakers who have very portable books and can walk out the door with an entire practice group. Obviously, I'm not privy to the partnership agreement, so it may not be as easy as it seems, but with a firm of this size, the risk that people will abandon ship has to be real.

Of course associates are fungible, but partners are too. Trying not to fire associates (and letting the associates know what concrete steps you're taking to prevent firing them) could create some goodwill and make the firm stronger when we come out of this god forsaken downturn.

The partners are just going about it the wrong way. I feel that they are making poor management choices by letting this drag out without any communication.

What's your best guess on severance? When Latham laid off 15% (and first years to boot) they gave 6 months.

111 -- 3 month supply of peanuts and cheese.

they will probably say everyone was fired for being shitty lawyers, and then of course, no one deserves any severance at all - maybe they can kick the associates they lay off in the teeth to get the point across

FF associates are TTT. Look at the profiles. ShiTTTy foundation, shiTTTy firm.

FF associates are TTT. Look at the profiles. ShiTTTy foundation, shiTTTy firm.

I was at FF and want to say how awful the atmosphere is there.

There is no proper communication between the partners and associates. At the New Orleans retreat, management were associates what great opportunities there were for us and how FF was going to become a real thriving global firm.and a few weeks later, unknown number of associates (myself included) were told that our performance below what was expected of our year level. Ironically, one year ago, I was told my performance was good. How they change their tune to when it suits them. Nothing is written on paper so you don't even have written evidence of who said what either.
And since FF doesn't do layoffs, it means it doesn't give ANY severance either. They just tell you to get out by XX Date and you get paid till that date.
Its misleading to deny that they actually don't do lay offs. I feel they should just be open and say they lay people off and morale at the firm and its reputation would not be as badly affected. This stifling, secret, no-one-knows whats happening atmosphere is awful.
On to better things to all those who have to leave that sinking ship....

I was at FF and want to say how awful the atmosphere is there.

There is no proper communication between the partners and associates. At the New Orleans retreat, management were associates what great opportunities there were for us and how FF was going to become a real thriving global firm. A few weeks later, unknown number of associates (myself included) were told that our performance below what was expected of our year level. Ironically, one year ago, I was told my performance was good. How they change their tune to when it suits them. Nothing is written on paper so you don't even have written evidence of who said what either.
And since FF doesn't do layoffs, it means it doesn't give ANY severance either. They just tell you to get out by XX Date and you get paid till that date.
Its misleading to deny that they actually don't do lay offs. I feel they should just be open and say they lay people off and morale at the firm and its reputation would not be as badly affected. This stifling, secret, no-one-knows whats happening atmosphere is awful.
On to better things to all those who have to leave that sinking ship....I mentally feel so much better now that I am out of that place.

uh, why will no one talk about Vinson & Elkins on this bloody blog? Is it because a. VE is so damn piddly that it's not really BigLaw or b. because it's not laying anyone off? Being that option b. is really short for b.s. as they have been doing stealth lay offs, it must be a. that's fine. I agree with a.

118 - Only people from Texas ever want to talk about V&E. And there aren't that many Texans on the blog.

3 spot on

I love this firm so much. I'm going to keep coming to work even if they stop paying me!

Spendlove's favorite song is supposedly "Mr. Lover Man" by Shabba Ranks. Bet they're gonna be blasting it over the PA when they drop the axe.

FF is going to thrive as a truly global firm? LOL. They have invested heavily in Europa and Asia, only to meet a series of misfortunes. These offices are $$$ black holes. Partner defections are rampant.

http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136568

FF used to be a very decent and respectable firm. I will be very surprised if the New York partners do not protest against the current management. International expansion fiasco, sharply fallen revenue and PPP, series of despicable stealth layoffs, dearth of communication from the management amid wild rumors and whispers, depressingly low morale in the firm. Hi, Partners at FF, behave like big boys and girls, stand up to that foreigner named spendlove and tell him to cross the pond back to his original place. He promised you guys big $$$ and screwed up all of you. The beloved female chairman has been on the helm for quite a while. Isn't time ripe to see some new faces to lead this great firm at this juncture? I leave this question for FF partners to answer.

FF is going to thrive as a truly global firm? LOL. They have invested heavily in Europa and Asia, only to meet a series of misfortunes. These offices are $$$ black holes. Partner defections are rampant.

http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=136568

FF used to be a very decent and respectable firm. I will be very surprised if the New York partners do not protest against the current management. International expansion fiasco, sharply fallen revenue and PPP, series of despicable stealth layoffs, dearth of communication from the management amid wild rumors and whispers, depressingly low morale in the firm. Hi, Partners at FF, behave like big boys and girls, stand up to that foreigner named spendlove and tell him to cross the pond back to his original place. He promised you guys big $$$ and screwed up all of you. The beloved female chairman has been on the helm for quite a while. Isn't time ripe to see some new faces to lead this great firm at this juncture? I leave this question for FF partners to answer.

Workers in Europe now accepting cutbacks in hours and pay to keep fellow workers employed. Are Fried Frank associates prepared to organize and go to firm "leadership" with this suggestion? Are you prepared to do something concrete to keep your friends and colleagues employed, and set an example for associates at other firms, or would you rather just quake and bitch and worry that you are next? If the partners are not showing leadership, why don't you? This was once a great firm, and is worth saving. Associates: you were once hot shots at some of the best law schools in the country (and at some of the best colleges before that). Surely the practice of law for a few years hasn't destroyed your intellects and your sense of decency (at least not yet). Good luck!

Bumped into a fellow ex-FF associate on the train last night and after congratulating each other on having escaped before the bottom fell out, he told me that he'd heard FF was merging with Proskauer (!) Weirder things have happened...

126: that's crazy talk.

96 is a partner - I left Fried Frank over a year ago for another major firm. I have been at my new firm almost a year now and I actually like it here. The partners are generally nicer and approachable. The mid-level associates don't throw juniors under the bus. People get along with one another. Sure, my new firm is disfunctional in some respects, however, every firm is to a certain extent. FF was a sinking ship when I left a year ago and it continues to slowly sink. Every time I see my friends that are still at FF, they say the best thing I ever did was to leave that place when I did. I feel for all the Fried Frank people out there. I heard the rumor of the layoffs a week and a half ago and I don't work there. The partners who leak this info think they are helping people but it just makes it worse b/c the entire associate population finds out about it and then sits on pins and needles for 10 days to find out their fate. FF is an awful place with awful partners. I hope they push out some of the deadweight partners - there are a lot of them.

The fact that big firms have a billing code to book a conference room (and make copies, telephone calls, coffee and danish, lunch) shows one of the problems with the whole model.

News? Anything going on?

129 - Yes, that is certainly one of the symptoms. My favorite (non-billable) billing code: "Professional Reading." Only lawyers could describe doing nothing as though it required a graduate degree and specialized training. "Don't worry about not having any work, you ARE important!" Genius. Any other favorite billing codes out there?

130- We are scrambling to find out how we can screw you on performance-based reasons. Stay tuned.

Jacobson and Spendlove

You undoubtedly fu their possible big surprise party planned for associates and staff alike when you wrote your column yesterday. If, in fact, all the rumors that have been going around for several weeks are true, your column put them in a real dilemna.

1. Do they hold off now to make ATL look a fool?

2. Do they add a separate paragraph on the Severance Package to be offered whereby a person has to guarantee they will not in any way contact ATL?

Latest heard is that Ms. Alcott will be given the boot and Ms. Scattergood will take her place! What goes around comes around.

No doubt, the firm has never been the same since Spendloveless came into the picture. Oh for the good old days!

So did anything go down at FF?

What is the story?

134- it's completely inappropriate for you to rail against someone on this blog who is for all intents and purposes a private figure. air your personal grievances on a more general level or take them elsewhere.

bet they are waiting til ppl finish their time for march (due on april 1). am beginning to wonder if something is going on other than layoffs.

136 - it's completely inappropriate for you to tell people what they can comment, e.g., 134's comment, this is a free country, if you can't handle what is written find something else to do with your time

138 - i think 136 is right. you shouldn't talk about random private people on here. 134 sounds like that same disgruntled secretary that keeps posting about Spendlove and tried to organize some kind of lawsuit.

137, do you think it's weird they keep sending emails about closing out all our time by 3/31?

136=139=Mr. Spendlove.

What firm would want to merge with FF and why?

136 here (and definitely not Justin Spendlove).

134, don't you think it's time to move on?

139, the number of e-mails about getting your time in by april 1 seems comparatively high. who knows. Every week, for the past couple of weeks, we keep saying "this is the week". Maybe we are just wrong and there are no layoffs planned - maybe all of the meetings have been about other issues (delaying start dates, partner equity and points, a merger). Maybe they changed their mind at the meeting last week. I doubt it though. I'm betting it will be this week or next (latest). Best of luck to all.

It's good that a layoff buzz comes out or else we would be in total shock when it happened. HR should still look into its staff because we occasionally hear a secie saying they heard from someone in HR.

They should cut down on pro bono. It's good to help but the firm cannot afford it now. Why is a lit partner who has not billed in years still there?

#143: Too many partners are lax with time and billing and it's more important now than before to bill clients monthly and get paid. We think that is the reason for several emails about inputting time.

Last 5 years = case study in managerial incompetence.

140, 143 and 146: "Time" is the fourth track on Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is noted for its long introductory passage of clocks chiming and alarms ringing, recorded as a quadrophonic test by Alan Parsons.

#147 about sums it up!

The guest commentator on the latest ATL march madness bit has FF as having the largest decrease in PPPs and also the 2nd largest increase in actual number of partners. Perhaps trimming the partnership is the focus of all these meetings, because associate leverage is already pretty low at FF.

its going down today...20% associates gone

When will the partner defections start in the U.S.? Not the dead weight; the remaining rainmakers. Are they waiting to see how things shake out at the other top firms first, so they know they are moving to a safe place?

"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
"Fried Frank doesn't do layoffs."
Melanoma Girl and Boy Blunder strike again.

E-mail from Jacob/Spendlove sent to all this morning re: new layoffs in the U.S. Fried Frank offices effective today:

49 associates and 58 staff. Check with your supervisors for further information. Between DC and NY - that's a lot of people.

Also, incoming new attorneys are being deferred until 1/10 but are being given $10,000 to hold them over!

One takes note that Jacob and Spendlove are still around to sign the memos!