HunTTTon Williams. Hunton and Gruntin associates are now job Huntin and Whinin

I have it on good authority that they will announce the long-awaited move to 190 at the meeting.

Bad week for Richmond firms.

McGuire...cutting salaries, maybe stealth layoffs.
Hunton...this news, possible stealth partner layoffs
Troutman..."voluntary" staff removals plus future associate layoffs

LOL - McGuireWoods announces its expanded European presence while HunTTTon books conference rooms to fire people. There is a new king of the Southeast.

They seem pretty lean (at least in NY) per their NALP form. If they are making cuts, I can only imagine what will happen at the more bloated NYC based firms.

LOL HunTTTon will have to change the "1000 attorneys" number it says in its banner.

Yeah 7, Elie should cross out the 1000 and put a question mark. Not sure if Elie knows how to use photoshop but I'm sure he can find a kindergarten student to show him.

They're having this meeting to announce the next round of layoffs at kirkland. elie would say it but he doesn't want to start a rumor about kirland without more solid evidence.

D&L defers until January with only a 5K salary advance. Do some reporting.

I went into the McGuireWoods to Hunton a WolfBlock

Are they going to serve *lunch* at a "you're fired" meeting?

Whenever I get laid off, I always think about crying for a second...then I remember that AWESOME people never cry!

True story.

newsflash for the fuctards: firms layoff PARTNERs (and associates and even COUNSEL!!!) in good times and bad....

the funny thing about all these layoffs is as quickly as things went to shit, they will (not might, but will) come back and the firms who cut too deep will be losing work to the firms who were a bit more restrained in cutting "costs"

Other than the fact that this is not how things work, 14 is right on the money.

Attorney layoffs and staff layoffs are two very different animals and ATL shouldn't try to equate the two. The ongoing lawyer layoffs, especially of incoming first-years and other innocent bystanders, is a very unusual phenomenon and shows how bad the economy is right now.

Staff layoffs, on the other hand, are a decades-long thing. Law firms cut staff without regard to how their business is doing, for the same reason they don't have as many typewriters or telex machines around anymore. Legal secretaries used to work for 1 or 2 lawyers. Now they often work for 5 or 6. When the ratio changes like that you obviously don't need as many around. Ditto with other support services like proofreading or travel. No offense to staff members, who are justifiably upset about this development, but that's just how it is. It's not about the recession.

#14 is an idiot. The economy fell of a cliff, we're maybe 1/2 way down and #14 thinks the landing won't be too hard. But how high was the cliff? Here's a graphic that'll ruin your day:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nSTO-vZpSgc/ScfNYcSLnMI/AAAAAAAAFwk/nf2WEo87pWA/s1600-h/Total+Credit+Market+Debt+vs.+GDP.png

It'll take a long time to work off all that debt and to start growing again. Timmy's plan is just a sop to his banker buddies so they can pay off their homes in Conn. and hunker down on well stuffed mattresses for the long night to follow.

March Madness continues- Troutman Sanders is slashing associates as we speak. More to come....

LOL, 8! MysTTTal. LOL!

He's dumb!

LOL!

"There is really only one thing left for Hunton to do if it still needs to cut costs." means you are expendable because the partners need to still make their big bucks.

Hunton is a TTT. No one has even heard of that firm. They're like a second-rate Paul Hastings, which isn't saying much.

Can someone explain why the Richmond legal market is as big as it is [was]?

Let's hope that the news isn't that bad on Friday. Best of luck to everyone at H&W.

Hunton is doing fine. It never went for the $1-2mm+ PPP mark, which tends to be acheived by churning cases and bilking clients. Hunton treats its clients and its employees honestly, and should be able to weather this storm.

#22, you are half way between DC and the research triangle and it is a great place to live.

22, because for a while Richmond had an unusual number of large public companies, that's changed.

Dominion is still the big dog.
Altria has laid off considerably over the past few months, and is an industry that is dying.
Circuit City = bankrupt
Genworth has also laid off and potentially can be in much more danger
LandAmerica = bought/bankrupt
James River Coal/Massey = Dying industries
HRH = bought
Carmax = so far weathering the storm, but how long can a used car retailer last when companies are practically giving away new cars?
Owens & Minor = doing halfway ok
Media General = Like most media stocks, practically worthless

Other:

Wachovia Securities = gone with the A.G. Edwards merger
Qimonda = gone

Is our reality-TV star Jeremy still working in the Dallas office? After all the scandalousness he's been stirring up in the celeb blogs, he might be a good place to start cutting costs.....

Please hunton has been stealth laying off people and for months all the while saying we arent laying anyone off. They are sneaky and will lie to your face while having a partner they are throwing under a bus stick a knife in your back. Its a really hostile firm and some of the big partners are lazy fatcats sitting back whipping the associates for more and more. I guess the only way to get more is to layoff people and so theres more cash to stuff their bank accounts

17 = epic fuctard who thinks he is special cos he heard on the tv machine there are some "toxic" assets...

17/28 = you got shit canned cos you suck. Deal.

I really like #28's imagery: someone lying TO YOUR FACE while you're being STABBED IN THE BACK by a partner who is being THROWN UNDER THE BUS. ROTFLMAO.

25: Don't know whether its a great place to live, but a few years ago Richmond did have the highest per capita rate of STDs of any city. While maybe that means lots of people are getting laid in Richmond, it doesn't exactly make me think its a great place to live.

Hey 5 -

You need to get your head examined.

I read a lot of stuff on here from nervous 3Ls and other law students. You're actually in the best position right now out of anyone (other than perhaps capital partners) because you're young enough to weather this insanity unscathed and you have no employment history which can be held against you in the coming years. As long as you don't base your self-esteem on bs such as the prestige of your employer's name or the amount of money you make, you'll be fine.

From the “Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Volume IV: Symbol of the Movement,
January 1957- December 1958
"Facing the Challenge of A New Age," Address Delivered at NAACP Emancipation Day Rally
1 January 1957
Atlanta, Ga.

There are so many areas, I could name so many areas that we've got to go out in and be prepared for. And then we've got to get ready in this new age to compete with people. And when you get ready for that you don't worry about losing your job in the new age, you see. You see, teachers don't worry about the emerging new age when they are prepared for the emerging new age. If you are prepared you will come to see that you are going to be a good teacher, not a good Negro teacher. Don't go out in this new age to be a good Negro doctor, a good Negro lawyer, a good Negro minister or preacher, a good Negro skilled laborer. But go out to do a good job irregardless of race, (Yeah) for we will be forced now to compete with people. And then decide to do your job well, whatever it is. As I used to hear Dr. [Benjamin] Mays say at Morehouse College, "Do your job so well that the living, the dead, or the unborn could do it no better. [laughter] Do it well. If it falls your lot to sweep streets in life, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.'" [applause]

This is not on point with this post, but I am so depressed I am posting it here anyway.

Before law school, I would make ends meet by waiting tables and bartending. I went to a good school and got a job afterwards at Thelen. But that is not why I am depressed.

I got laid off with everyone else. But that is not why I am depressed. I looked for work, but I could not find anything -- I am a corporate side lawyer. After a long time, I realized that there was no lawyer openings out there for people like me. Several months later, I was nearly out of money, and so I took a job, the only job I could find, waiting tables again. I couldn't even find a wait position at a nice restuarant, like what I used to do in college. So I wait tables at a casual dining spot, like an applebees (but not applebees). But that is not why I am depressed.

Last week, one of the former Thelen secretaries came in with her husband and kids. Not my old secretary, but I knew her. I had to serve her dinner and get their drinks. They gave me a good tip. That is why I am depressed. Why did I ever go to law school?

This whole profession is a fraud.

22,

26 is correct. I would add that in the 1990's, that a lot of tech companies located in Northern Virginia. Part of that was because they had govt contract, but other parts were much more favorable tax structure than in DC or MD, cutback in the military during Clinton sending highly skilled technical/engineering officers who were more likely to be stationed around DC (Andrews, Belvoir, Quantico, AP Hill, Aberdeen) into the public market, and VA is a large state with better schools than other sourthern states.

The Richmond firms would open up satellite offices in Alexandria, Arlington, and over the years consolidated them back in Richmond.

And of course, there is a patent firm in almost any office building there - geeks wearing jeans and pretending to be lawyers.

22 - in addition to Richmond having a disproportionate amount of industry, a lot of HW and MW work was generated outside of Richmond. Those firms could bid favorably because they had lower cost structure.

hey 30 didnt get shit canned as you so eliquently put it. Graduate from your local community college with honors? I'm still there. Just telling what everyone else who works there knows but is too afraid to say

Richmond was also the original headquarters of Phillip Morris.

24 is obviously in Public Relations for H & W

"Richmond was also the original headquarters of Phillip Morris."

Also known as Altria, as mentioned above. Also MeadWestvaco is now headquartered there, although I'm not sure how well they are doing.

Keep
Insinuating
Rumors of
Knowledge of
Layoffs,
Always,
Never stop,
David Lat,

&

Evermore
Lick your chops over
Law and Order
In
Shooting,

Kirkland Ellis

42 = 43

How annoying is Kinney Recruiting? Get a clue. Who wants to see pictures of the douche all over the world when people are being fired in the U.S.?

At least Lateral Link offers practical openings at law firms in the U.S.

Start a blog about Search Firms and which ones are offering support during this difficult economic climate.

Geez.

The biggest douches i knew i lawschool went to H&W. Suck that.

Yo asshole, this muthafucka's dead ain't no Chris Angel Mind Freak, David Blaine trap door, horseshit jumpin' off here.

44,

Nope. I would have included the ampersand.

--42

A lot of guesswork and very few facts here (a few correct (staff), more incorrect (lawyers))...just another day on ATL.

32 -- That's Baltimore, you dumbass.

what about ballard postponing start dates for a year without a stipend? and through a flimsy little email?

I sense a great disturbance in my balls...

35, that's rough. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Hang in there!

Ha. I thought the blacks in Baltimore and the Jews in New York were bad until I met the faggots at Hunton and Gruntin'.

26, 36, 37 - Thanks. I guess I can't get my head around the idea that Richmond still is a corporate center which I guess 26 confirms.

Re: lower cost structure - doesn't that beg the question? If not off-shored, why is the majority of doc review/due diligence NOT done in NoVa/Richmond/CLT/ATL? Would top law students not follow the rainbow to the pot of gold - esp when the CoL is so much lower?

My apologies if I'm naive, I just don't understand the business case for a 1-3yr associate that has very little client interaction to be taking up space in Times Sq, etc when they could be doing it for have the price in Richmond.

-22

hey you know what? let's start posting about places that are actually hiring. Now THAT would be news. Who isn't laying off? (and please, don't be a koolaid drinker and answer that that rhetorical question with a b.s. statement that you're firm is great and stable and not laying off. Stop drinking the koolaid. Koolaid makes your sperm swim slower.)

stuffbiglawassociateslike.wordpress.com

Hunton Williams is going down?

HOW WILL PAINT MY HOUSE NOW!1!!!!!!

2L SAs have also been told that the summer program has been shortened by 2 weeks. They got the letters last week.

Wow 46, you sure showed them.

Do you remember when the big topic of discussion on this blog was about who was paying $160,000/year to first year associates and who was not?

Was that about 5 minutes ago?

Who?

35, that is depressing, but like the other poster said, hang in there.

Which firms will be the first to reduce associate salaries to something more reasonable?

A 25% across the classes cut sounds about right to me, and such a modest reduction would do much to reduce pressure on headcount.

I remember in law school a story in the school paper written by a female law student from a blue collar family who interviewed at Hunton, then considered to be about the stuffiest law firm in Richmond (saying a lot). As part of the standard call-back process, the younger attorneys took her to lunch at the Commonwealth Club (I believe this was the name of it), which at least at that time was supposedly an old-line sort of place. Almost immediately, the waiter put a bowl of water with slices of lemon floating atop it in front of her -- she had never encountered a "finger bowl" before and the attorneys were staring at her, expecting her to do something. So, she took the most logical step, nervously raised the bowl to her lips and drank from it.

I believe she still got an offer; don't know if she went to work there. So, if you are a Hunton associate and they are laying you off today because you drank from a finger bowl at a stuffy old club, you've got a ready defense.

64 - before posting some garbage about a finger bowl, wouldn't it be better to actually know yourself what they are for, and when used?

dumbass, filthy poors should not be able to use the internet at will

58 - this is decidedly false. No letters have been sent out, and the program was decided to be 10 weeks before they began interviewing in the fall.

To # 65 -- perhaps you could enlighten me (and also, your boss partners at Huntoon) on the proper use of a finger bowl and I won't correct your "grammar"

Edwards Angell Palmer Dodge & Chrysler... I keep hearing they are doing a major canning this week but Elie gives no love to the regional NE firms these days. Does anyone have any info on this? Are they going under?

It couldn't have happened to a better firm. Their main sources of revenue are from asbestos companies, tobacco companies, and oil companies. Likely the single most evil law firm in existence.

Give me back my filet o' fish.

64: How gauche. This would never have occurred if Hunton had stuck with hiring from UVA.

There's no bad traffic in Richmond. You can even commute from the surrounding counties and make it into work in 30 minutes or less. Real estate is also inexpensive.

69 - really? Currently, their premier practice group is their data protection group - Chambers band one Global. Their second most prominent group is their REIT group.

Plus, anyone that thinks that any Vault firm would turn down dollars from a company due to a moral conviction about an industry's business practices is embarrassingly naive.

#35, while not the same thing, I had to take a side job once to make ends meet - waitressing. My main client for my main job came in while I was working. Fortunately he did not see me. However, I totally know where you are coming from.

good luck to you.

This board (and our profession!) is becoming overrun with filthy poors! The worst of these are those pathetic souls who grew up in the shittiest house in say Scarsdale or Winnetka, and feel some strange compulsion to feign an "upper class" upbringing...

Sad. Something must be done about this.

69--If you're going to judge firms and lawyers based on the representations they undertake, then you'll need to hang out your own shingle, because you won't find one that meets your childish standard. Since you apparently expect only to represent the purely innocent, you also should get a second job, because you'll no doubt starve.

70 - i saw that commercial last night for the first time. F-ing hilarious. You just made my morning by reminding me. Thank you.

64 - urban legend. perhaps it was a delicate consomme.

Which firms will be the first to reduce associate salaries to something more reasonable?

A 25% across the classes cut sounds about right to me, and such a modest reduction would do much to reduce pressure on headcount.

__________________________________________

Why is that anymore "reasonable" than starting stubs at $160k? Isn't the greater possibility that, as munificent as these salaries sound to you, that it is the excessive draws and profit-taking of partners that is excessively burdening firms at this point, and thus needs to be cut?

Kashmir
Invites
Really
Kewl
Lobsters into her
Ass
Night and
Day

&

Eliza
Likes
Lobster
In
Situ.

79 raises a very good point - he does seem to be an idiot.

Subtle, but effective soNNNNN

The ship be sinking...

63,

I think WolfBlock reduced salaries earlier this year. Now they are dissolving. Too bad it didn't work for them.

63/79 -- wasn't Wolf Block the first to cut associate salaries? That turned out really well.

Elie,

Can you check out 53's claim about Ballard Spahr pushing back start dates for a year without a stipend? 53, can you forward the e-mail.

A lot of Troutman and McGuire trolls...nothing else.

"It couldn't have happened to a better firm. Their main sources of revenue are from asbestos companies, tobacco companies, and oil companies. Likely the single most evil law firm in existence."

AKA as companies your firm would like to represent.

Ouch! A little heavy on the schedenfreud, here, don't you think? H&W attorneys are some of my best friends and also my best adversaries. I wish them well.

Most probably are already aware, but AmLaw ran a piece on Wally Martinez, H&W's managing partner, about a month ago that is worth checking out: http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202427748957

Remember Brown v. Board of Education? Guess who represented the segregationist Board of Eduation? H&W ! They had acquired segregationist expertise representing Virginia school systems.

Remember Brown v. Board of Education? Guess who represented the segregationist Board of Eduation? H&W ! They had acquired segregationist expertise representing Virginia school systems.

Remember Brown v. Board of Education? Guess who represented the segregationist Board of Eduation? H&W ! They had acquired segregationist expertise representing Virginia school systems.

George,

This law firm represents Todd H@@@@@. You do not have his permission to publish Mr. H@@@@'s likeness in any manner. Your use of Mr. H@@@@'s image and your accompanying statements on your website (www.scornedhusband.com) appear to be malicious and intended to damage his reputation and to inflict emotional distress. As such, we hereby demand that you immediately remove his likeness from your website and all other public media and refrain from publishing his likeness in the future in any manner without his prior written consent. Your failure to promptly comply with this demand will result in this firm seeking an injunction against you to prevent further defamation of our client and filing suit against you seeking money damages for defamation and invasion of privacy based on your previous and ongoing tortious actions.

You can avoid litigation or further aggravation of the situation by complying with this demand. I will check the website tomorrow to verify that you have done so.

All future correspondence regarding this matter should be addressed to the undersigned.

Robert @@@@, Esq.
Hunton & Williams LLP
3700 Fountain Place
1445 Ross Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75202

r********@hunton.com

******I bcc'd other associates/partners/administrators at his firm. This was totally a favor done for his neighbor; he lives on Stanford and Mr. H@@@@ lives on Purdue. He still doesn't know my full name.*****

Mr. Mc@@@@,

I applaud your efforts. During these times of lean billable hours and slow receivables, it is noble of you to take up such a cause. Your success will set quite the precedence by forcing websites to remove unmodified photos based solely on the fact that they are unflattering. I am sure sites like The Dirty and Perez Hilton will rue the day you ever passed your bar exam.

The photo is my property, was obviously taken outside of Mr. H@@@@'s home, was posed for, and distributed previously with Mr. H@@@@'s knowledge. If you can find a judge that will provide you with injunctive relief, bully for you.

I can tell by the way you have addressed your letter that you have done all the proper due diligence including running this through your conflict of interest system at your firm. So I wouldn't have to tell you that I hold no assets in my name, I don't have a house on Purdue or Stanford. So I recommend that you get your fees up front because contingency will yield you nothing.

I would like to note that I will remove the photo and vow to never bother Mr. H@@@@ again should he finally settle his divorce.

Regards,

www.scornedhusband.com

*****I bet he made the first cut*******

Hopefully, that lame-ass website doesn't make the first cut. Nice double-wide rancher.

Despite representing the Board of Eduction in Brown, Hunton had the first black partner of any major law firm in Virginia.

To 35: Nothing stays the same for long - Thank God. Don't get to bruised up for the next segment!!!

To 35: Nothing stays the same for long - Thank God. Don't get too bruised up for the next segment!!!

To 35: Nothing stays the same for long - Thank God. Don't get too bruised up for the next segment!!!

95 - LOL if you think tokenism makes up for racist representation

Hunton always had a reputation for laying off summer associates even when the economy was BOOMING. No surprise they're short-changing their real associates now.

I think 100 means "no offering," not "laying off." Still, no-offering people during an economic boom is pretty crappy

Fellow sharks!!! Does anyone suspect that #80 could be a senior partner @ H & W? Just a thought...

Recession Haiku

Blood in water--mmmmmmm!
Get out of my way, you swine!
Chaos--how pretty!

Meeting is to recognize staff retirees. Keep up the good work.

101 - you are an idiot if you think there is something wrong with no-offering summers, whether its during an economic boom or a depression.

no matter how stellar a law student's grades may be, not everyone deserves an offer

Actually, the meeting was a presentation luncheon by a group of Team in Training individuals to raise money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The 1.5 hour presentation was scheduled by a one of the team-members, a *Benefits Coordinator* in HR.

Keep up the good work is right!

"We love to point out when our commenters point us in the right direction."

Heh. How do you like it when they feed you a complete load of paranoid crap?

I believe it...I know for a fact that H&W did not make their budget on March 31st....know for a fact that they are laying off both staff and attorneys...they under pay their staff to begin with and yes, they have announced that there will be no increases in salaries this year as well...sux to be underpaid and to have no light at the end of the tunnel.

The ironic thing is that there is this big push by Wally Martinez (managing partner) to get the firm on this top 50 places to work list....and they have implemented these mickey mouse programs like SEED...all the while they treat their employees like dog shit...they just want to look good on paper.

If you want to work for a top notch law firm, I suggest looking elsewhere.