Any first years?

second!!

Looks like a few less New York government employees have jobs.

Very, very shortsighted. The recession is over, peep the Dow.

I don't like this one bit.

"A proper alignment of capacity to demand is not just about financial performance. It is necessary for keeping all of our personnel fully productive and professionally satisfied."

Wow. So the laid off people should be happy is what they're saying because being paid at Sidley would not have been "professionally satisfying."

second!!

Lexis in Texis!

3500 sq ft, bitches!

"A proper alignment of capacity to demand is not just about financial performance. It is necessary for keeping all of our personnel fully productive and professionally satisfied."

Wow. So the laid off people should be happy is what they're saying because being paid at Sidley would not have been "professionally satisfying."

"A proper alignment of capacity to demand is not just about financial performance. It is necessary for keeping all of our personnel fully productive and professionally satisfied."

Wow. So the laid off people should be happy is what they're saying because being paid at Sidley would not have been "professionally satisfying."

10 - you took the words right out of my mouth. I think 185K for 1300 hours would satisfy me . . .

Looks like a few less New York government employees have jobs.

lol...i had a 1L sa interview there last month where a partner told me, 'we don't do layoffs here at sidley'

good call on that one asshole. i don't mind if firms lay people off (almost everyone is), but it's funny that he would say this when he knew damn well that 200 people would be fired two weeks later.

-still a little bitter about my rejection but happy w/my gov't job

"89 associates and staff attorneys and approximately 140 staff in our U.S. offices have been told they are being eliminated."

Any first years laid off?

Office breakdown? Im guess 1/3 NY, 1/3 Chicago, 1/3 DC/LA

LOYOLA 2L PLEASE COME BACK AND TEACH US HOW TO COPE.

Skadden just offered deferrals

Did they Latham their 1st years?

Guys at my high school used to conduct redundancy consultations all the time. It was no big deal.

I tell you. Firing all those associates was professionally satisfying!

Young lawyers and law students should form a coalition and protest before the White House. President Obama's oppressive policies are hurting business. You are suffering as a result of President Obama's master plan to cure our economic woes by stealing wealth from its source and redistributing it to the unworthy. President Obama is making Karl Marx's vision a reality.

Uh hey 1L applicant- might want to be careful who you call an asshole and then give identifying information about yourself. Firms aren't exactly interviewing tons of 1Ls these days, and they probably have some idea where you ended up. Just a little piece of advice from me to you.

Sidley does have a reputation for not doing economic layoffs until necessary. But these aren't exactly normal circumstances now are they?

12 -- It sucks not to have anything to do at work. Of course, you'd rather keep your job, but work flow problems are not a good situation for employer or employee, and if the employee has any sense, he realizes this and corrects course quickly. That may not be possible today, but you can't expect firms to pay you tons and keep you around for doing very little.

In addition to office breakdowns it would be go to know how young they went in the cuts?

Were second years hit? First years?

Is there no legal gossip other than that related to layoffs and the bailout? ATL has become very, very boring. I know there must be something else interesting going on. (I'm not hating on the layoff and bailout news, that's important. But it's gone too far. Other things are happening too.)

Gentlemen at the legal preparatory academy with which I was once affiliated, from time to time, found themselves employed by limited liability partnerships, whose erstwhile purpose was to engage in the practice of law and, in some instances, certain ancillary services, whereupon the managment of said partnerships determined it was necessary and proper to lay waste to the non-partner rank and file employed by the partnership, and to otherwise wreak havoc with respec to personnel matters.

It was most certainly of material significance to the gentlemen who were thereby affected, both directly and implicitly.

I tell you. Firing all those associates was professionally satisfying!

23

That REMAINS to be seen

I don't think its boring at all. Keep up the Good work ATL

The affected are heading over to Fudrucker's after work for drinks tonight. No beer specials but pizza shooters are half off from 4-7.

They severed me after OCI. Wouldn't even give me callback severance.

brb stocking canned goods.

Ouch. This really sucks. I know some good people at Sidley and I hope they haven't gotten fired.

We know anything about offices and classes hit?

:(

-K&E Associate

So apparently Sidley would like those associates who are left to believe the layoffs were done for the good of their careers? Good one, Chuck D.

what's the severance on this?

If you were to ask me to name three geniuses, I probably wouldn't say Einstein, Newton... (struggles for word). I'd go Milligan, Cleese, Everett. Sessions.

The cut is not as deep as I expected. I was expecting more like 150 associates.

Worst, most bumbling and inarticulate layoff memo evah?

14--At that time he may not have known about the layoffs. Just because someone is a partner doesn't mean that s/he is consulted and/or notified of all managment decisions during the deliberations. Rank and file partners (i.e., those who are not dept. heads, mgmt committee, hiring committee, etc.) may not have been notified until a few days before.

89? out of more than 1000 associates?

i thought this was gonna be on latham levels. i was wrong.

#5: A jump in the DJIA doesn't mean the recession is over.

My guess is the hardest hit was NY, then LA, then perhaps a few in Chi.

No doubt some good folks are now facing uncertain professional and financial times...here's to hoping they quickly recover and look back on this as but one chapter (and not the end) of their legal careers.

42: it's not that far from latham levels

89:1000... 190:2000

#10 - the "professionally satisfying" line isn't for the people who got let go; it's for those still there who have trouble understanding that this was a good move for the firm because "Sidley doesn't do layoffs". I'm not saying it's effective (necessarily), but the intent is to put a band-aid on firm morale.

#14 - it's not necessarily the case that the partner who interviewed you knew that this was coming. The firm's management committee runs a really tight ship and doesn't share information with all of the partners unless they need to know; this is a good thing, I think. Anyway, I highly doubt that a Sidley partner (especially one chosen to do on-campus interviews) would brazenly lie to your face.

It is actually true that law firms simply function better when they're busy. Idle hands and all.

What about the Sidley office in Dallas - any news?

42, that's a little rosy. 8% is still a pretty good number. Latham's was 12%.

Get rid of all deadwood partners and useless, overpaid admin heads. Biglaw is crawling with them. Why treat them like sacred cows when they are ordinary cows chomping up precious grass?

1 deadwood partner = 15 associates = 50 staff

Prune four of these inert objects and you just saved your firm on the average $8-12 million. True bang for your buck.

4 deadwood partners = 60 associates = 200 staff

I know some of the people they cut in Chicago. They were GREAT. Hope they are ok. Really sorry to see this happen.

From multiple sources inside Sidley:

Many of those laid off were newly minted 2nd years.

The reason that this round of layoffs was announced is simple:

Stealth layoffs must be timed around performance reviews. To make them more believable, performance reviews among groups must be staggered. This enables a firm to trickle out associates, as each performance review within each group results in layoffs. But because of these limitations, stealth layoffs can only go so far.

Certain individuals within Sidley have gripped to a remarkably optimistic view of how and when market conditions would recover, and, within the NY office particularly, have bet heavily that certain industry areas and businesses would provide support. That optimism, and those bets, were given deadlines to produce. Those deadlines passed, and the recent actions of other firms indicated that Sidley's loss of bargaining-power/prestige with clients, relative to other firms in its group, would be minor.

And so, the silencer was removed and the trigger was pulled.

Hey, you lawyers are supposed to be so smart, right? That guy, John Yoo, figured out a way around the Constitution so that I could torture people, listen in on all of your telephone calls, and read all your emails. How come you guys couldn’t figure out a way so that I could’ve served a third term? Things were so much better when I was President.

53 = idiot liar

What's the severance?

The ship be sinking...

Latham, McDermott, Mayer, Sidley, Skadden - who is next up to bat in the cage?

by the end of 2009 a vast majority of the firms in Chicago will shed 10% or more of their associates. And they'll shed another 10% at the beginning of 2010 if the economy does not pick up and voluntary attrition does not resume. Even if the DOW continues to pick up steam - this paring of the ranks will continue unabated for another 6-12 months as firms try to manage their headcounts for the de-leveraged future. It will be interesting to see if anyone dares to slay the sacred beast of the $160 starting salary -beyond McGuire Woods - which dropped last week to $144. If one of the leaders does so, the rest will fall into line quickly.

24---"Sidley does have a reputation for not doing economic layoffs until necessary. But these aren't exactly normal circumstances now are they?"

Shill! Get off the board ,you lurking Sidley HR admin. LOL

I get it. Partner Emeritus is doing the right wing nut thing because, behind his dour pragmatism and seasoned wit, he is a raging ideologue. Way to add complexity. Here is a staid white-shoe advisor to the Fortune 500 who is still prone to insane and incoherent ejaculations equating progressive taxation, or something, with socialist dictatorship. Way to keep the character fresh, dude. Loving it.

To those who have been laid off -- like many things in life, timing is everything, even in the legal profession. And the timing of your bad luck may in the long run turn out to be good luck.

Case in point: as a third year associate, I was very fit from weightlifting. At the annual formal law firm dinner, one of the senior capital partners forced me into a left-handed arm wrestling match, which was a difficult task since I"m not left-handed and I was wearing an ill-fitted rented tuxedo. Needless to say, my arm got caught in the coat sleeve and my bicep blew up the humerus bone above the elbow with attendant nerve damage. .

Two operations later, I had paralysis in my left arm and needed to take daily (and quite painful) physical therapy for the next two years (as you might imagine, one of the young capital partners chided me for not working both days on weekends to "make up" for the "personal" time the firm "allowed me to take" for the two hours of daily physical therapy). This hurt like hell as your muscles deteriorate due to nonuse. Anyway, at the end of two years, I overcame the motor paralysis, but my left arm was a full inch shorter, I still have sensory numbness in part of it, and what I could benchpress went from 350 to 50 pounds, since restored to about 250.

Not a huge deal (many people get much, much worse in life but not usually in the context of a formal law firm dinner). But with the advantage of hindsight: I would have been much happier had the firm laid me off as a third-year associate Timing can be beneficial..

My best to all those who have lost their legal jobs through no fault of their own -- to summarize my advice, don't sit around moping - get out there, keep moving and take advantage of the timing that you were in the first of what I suspect will be many waves of attorney layoffs from the humongous corporate law firms over the next two years, wtih those lawyers crowding in the job market. Take heart - I got laid off ten years ago, survived it and most of my professional and personal life is much better than before, even if the money is not.

While you Sidley trolls hate us Kirkland trolls, this is really terrible news. Here's hoping Chicago holds up all around, and that more bad news (i.e., Kirkland) isn't around the corner.

It was mainly second years. 4 months severance.

61 - a left handed arm wrestling match sounds like something out of Borat. Particularly being "forced into it" while wearing an ill fitting rented tuxedo. I don't disagree with most of what you wrote but the memory of your law firm dinner dust up will stick with me for a long time.

To # 64 - I KNOW it sounds idiotic, but its entirely true. "Forced" came about because he grabbed my hand and started to arm wrestle even though I had refused to do so and at least would have preferred the option of first removing my tuxedo coat.

That's right guys, maybe being laid off isn't such a bad thing. Keeping your job can cut both ways. Sure, maybe you'd get a paycheck and be better off. Or maybe if you'd fuck up your arm in an arm wrestling contest at a firm event.

I nominate 61/65 for weirdest post of the year.

24 @ 59, my post was simply intended to point out to Naive 1L that his assumption that the partner was lying to him in the interview was foolish, on top of the fact that giving away too much personal info on this site can bite an aspiring attorney in the ass. Sheesh.

NO FIRST YEARS IN N.Y.

Which departments in Chicago got hit the hardest?

Left handed armwrestling matches are why it is good to be ambedextrious - and secretly left-handed.

Partner: "Hur dur dur, watch this"

Associate: WHAM!

Partner: Jesus Christ my arm!

61 - "Needless to say," that is the awesomest post ever.

50 -- I agree, if there are deadwood partners who pull down $2-$3 million, they should have their comp whacked or be shown the door. The reality, though, is that those who make $2-$3 million are not the deadwood. The deadwood make far, far less and don't equate to nearly as many jobs saved. They also may have skills/connections/potential that is more useful than extra associates or admins.

Lots of people taking time to register. Must be all the fired attorneys.

Sidley fired 89 attorneys out of over 1800. That amounts to less than 5%. Definitely not Latham proportions.

The slowness of ATL right now makes me think that the firm is monitoring even my posts from my home computer. Anyway, it is unnerving to see people with 3 or more years of experience more than me getting fired. These are people with prestigious clerkships who graduated from very top schools. It does not seem right that I should not be let go when they were. Why? Because big law just needs someone to fill the ranks. We are not really lawyer in big law. We are simply warm bodies that filled the ranks; anyone can do what they did because that is the big law system. You do not feel like a real lawyer when you are in big law. You are not a real lawyer when in big law. Being a lawyer means that you have ultimate responsibility. You are not just some cog, you are someone who decides the fate of the client and you do not get that until you are atleast a 4th or 5th year associate in big law. We are not lawyers. We are cogs that do the bidding of partners who have the ultimate say. Something is terribly wrong with this whole system, this system that keeps us from being real lawyers. We have no responsibility since our work is always checked and double checked by service partners. We are not real lawyers in big law if we are such cogs.

The truth is that Sidley is trying to do away with first years now in subtle ways. I know for a fact that first years are being pushed out for now in public interest jobs but this is not currently being reported. It is happening, though.

the chimp be stinking.

Sidley LA had almost half of the layoffs surprisingly in litigation! No first years. Mostly junior, but some senior associates were affected. First year real estate associates were apparently offered a year probono opportunity. 4 month severance for all.

Best of luck to those laid off. It seems like Sidley Chicago laid off some of their best people.

K&E Associate

Message from Home Depot "Fixtures Dept"

-The Sink be Shippin....

The word processing department was told they would be outsourced. Could not collect unemployment or the package unless they applied for their job through the outsourced company. This "new" WP position would be temporary as the department will be fully outsourced by end of 2009. Secretaries and attorneys were laid off with a pink slip and a package. WP operators must apply for their "temporary" jobs (and take a drug test).

So is there a meeting tomorrow? Was that a coincidence? Or was the Harvard thing cancelled because of the layoffs and there is no meeting?

80, that protocol has been going on for over a year in CA firms. Outsource records, copy, wp, and make them reapply for their same positions with less pay, less benefits. It's the greedy bastards at the top of the food chain calling the shots.

I wish I could fire the first years in my group. Worthless and entitled. You can't find all the answers on the Internet. So all you retards with no legal experience, please try to find the answer yourself before bugging me and sometimes the answer is in the library. Moore's Federal Practice is a pretty good resource.

P.S. I went to a public law school, and, thus, I'm rich as shit an never had any student debt. Go complain to your law schools about your worthless, overpriced education and don't take it out on staff.

82: I love it when I come to ATL and hear the folks who not so long ago were screaming "NY to 190" for a job a nutless monkey could do then refer to others as "greedy."

This kind of stuff is the nectar of the comments on ATL. And references to ass lobsters. But mainly the irony of watching self-absorbed twentysomethings wallow in their sense of entitlement while casting aspersions on others' desire to maximize profit. (Is it a crime to generate profits yet? I haven't checked the New York Times yet this morning. Apologies if the reference to maximizing profits is now moot.)

It was one of the most disingenuous and disrespectful memos ever to come across my BlackBerry. That memo was written by some upper class white guy who has a car that's worth more than one year of my salary.

When I say 787 7th Ave is a ghost town, I'm not kidding.

Excuse me while I DON'T go give an attorney a hug.

Hey 83, I suppose you graduated from that public law school as a fully formed, mid to senior level associate, right?

why is 787 a ghost town? Because 35 people were fired? Really?

85 -- Grow a pair.

still wish someone could confirm what the deal is- what offices? how many? which groups?

i heard NY wasnt hit as hard as Chicago, I heard it was mostly capital markets/M&A.... details please!

88 - Learn some compassion for those less fortunate than you. Some people who do not make $100K plus just lost their jobs.

News flash: Not 35. 85 TOTAL. Attorneys & staff on one day, in the NY office. This does not include the what seems like 60+ attorneys since the first of the year. I'm not even talking about staff since the first of the year.

Exactly, 89. Someone out there--give us specific information. That's all we ask.

90 - I think it is 85 TOTAL in the US firms... not just NYC.

90 -- I do have compassion. A lot, frankly. I thought it was pretty low for someone to use the terms "disingenuous" and "disrespectful" to describe the announcement (and, by implication, the layoffs). Sidley, like a lot of other firms, has been hit hard in several key areas. I thought that in general the firm was far slower in laying people off than a whole slew of other firms. I think that the firm tried for quite some time to keep people around even though the outlook was bleak. To call the message "disingenuous" and "disrespectful" flies in the face of the reality that at a lot of other firms, a lot of these people would have been gone quite some time ago.

Yes. very compassionate. I especially like how the names of the victims were blasted out to all and sundry with no consideration of privacy so that the poor bastards were receiving condolences from still employed associates AND staff before they even had a chance to absorb the situation or talk to their own friends and family. well done. if they had any hope of keeping it quiet while conducting job searches, that's out the window.

The ONLY good news about the mass nature of these layoffs is the fact that getting let go during the recent blood lettings will not have the typical stigma of being let go.

94- there is a list? sidley sent out a list of those let go? the memo sent out didnt name names, so i dont know what you are talking about...

and the idea that 60+ attorneys have been let go in the NY office since jan 1 is absolutely LUDICROUS.

94, that is a completely untrue statement, no names of peopel let go were released and will not be released. It's up to the people who were let go to inform others when or if they feel the need.

96 97 my bad. to be clear was there a list? no
were names released? no was it done privately and discretly? imho er...no!

98- so when you said the names were "blasted out" and there was "no consideration of privacy" you meant... what exactly?

i used to work there and im dying to know whose left- but the firm hasnt made it abundantly clear to the people still there...

Going to say one thing in defense of Sidley and every other firm that waited a little longer to do layoffs (and those firms that are still waiting)...

Keeping people on board longer is as good as severance. If Sidley cut people in December and gave 6 months, everyone would talk about how generous they were. But they cut people in March and give 4 months, and its seen as average, even though it leaves people better off financially than the first scenario.

I was staff at Sidley until Thursday, and can only say that the lay-offs were handled well, the severance was fair, and the situation was unavoidable. Re: timing -I’d much rather be looking for work in the Spring than any other time of year. I’m grateful Sidley held out longer than most.

94 - No list was circulated. I should know. I work there (somehow).

92 - 45 Attorneys. 40 Staff. That's just the NY office. Total was 189 for US attorneys.

20% of Chicago Corporate lawyers were let go. No first years.

sidley laid off many staff with 20+ plus years and are close to retirement. how will they be able to find jobs in their late 50s/early 60s? should have retired them

Are the laid off associates still listed on the firm website? NALP indicates 279 associates in NY, but there are only 221 listed on the firm website.

I worked at Sidley until last summer. Having worked at another big firm, I can say that they came across as more human than my other firm, and from what I hear, most of the big firms as well. From what it sounds like, they handled it the best they could. I know no one there is happy with the current situation.

London is a bloodbath -- the only real practice group was securitization, and no one has had work for 6 months. Almost 25% of associates were laid off, and 4 or 5 partners are being told to leave.