I was told I would be first, but I'm not.

-42

What about compensation or severance for last year's summers, any word on that? We should get some kind of severance.

Wolf summer '08.

IS DBR still taking over WB's Del office?

Dow 20,000!

3 - are you kidding? Severance for what?

Very sad day for the Philadelphia legal community.

2 - awesome cross-reference
3 - please be kidding and/or not from my alma mater
7 - I second that

3, you get to keep the $30k that you "earned" by working hard last summer.

3 = troll

3 = troll

I am not kidding, 8. I choose Wolf for my summer. That's a huge decision. I spent alot of money for law school and needed that job. I think that the summers need to consider action against Wolf because its just not fair. We should get a severance.

And just for the record I go to a very good top ten law school.

Wolf Summer '08

at least it wasn't another CA firm dissolving...

No rotten jokes. Dissolution just isn't funny, it stinks.

"This result is ironic given that many of our practices and offices continue to perform at a high level despite our difficulties."

What the hell does that mean? Sounds like the profitable groups don't want to *carry* the real estate practice in this downturn, which stinks because prior to the current downturn, real estate groups have carried other groups for years. Is this dissolution really necessary, or are folks being greedy?

yes, 12, you should sue them under the It's Just Not Fair and I Should Get What I Think I Am Entitled To Act of 2009.

Dow's up 500 points today. Don't they check the Internet? The recession is over.

Even in a dissolution announcement they are talking up their business ... priceless.
What a bunch of dopes.

Please, please, please let there be a comment to this post from The Dow Is Up Guy. I am smiling just thinking about what he is going to say....

"This result is ironic given that many of our practices and offices continue to perform at a high level despite our difficulties."

What the hell does that mean? Sounds like the profitable groups don't want to *carry* the real estate practice in this downturn, which stinks because prior to the current downturn, real estate groups have carried other groups for years. Is this dissolution really necessary, or are folks being greedy?

16, in fairness to 3, in 2009 economy does pretty much operate under the principles set forth in the IJNFAISGWITIAE Act.

I failed! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

3/12 (Wolf Summer '08),

Condolences and good luck.

Thank god I went with SkaddenDC. The rest of you are idiots.

Uh, good luck with that lawsuit no. 3. By the way, the grammar police would have fired you anyway. You "choose" in the present. You "chose" last summer.

21, point taken, I forgot that it's one of the Changes We Can Believe In.

good luck 3/12. my heart goes out to you

to Mr. Alderson: Irony. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

The Dow is Up Guy has apparently ceded the field to his commenting superior, the WSSSLF guy.

It was just another firm, and just like all the others.

The ship be sinking...

3/12. The best you can do is write the associates/partners you worked for last summer (you did take time to make good business contacts, right?) and ask them to keep you in mind at their new firm. But that's a crapshoot at best. Good luck finding a job!

3/12. The best you can do is write the associates/partners you worked for last summer (you did take time to make good business contacts, right?) and ask them to keep you in mind at their new firm. But that's a crapshoot at best. Good luck finding a job!

15 (and 20) -- that's exactly what it means.

I knew they were in trouble when Sarah Palin started shooting them from helicopters.

Never heard of this firm until today. Are they new?

-- Prestigious T10 law student who didn't waste any OCI bids on non-V25 firms

17 -- Stop stealing my schtick. I've been saying that for 2 weeks now. NOT ONLY IS THE DOW UP, BUT MCGUIREWOODS IS EXPANDING!!! NYC TO 190!!

3/12- UPenn State takes another one on the chin. Sorry, and good luck finding something else.

Severance for going out of business? Apparently common law has been divorced from common sense at "Top Tier" law schools.

Read your employment contract. I suppose it doesn't guarantee a job for 12 months or 12 years? Right, all you have is a letter offering to allow you to work as an at will employee. And they will you to go away.

Life's a bitch in a depression. Sorry for your pain, time to grow up.

3 - All will be well.

The Market Will Provide.

Any info on the situation of the NJ office? Will it be joining Greenberg Traurig?

There just is not the "business" that Wolf Block relied on for years existing in Philadelphia anymore. It lost its industrial base so there is no work from the old manufacturing industries. All of the work emanating from manufacturing is gone and has been. that leaves partners scrambling for whatever they can get in the door. It is sad, but, it also is suggestive that spending $150 k on first year associate salaries is not to bright. Wolf Block learned the hardway that you can't pay those salaries without it impacting the bottom line.

There just is not the "business" that Wolf Block relied on for years existing in Philadelphia anymore. It lost its industrial base so there is no work from the old manufacturing industries. All of the work emanating from manufacturing is gone and has been. that leaves partners scrambling for whatever they can get in the door. It is sad, but, it also is suggestive that spending $150 k on first year associate salaries is not to bright. Wolf Block learned the hardway that you can't pay those salaries without it impacting the bottom line.

What ever happened to Shore and Solis-Cohen?

12 - if you went to a very good top ten school and "chose" WolfBlock you must have done VERY VERY Poorly at that school

Definitions (continued)

2) Zombie partners invariably use their powers to make their firms fight long defeats rather than to take bold initiatives that would make them thrive because the zombies make more money that way; and zombies are always hungry.

Assume a zombie partner making say $850,000 who is worth only $300,000 on the market. His extra money is coming from someone. That someone is a living partner for whose flesh the zombie lusts. If the zombie loses 5% per year by slowly strangling the firm he doesn't care as as he'll still be feasting on far more flesh than he could get otherwise.

The zombie will never vote to give up even a part of that flesh - he can't, he's a zombie. So he's content to let the firm die a slow death; to have it underperform year after year because he's still eating far more flesh than he could otherwise and he knows that under a system that rewards rainmaking he'll starve.

Zombiefied law firms die when the last of the living partners have been consumed or have escaped. It looks like the zombie apocalypse is over at WolfBlock - and the zombies won.

12 - anyone from a "very good top ten law school" who "choose" Wolf Block for any summer did really shitty in law school. Must have spent too much time watching JoePa suck at coaching football.

Follow up on Saul Ewing in Philly.....

3/12 - it's not fair? What are you a crybaby? I'll tell you what's not fair. when my girlfriend gave up her toe. She thought we'd be getting million dollars. So you should just show up, take whatever money the partners have on them, and call it even.

I "chose" (and quit picking apart my grammer, you jerks, its a blog) Wolf because they seemed like a good firm that would give me a lot of opportunity early on. The people were very nice to work with. I can't believe that nobody on this board sees the wrong that Wolf is committing by not paying severance to last year's summers. There has to be a case here. What about suing individual partners who caused the Wolf to lose money, like the "zombies" that 45 is talking about? Since I had an offer, I am a firm creditor. The firm owes me a fiduciary duty to perserve assets. I have been victimized by this firm, just like the everyone else that got fired.

Wolf Summer '08

PS, I didn't have to go to Wolf, but I did. They owe me something for reliance damages.

"This result is ironic given that many of our practices and offices continue to perform at a high level despite our difficulties."

What the hell does that mean?
__________________________________________

That means they are trying to put a good face on a bad result. If they could have continued as a viable and profitable entity minus the RE and other underperforming departments, they would have just gutted them and moved on. You only dissolve when you have to.

Wolf Summer '08 makes me laugh

Dear Wolf Summer '08:

You are a world-class whiner. You need to grow a pair. And, as you point out, you didn't have to go to Wolf, but you did!! Perhaps YOU should take some responsibility . . .

With the attitude you display, you'd probably be better off in government work.

love,

the grownups

P.S. It's not just your "grammer" -- your spelling and punctuation need work, too.

Wolf Summer '08,

You have no case. You received an offer for a job contingent on the firm being in EXISTENCE. No firm, no job. I understand you are not happy about having to go out and find a new job in this economy, I feel sorry for you. It's a horrible situation. But a lot of people have lost their jobs. Myself included. Deal with it like the rest of us.

-- [former] 2nd year associate

41 --

Replace "manufacturing industries" with "various corporate headquarters."

Replace Philly with San Francisco.

Replace WolfBlock with Heller / Thelen.

We are not done seeing this happen in smaller legal markets where the business community has undergone changes and the legal field responded.

Quinn remains...

Dear Wolf Summer '08

As an actual former associate at Wolf (who left several years ago), I can tell you that you should read the fine print that went along with your "offer" to become a full time associate post-graduation.

You will note that your future employment was "at will" and Wolf can decide to not honor the offer for whatever reason they want. And I'd say that dissolution is a damn good reason.

Furthermore, why on earth should you get "severence" when you aren't even working for the firm right now? The work you did as a summer associate was likely written off anyway and never billed to any clients.

Take the 30K you earned "working" during the summer of '08, buy yourself some resume paper, and start looking for a new job.

Yes, you have the right to feel a little sorry for yourself, but it could always be worse. If you go to a "top tier" school like you say you do, and if you had other offers, then maybe you'll be able to land on your feet. But if you continue to act so douchy, it's debatable.

No reliance damages when you shouldn't rely on at-will future employment.

Guys in my high school used to dissolve partnerships all the time. Twas no big deal.

Wolf summer 08, perhaps you should consider working for a Plaintiff's firm? Your ability to argue passionately for non-existant theories of recovery would serve you well.

I'm actually not kidding.

Wolf Summer '08 is the best character to show up here in recent weeks. And people are falling for it too. Comedy gold, Jerry, it's comedy gold!

I think Wolf Summer '08 attends a special school, if you catch my drift. What a loser!

12- Former Thelen employee here - You are not entitled to severance because firm is dissolving -- banks will be stepping in. I am still waiting to be reimbursed for vacation pay. Good luck finding a job in this market.

Wonder if 2009 summers who were given offers have any claim. Unlike 3Ls, the 2L summers do have employment contracts promising 10 weeks for work and whatever the pay is per week. There was probably no fine print alluding to the fact that the firm may dissolve.

I saw a 3L crying at Penn Law today. This explains it.

Wolf Summer '08 -- since when did Widener become a T10 school? I must have missed that memo.

Maybe you can enroll in the Temple LLM program and burnish your resume. Idiot.

Wolf Summer '08- if you're not a troll, you should consider this a good opportunity to find another career, as it is plainly obvious you will be a very bad lawyer.

47 What about Saul Ewing?

Wolf Summer '08

I have to agree with the others in that you have no case for damages against WB and are not in fact a creditor. Not every wrong creates a legal cause of action, especially in the employment context. Your situation is no doubt stressful and it really does suck, but you are not alone. You will pull through. Stay in touch with the lawyers you worked with while at WB and elsewhere, and ask WB for some assistance in finding a new position. Meet with a career planning counselor at your law school asap. Cast a wide net and be patient. Got to as many legal social events and bar association events as possible. Showing up is HUGE and good networking will eventually lead to opportunity.

But seriously everyone, why all the personal attacks? Like losing one's job offer isn't bad enough, you feel the need to make snide comments because the poster's legal analysis is faulty or even naive? Let's just hope you don't get your walking papers, because your personalities/attitudes aren't exactly "winning." I base this judgment exclusively on your willingness to anonymously pile on an obviously stressed out law student and concede that maybe when you're not hiding behind the cloak of anonymity you treat people with decency. In either event, you could all maybe benefit from getting off the high horses, because the odds are high that someone you care about, a classmate or friend, will eventually be hit by the economic downturn.

#3 just made the most AWESOME comment ever on ATL!

Saul Ewing laid off 7 associates today.

@64 not necessarily. Just being in West Philadelphia tends to make people cry.

http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/Philadelphia/20090119/1/3/

While Rome burned, Nero fiddled . . . .

http://www.readmetro.com/show/en/Philadelphia/20090119/1/3/

While Rome burned, Nero fiddled . . . .

WB 08 is typical of the type of talent that comes prancing through the doors during Fall and Summer. 12 day of work then out to a baseball game and dinner. 1/2 more day of work and then a wine and cheese party at a partners house. Golf and repeat. Those 10 weeks are a romance and 99% of what little was billed was probably written off. If WB 08 did get hired the new way would be 65 hour weeks of document review that a temp could be doing for $38.00 per hour. The clients are running the show now and WB equity partners have decided to get out of town while they still have a few bucks left in the war chest to spread around. I don't feel sorry for WB 08 but I do feel something for the people that actually worked to make WB someplace that a T10 baby lawyer would want to make home.

73 That explains a lot. No one was there to smell the smoke and then see the flames. Was he around today to throw some water on the bonfire?

"Since I had an offer, I am a firm creditor. The firm owes me a fiduciary duty to perserve assets. I have been victimized by this firm, just like the everyone else that got fired"

- WS '08 -

Quick question for ya - Which choice of yours was tougher - Deciding on Wolf Block or deciding between HLS and YLS?

This is a sad day for Philadelphia law.

/WolfBlock 08 - Best of luck to you. With your attitude, you're sure to make friends and influence people on the doc review circuit.

WB 08 is clearly a troll and you indignant tools who fell for it are, well, tools.

Very funny to see you look like tools, though, tools.

Hey 3: Take a deep breath and grow the fuck up.

Hey 3: Take a deep breath and grow the fuck up.

Having left Wolf Block last year, I was saddened but not surprised by the news. There are thousands of dollars that many of my friends may lose in the form of capital accounts. If these are paid, there will be no $ left for WB Summer's claim.

WB Summer '08: I think you should take WB's dissolution as a personal blessing. It's clear from your incredible ability to make-up legal theories on the fly (my favorite is your assertion that WB owes you a fiduciary duty), you wouldn't have lasted until January. Then, if anything, WB would have had an action in reliance against you. My advice: use your first year out of law school to go back to your first year of law school.

What I don't understand, is the fact that most summers don't really care about the baseball games and the constantly eating out. Since it is there, it is a nice perk--but guess what, I wouldn't have flipped if it wasn't there. So BigLaw do us all a favor and get rid of all the frills of the summer program, so mid and senior level associates can shut up already. Also, guess what I am ok with not getting paid $160, but guess what you idiots benefitted with the increase as well (lockstep, duh).

The thing that is amazing here, is that it has been no secret that Wolf Block has been in trouble. They didn't try and hide it at all. They've been trying to merge for at least two years now with no avail. Now it looks like a big group is going to Cozen, which doesn't make a lot of sense either. Philadelphians are in shock, Wolf Block was an institution in Philadelphia.

@ 62 - what are you doing in the meantime?

My balls to 190.

@71. Yeah, I agree. Let me tell you, bad experiences.

Source:

West Philadelphia born and raised ... (but then again) on the playground is where I spent most of my days

Next is Michael Best in Milwaukee?

Wolf Summer '08 has got to be flame. No one can be that stupid/entitled.

If you are not flame, I feel for your personal recession. However, you are not helping yourself by inventing rouge legal theories unless you are testing material for the open mike night at the local comedy club.

WB Summer 08 spent way too much time reading about emanations and penumbras in the Constitution. He/she should spend some time re-reading a 1st year contracts books.

@68: going to the law school career service is a waste of time. They didn't do anything for anybody when times were good and they are a complete waste of space in these times. WB needs to focus on creative ways to find a job rather than creative legal theories.

Anyone know what is going on at the other Philly firms? We know about Dechert, Morgan and Blank Rome. Some above have suggested we might hear something about Saul Ewing. Cozen laid off some staff a few weeks ago. Anyone know anything about other national firms headquartered in Philly (Drinker Biddle, Duane Morris) or other great old but still regional Philly firms (Dilworth Paxson, Montgomery McCracken)? This used to be a great legal market and a wonderful city in which to practice.

Ballard Spahr has been doing stealth layoffs of associates and has done a couple of rounds of staff cuts. For a firm that went out of its way to argue for year that it was somehow different and more collegial, it's pathetic.

Said to say that this, but Wolf Block won't likely be the last firm in Philly to implode. There are many firms like it - storied history, but incredibly poor management that took it to this point. Alderman can blame the economy and say this situation is "ironic," but the fact is he couldn't manage a firm worth a damn, was a complete egotist, and, as Chairman, is responsible for taking this firm down. Well done, sir. Crappy law firm leaders around Philly should look very closely at what happened to Wolf Block as it can, and may, happen to your firm too.

91 to 92, Thanks. I forgot about Ballard Spahr. And there's also Obermayer. Some of these firms (Dilworth, Ballard Spahr, Obermayer) might also be experiencing some shakeout from the Fumo scandal. News coverage put Ballard Spahr, Obermayer and Cozen in a bad light in terms of Fumo steering work, extorted from corporations, to those firms for a piece of the action, and Fumo essentially was paid a very high income by Dilworth to serve as a "runner." I wonder if any of those fees can be the subject of forfeiture proceedings.

Couldn't happen to a nicer firm.

How depressing. Any other LS students considering the benefits of returning to a former career at this point?

Anyone notice that their home page (not updated with news of their folding) states that they have:

A COMMITMENT TO THE FUTURE

That and the press release that a new partner joined them on 3/17 are both funny and sad. They oughta take down or change their site ASAP.

Okay everyone, I know this is yesterday's post, but let's stop picking on the summer associates. I agree that WB summer 08 definitely needs to learn more about the law, but c'mon - it's just someone upset about finding out in almost-April that he/she has no job for next year and will soon be getting bills for student loans. Stop picking on a law student.

And as for summer associates - don't blame THEM for getting lots of perks and not billing. Some of us were lucky enough to get that experience and enjoyed it. Some of us wished we got it and might be a little resentful. But it's not the SA's fault - blame the firms. Besides, while I certainly enjoyed the perks I got as a summer (modest at my firm compared to some big ones), by the end of the summer I didn't want to have one more boring conversation with a partner who had nothing interesting to say - free drinks or not. I'd rather drink cheap stuff with my friends!

Thanks 97. It seems that this board is more interested in bashing me, rather than exploring the ideas i had. Listen, even everyone always told me that the second summer at law school was super important, maybe the summers don't have a claim. But rather than bash me, why not try to be creative and think of some way we could recover from this? Maybe I am new at this, but you people seem really jaded. Was it worth it?

Wolf Summer '08

Wonder just how big the credit line they had with the banks was? Apparently the partners refused to personally guarantee the money, or any portion of it. Rainmakers probably figured they could take their business elsewhere without having to give a personal guarantee. Worker-bee partners probably saw the handwriting on the wall and did not suddenly want to become personally responsible for the firm's debt.

74 - Id like to add that the summer associate’s attitude is the typical entitlement bullshit that we see from most of this generation. Its why the country is spinning down the toilet. Maybe we should give the firm a bailout.

And keep up the good work Summer. Keep slinging it at the fan and maybe a cause-of-action will stick. You obviously know your employment law.

Wolf Summer '08 - If you want some candid advice, contact your local Navy or USMC recruiter about the JAG Corps. For a three-year service contract, you will get valuable trial experience, an excellent resume enhancer, and by the time your hitch is up, this recession will probably be over.

And maybe you'll have grown up a little. Maybe even more than the people ripping on you.

Your right 101. I should limit my freedom of speech.

102 - Perish the thought. I find the sarcasm and visciousness experessed here as entertaining as the arrogance and whining.

101

Good to hear. Its all about the entertainment value.

Wolf summer '08 - speaking as a labor and employment lawyer I can safely say that you have no case. Severance is reserved for actual employees - a lot of employers take you off the payroll as soon as you go back to school. I understand it's a hard market out there - but hey if you went to a top tier you shouldn't have an issue for long. Sorry if we can't be more understanding, but I personally know mid-years who are laid off right now and they take precedence in the sympathy vote.

101's advice isn't half-bad at all. if i was a law student w/out a job right now, i'd be looking into that option.

did 62 end up going to morgan lewis? if i were 62 i'd keep my resume updated.
sucks for wolf block. if he does go to a top law school, then i'm sure that he will find something else.

91: all i know is that the severence aggrement for morgan said march 09 to march 31st....gut feeling. more layoffs.

97: awesome. staff views the SA's as little spoiled brats. what do they actually do? maybe this is a good time for law students who don't have a SA anymore to do an internship with their community and use thier fancy degrees to give something back? just a suggestion.

Wolf '08

It's unfortunate but you have zero recourse. You have no more standing than as if you were an at will employee and you were not even that.

Ironically I know someone who was a former partner at Wolf Block who has since moved to another firm. He was in the exact same position you are in now during the early 90's when he graduated from law school. The law firm that accepted him as a first year associate dissolved before he graduated. He scrambled and survived by going into bankruptcy and restructuring law because those were the only positions available in appreciable numbers. He eventually got into the original corporate and entertainment practice he wanted. You might want to think along similar lines and move on and strategize how you are going to find gainful employment.

successful troll is successful

successful troll is successful

109: stfu. "fancy" institutions crush their "over-privileged" students with a mountain of debt.

you think we're all so greedy that we'd prefer to have little life outside of work and mind-numbingly tedious assignments? you think we wouldn't choose to have humane hours and a more upbeat work environment?

look at the pattern of attrition rates in recent years: junior associates get paid, then get out.

summary: you sound bitter.

3/12: I almost cried when I read "I think that the summers need to consider action against Wolf because its just not fair. ". But I pulled it together, and now I just hate the fact that you are in law school. Hopefully the PBA finds reason to toss you. OR maybe you are just getting this degree to make Daddy happy, and after graduation you will marry a real lawyer and start being the whiny house wife you sound like.

68, have you not yet learned that a huge % of posters here are total jerkoffs?

Heard through the grapevine that NJ offices were going to go it alone. Anyone else hear this? Does it even make sense as a possibility when a firm dissolves?

Alderman isn't to blame. The firm never recovered from the departure of some big time partners in the mid-90s, including:

Alan Davis; Robert Fiebach and Steve Arbitier.
In all 10 went to Cozen and 5 went to Ballard in 1995.

-- Wolf Block associate, '89 to '93 (with fond memories of the place).

116 - wrong
117 - very wrong

117's romanticized nostalgia is heart-warming, but misinformed. WB never recovered from the '93 departures, because it became Alderman's banana republic upon his return. The collapsing credit and real estate markets hastened, but did not cause, WB's long-coming and inevitable demise. A once-great firm built through hard work, intelligence, and creativity was infected and rotted by a culture that rewarded short-sightedness, valued greed, and empowered sycophantic ne'er-do-wells. Whatever firm 117 fondly recalls died a long time ago.

118 - why is 116 so wrong? Long before WolfBlock bought them out and drove them into the ground, the NJ office of Brach Eichler was doing just fine. Seeing as though the NJ office consists of the same attorney's who were there at that time - why can they not just revert back to the name they built for themselves? Their health care practices is one of the best in New Jersey...

Don't just declare something wrong without facts to support your reasoning.

120 - I do have facts. I know that you are a staff member there, for example.

121 - incorrect. I am actually a client who thinks very highly of the former Brach Eichler and would like to see them pull back together. Care to support your statement now?

Hey 119:

It was Bob Segal and Charlie Kop who managed the firm until 1998. After that, the writing was on the wall. They left Alderman holding a decaying carcass.

-- Wolf Block Associate '89 to '93.

23 - David?

120 -- I hope they do. Brach Eichler was a terrific firm.

Often times Indian tribes had two chiefs, one for prosperous times and one for times of crisis/war. Mark Alderman is nothing more than a prosperity leader, and Wolf Block didn't name a crisis leader until it was way too late.