Archive for April 2009

Roofiegate Resolved: Bingham Vindicated Prevails, Complaint Dismissed

By David Lat

date rape drug.jpgAs we’ve previously noted, when it comes to disputes between lawyers and their former firms, there are several sides to every story. For example, compare Yolanda Young’s claims against Covington & Burling with the firm’s response (PDF).
We try to cover both sides of these controversies. Having previously covered Roofiegate — aka Moor v. Bingham McCutchen, a complaint filed by ex-associate Michelle Moor against the firm, alleging that she was slipped a date rape drug at the firm’s holiday party — we now bring you this update.
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) has dismissed Michelle Moor’s complaint:

Based upon the Commission’s investigation, the Commission is unable to conclude that the information obtained establishes a violation of the statutes. This does not certify that the Respondent is in compliance with the statutes. No finding is made as to any other issues that might be construed as having been raised by this complaint.

Details, plus a link to the Commission’s ruling, after the jump.

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Nationwide Start Date Watch: Winston & Strawn, WilmerHale, Baker & McKenzie, and Sonnenschein Delay Start Dates

By Elie Mystal

More firms are pushing back the start dates of incoming first year associates. This weekend, we learned that Winston & Strawn has pushed back start dates to January 19th, 2010. Deferred associates will receive an additional $15,000 on top of their $10,000 bar stipend. The firm is also picking up health care for its incoming associates, starting in September.

We learned today that Baker & McKenzie has also pushed back start dates to January 2010. As we understand it, the firm is not offering any additional stipend other than what they normally pay out for bar expenses.

WilmerHale also announced a start date push back. According to a firm-wide memo:

As is our normal practice, we will have more than one start date. A portion of the class will start on January 20 and the remainder will start on March 17. To determine the group that will start on each date, Legal Personnel and Recruiting will work with department and practice group leaders to balance the stated interests of the incoming associates with the various needs of departments, practice groups and offices.

Those starting in January 2010 will receive a $10,000 deferral stipend on top of a $5,000 bar stipend, while the March 2010 first years will receive a $15,000 bar stipend.

But WilmerHale is also encouraging associates to take a full year off:

We also informed our incoming associates that they may defer their start dates until the fall of 2010 for a stipend in the amount of $75,000. This deferral is entirely at the option of the individual incoming associate and is not tied to his or her ability to obtain a pro bono or other public service position.

The WilmerHale deferral stipend is right at the top of the Latham-led market for these optional year-long programs. But its stipend for people being forced to start in January or March is a little on the low end.

Baker, Winston, and WilmerHale are announcing their programs late in the game. We’ll have to see if the delay puts incoming associates heading to the these firms at a disadvantage in terms of post-bar exam options.

After the jump, we check in on Sonnenschein’s late breaking, long-term deferral.

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The Asia Chronicles: State of the Market, March 26, ’09

By Kinney Recruiting

3.26 ed.JPGAsia Chronicles logo.jpg[Ed. note: This post is authored by Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, sponsor of the Asia Chronicles. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates and partners in Asia than any other firm in the past two years. You can reach them by email: asia at kinneyrecruiting dot com.]

Evan here. Although the lateral market in Asia continues to be very slow, as expected in the downturn, we have seen a substantial upturn in interviewing of our candidates in Asia recently. For example, currently the following of my associate candidates are actively interviewing in Asia, each at multiple firms (there are others with single interviews):

*mid-level cap markets associate (Mandarin fluent) from HK interviewing in HK

senior cap markets associate from HK (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in HK

*mid-level PE / M&A associate from US interviewing in HK

*mid-level M&A associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in HK

*senior M&A / cap markets associate from US (Korean fluent) interviewing in HK

*mid-level project finance associate from US (Korean fluent) interviewing in Tokyo

*mid-level M&A associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in HK

*mid-level M&A associate from HK (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in Beijing

*mid-level IP associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in Beijing

*mid-level project finance associate from US interviewing in Abu Dhabi

*junior M&A associate from US (Mandarin fluent) interviewing in Beijing and HK

*mid-level funds associate from US interviewing in HK

It is important to note that firms are moving slow to give offers so the interviewing activity above is not indicative of offers coming soon for each (as it was during the recent boom times for lateral hiring). However, I am getting the impression that some firms are ready to give offers after some months of delay in filling openings. I do think that all the above associates will be placed in Asia in ’09.

***More after the jump.

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Another Sullivan & Cromwell Partner Has Left the Building

By David Lat

Sullivan Cromwell LLP new logo Sullcrom.jpgThis year has been an interesting one so far for Sullivan & Cromwell. There has been happy news, like firm chairman H. Rodgin Cohen — banking M&A god, and a contender for a top Treasury Department post, before he withdrew — being named Dealmaker of the Year. There has been tragic news, like the killing of one S&C secretary (and the wounding of a second).

John OBrien John J OBrien headshot Sullcrom Sullivan Cromwell partner.jpgThis latest piece of news, like the pushing back of start dates to November 2 for incoming associates, falls somewhere in between. Above the Law has learned that John O’Brien — a corporate, er, “general practice” partner at S&C, where he handled “mergers and acquisitions, investment management, [and] corporate and securities matters” — has left the firm. He joined the firm in 1992 and made partner in 2001.

Multiple sources report that O’Brien’s departure was involuntary. Apparently he was removed from the building by security personnel, sometime last week. His removal came as a shock to many. According to one S&C tipster, O’Brien was known around 125 Broad Street as “a well-respected attorney and incredibly nice individual” — one of the nicest people at S&C.

(That may not be saying much, given the firm’s reputation for hiring folks like the infamous DB. But O’Brien was also highly esteemed for his legal skills at the uber-prestigious, super-successful firm, home to many great legal minds.)

Regardless of the exact reasons for John O’Brien’s departure — if you have information, please email us — it is confirmed that he is no longer with the firm.

He no longer appears on the external S&C website. Nor is he on the firm intranet, sources at the firm inform us. We called his former direct-dial number and received no answer. We called the main S&C switchboard and asked to speak with him. After placing us on hold for a long time, the receptionist returned to inform us that O’Brien “is no longer with the company” (and that she had no forwarding information for him).

It was all very reminiscent of the Carlos Spinelli-Noseda situation. As you may recall, Spinelli-Noseda — like O’Brien, a young, highly regarded, very well-liked corporate partner at S&C — mysteriously disappeared from the firm. Several months later, it came to light that Spinelli-Noseda defrauded clients and the firm (to the tune of $500,000, through submission of fraudulent travel and entertainment expenses).

Last night, we reached out to H. Rodgin Cohen and to a firm spokesperson for comment. Neither has gotten back to us yet; if and when we hear anything, we’ll let you know. If you have inside info, please email us, or call (212-334-1871, ext. 9).

More about John J. O’Brien and Sullivan & Cromwell, including cached versions of his firm and Martindale-Hubbell bios, after the jump.

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Vinson & Elkins: Another ‘No Layoff” Promise

By Elie Mystal

Vinson & Elkins logo.JPGIs promising associates that you won’t kick them to the curb the new trend? Vinson & Elkins had an all associates meeting yesterday, and managing partner Joseph Dilg assured associates that the firm would not resort to layoffs.

Great news.

Instead, Dilg told his loyal following that the firm would look to shed $40 million in operating expenses in a variety of ways. A tipster reports:

The firm is going to cut at least $40 million in costs by reducing staff bonuses, no longer reimbursing out of town CLEs, making us pay for our own cell phones on our blackberries, waiting to upgrade computers and a long list of other cost-cutting measures.

That is on top of the pushing back the start dates on incoming associates. Texas Lawyer reports that 3Ls received the news last night:

V&E hiring partner Thomas Leatherbury of Dallas says the incoming associates were notified last night that they can choose a new start date of either Nov. 2 or Jan. 4, 2010. He says “either start date is fine,” but the firm wants the new associates to talk to the practice group leaders and department heads in their areas to “get some input” before making a decision. The Houston-based firm is offering an incentive for the Jan. 4, 2010, date: a $10,000 salary advance the associates will not have to repay.

Tipsters also report that even bigger changes could be coming to V&E down the road. Details after the jump.

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Cost Cutting At Schiff Hardin

By Elie Mystal

Schiff Hardin logo.JPGRonald S. Safer, managing partner of Schiff Hardin, emailed associates last week about all of the cost cutting measures the firm was undertaking to preserve associate jobs.

The memo starts with the words every associate is looking for:

I know you have read with interest, and undoubtedly some trepidation, the news of law firms slashing personnel, lawyers and staff alike. We have no intention of following that lead. We do not part with our most valuable assets – our people – lightly.

You’d think that with that kind of opening most Schiff associates would have to change their pants before they could continue reading the memo.

Sadly, the tone of the memo changes pretty quickly:

Nor are we immune from the economic downturn. Our clients are affected by the credit crunch and decreased activity in almost all sectors of the economy, and our success is aligned with theirs. Nonetheless, our business model is sound. Unlike some of our competitors, our practices are diverse. We have grown within our means. We have no long-term debt. We have focused our efforts on strategic planning to grow our business. We are well-positioned to weather this storm and thrive as we have for over 140 years.

Whenever a firm announces the absence of “long-term debt,” you can be sure that bad things are about to happen for its employees. It’s like an owner giving his manager a “vote of confidence.”

After the jump, we get into just what Schiff is cutting.

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Career Alternatives: Poker is a Better Bet than Yale Law School

By Elie Mystal

Vanessa Selbst Yale poker player.jpgLawyers and poker go together like rare steak and red wine. You need many of the same logical skills, interspersed with an ability to take managed risks. With the legal job market looking like a busted straight that you shouldn’t have chased in the first place, maybe it’s time for a different game?

Vanessa Selbst, a 1L at Yale Law School, certainly isn’t relying on a recovery in the legal market for future earnings. The World Series of Poker player was profiled in the Hartford Courant, yesterday:

Although she doesn’t carry a deck of cards with her at all times, Selbst is almost always thinking about gaming, whether she’s home, on the road or in a classroom at Yale law school, where she started last fall. It’s a mental discipline that has taken her from the cafeteria of her New Jersey high school, where she played pick-up games, to the high-roller suites at Foxwood Resort Casino and beyond, helping her become the first woman to win a bracelet in an open event at last June’s 39th annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) and earn nearly $800,000 in tournament winnings in the four years she’s played professionally.

Well, that will pay for law school.

The stereotypical lawyer/poker player is a tight player who takes minimal risks. They tread water and don’t chase and take you down when you make your set on the river while they’ve been slow playing their boat all along.

But Vanessa doesn’t play that way at all.

After the jump, never bluff and bluffer.

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The Latest and Greatest Nationwide Start Date Round-up

By Kashmir Hill

Last month, we brought you Open Thread: Nationwide Start Date Round-up. After a flood of tips in response to that, we brought you an Expanded Nationwide Start Date Round-up. After that post, we got another deluge of tips. So now we bring you the latest and greatest round-up: more firms, more 2010 start dates, more pro bono deferral opportunities, more great taste, less calories…. whoops, wrong post.

Proskauer Rose announced start dates yesterday. Incoming associates have got some time to kill and some money to spend, says a tipster:

Proskauer [is] pushing their new associates back to March 2010. They’re offering a $20K stipend, or the option to get a public interest job, start Jan. 2011 and get a $60K stipend. They’re also still honoring a $10K salary advance they had previously offered.

Most firms, like Proskauer, have offered baby associates deferral stipends when pushing back start dates. However, a few disgruntled 3Ls have written to ATL saying that stipends are not forthcoming at their firms. Here are reports from tipsters:

Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell not offering any stipends [not even salary advances] to deferred Class of 2009 associates. Deferred Associates are still receiving their graduation bonuses ($1500), I guess that’s supposed to carry them through until January 2010.

You guys got to say something about the fact that Shearman, unlike most of the other firms, isn’t paying any kind of a stipend to those it is deferring until January ’10.

King & Spalding, all offices, has been pushed to January 19, 2010. Incoming associates were informed in late March. No stipend, and the salary advance is also not an option anymore.

Goldberg Kohn gave their incoming associates a $7500 bar stipend (which was reduced from the originally promised $8,000); they paid for Bar Exam fees; and they gave them a hand wave goodbye. As for their reported “pushing back start dates”, Goldberg Kohn has told their incoming associates that their start date was INDEFINITELY deferred. They said that March 2010 was a possibility but that the date was arbitrary and they are making no promises at all….They have offered no deferral stipend.

We would like to note that Shearman is paying a $65,000 stipend to those deferred to September 2010.

We wanted to call this post “The Final Round-up,” but that seemed overly optimistic. Check out the newest additions to the nationwide start date watch, after the jump. This time around, we’ve included firms (that we know of) that have not yet announced start dates.

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ATL March Madness for Law Firms: Williams & Connolly is Crowned Biglaw’s Safest Firm

By Kashmir Hill

Above the law march madness williams connolly victory.jpgThe final round of Above The Law’s 2009 March Madness for Law Firms was actually more exciting than the final round of the NCAA tournament.

While UNC routed Michigan State, Wachtell and Williams & Connolly were competing in a fierce battle for the title of Biglaw’s safest firm — the place where you are least likely to be laid off.

New York-based Wachtell (the #1 Vault seed) was leading early on in the day, but D.C.-based Williams & Connolly (V14) took the lead in the polls in the afternoon, and refused to let go.

When the buzzer sounded at midnight last night, WillConn claimed victory, 51.5 to 48.5.

According to ATL readers, Williams & Connolly is Biglaw’s Safest Firm, baby!!! *

*Out of the top 32 in the Vault prestige rankings

It’s a good time to be a small, streamlined firm in Washington, D.C., tight with the leading politicos. We congratulate the attorneys at Williams & Connolly on their job security prospects.

See the brackets and the explanations behind readers’ voting after the jump.

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Expanded Nationwide Start Date Round-up

By Kashmir Hill

Last month, we did a round-up of start dates for 2009 associates. Reflecting the slowdown in work at firms across the country, many firms have pushed back start dates for new associates into next year.

After that post, we heard from many of you going to firms not included in the list the first time around. We’ve made quite a few new additions to the list, after the jump.

Some law students are e-mailing us because they still don’t know when they will start and are reporting little communication from their firms. Firms, the message 3Ls want to send to you is, “Please communicate. We’re freaking out.” 3Ls, the message ATL wants to send to you, “Try not to freak out.”

Many law school graduates with Biglaw offers will have many months to kill before starting their new jobs. Let us know how you’ll be spending your time, in the comments. And check out the list of start dates, after the jump.

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  • 04 Apr 2009 at 8:55 AM
  • Layoffs

This Week in Layoffs: 04.04.09

By Law Shucks

Law Shucks layoffs layoff tracker.jpg[Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.]

Unemployment hit a 25-year high in February, reaching 8.5%, and the legal industry isn’t immune. Fortunately, April hasn’t gotten off to the roaring start we saw in March, but the major firms continue to cut headcount.

According to the New York Times:

The sharp and continuing increase in unemployment suggests that even if the downward spiral is beginning to level off, job losses are likely to keep piling up for the rest of this year and into 2010.

As the American Lawyer notes, roughly the same number of people are currently employed in the legal sector as were in October 2003 — five years of growth gone in six months. 2,700 jobs were lost in the US legal sector in March alone (note that is a net number, so for that, and a whole host of other reasons, it doesn’t correspond to the 3,677 we tracked as laid off by major firms last month).

The effects on our little corner of the economy are slowly getting mainstream attention. In a New York Times editorial, Adam Cohen notes that lawyers may not be the most-sympathetic victims of the recession (really, can’t we call it a depression yet?), but they are the canaries in the coal mine that could force a change in how the industry works. He’s predicting lower salaries and law-school-curriculum reform.

As of early Friday afternoon, there were a total of 675 layoffs for the week, up 47% from last week’s 459.

Details, analysis, and context, after the jump.

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Shearman & Sterling Pushes Back Start Dates: Class of ’09 v. ’10 Can Now Begin Fighting In Earnest

By Elie Mystal

Shearman logo.JPGShearman & Sterling is the latest firm to ask incoming first years to voluntarily delay their start dates. According to a firm wide memo that went out today, the firm is offering $65,000 (plus the standard bar stipend) for incoming associates who are willing to start in September of 2010.

But there’s an interesting wrinkle. According to the memo:

Incoming Class of 2009 associates who choose to participate in the Delayed Start Program will have an offer to join the firm as a first year associate in the Class of 2010, with the option to start on the first start dates for Class of 2010 associates.

So, officially now, Shearman is asking people not just to give up a year of Biglaw salary, they are also asking them to lose a full class year. That will affect their raises (assuming those will still exist at some point), bonus payouts, and put even the superstars a year behind in their quest for partnership.

According to NALP, Shearman made 128 offers to its 129 participants in the 2008 summers program out of its New York office. This year, the firm expects just 54 summers. But it certainly looks like those 54 people are now directly competing against a significant number of the 128 people the firm now hopes will defer until 2010.

I think it’s safe to assume that the firm doesn’t want 182 people starting in September 2010, so something will have to give.

More details from the Shearman memo, after the jump.

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  • 01 Apr 2009 at 9:15 PM
  • UVA Law

The UVA Libel Show: UVA Law Sends Us Hot Bodies

By Kashmir Hill

UVA students were a bit jealous that NYU’s Law Revue got such prominent play here at ATL with two posts last month. One UVA 3L sent along this video from last week’s UVA Libel Show, saying:

Here’s one of the funnier videos from this year’s UVA Libel Show. In terms of humor we definitely feel it kicks the crap out of NYU’s Law Revue.

Should provide some lighter fare for your readers.

Very eloquent fighting words. Here’s the “Hot Bodies of Law” video. Judge for yourself:

The Con Luv Boyz “want you like Lawrence v. Texas” and “get excited when [they] see ya like Antonin Scalia when original intent is found.” We’re laughing, but still trying to get over the resemblance between that one Con Luv Boy and Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

UVA and NYU, feel free to duke it out in the comments.

Open Thread: What Can Law Schools Do?

By Elie Mystal

Law clinics can help 3Ls.JPGAt some point, we are going to have to do something about law school tuition that is painfully out of whack with the reality of the post-graduate legal market. But with falling state budgets and a record number of new applicants, let’s assume that law schools will sooner offer advanced classes in hotel management before they reduce tuition.

But what can law schools do to help out their students during this market crisis. The UCONN student newspaper had an interesting idea:

UConn Law pushes back start date for Class of 2012

In a move seen as in line with many BigLaw firms, UConn Law has pushed back the start date for the incoming class of 2012, which will now begin studies in January of 2010….

The development was simultaneously discovered by several dozen 3Ls, who fi ll their days obsessively refreshing the law industry blog Above the Law, in the hopes the firms at which they plan to start their careers have gone another five minutes without dissolving.

I’m all for taking the incoming class of 2012 and vigorously shaking them while screaming “What are you thinking!? You are RUINING it for everybody!” Alas, the UCONN idea is just another “April Fool’s” attempt to raise hopes and then quickly dash them.

But after the jump, are there legitimate options law schools should consider?

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More April Fool’s Fun: This Time From Texas

By Elie Mystal

Sager UT Law.JPGEverybody likes to make jokes on April Fool’s Day, even us. So it’s nice to see the Dean of the University of Texas Law School get in on the fun. Here’s the first part of the email he sent around to Texas law students this morning

Update (3:38): It seems the Dean did not send this letter out, it was just some enterprising student. Still, it’s pretty funny, as you’ll see below.

It is with great sadness and regret that I announce today that I am stepping down as the Dean of The University of Texas School of Law. As you can imagine, this decision was not an easy one. In my time here at law school, I have been blessed to keep company with some of the finest legal minds in the world, and I have made many friends, both students and faculty, whom I will cherish for the rest of my days.

I am proudest, of course, of our efforts to double the law school’s endowment, and I am happy to report that despite the current economic downturn, we are well on our way to accomplishing that goal. And our faculty hires over the past few years have assured that we shall rank among the nation’s elite institutions of legal education for years to come.

But despite these accomplishments, the law can be a harsh mistress, and I have ambitions and dreams that remain unfulfilled. It is with that in mind that Jane and I have decided to retire to the Texas Hill country, where I will pursue my first love: raising Emus. Not as a source of food, mind you, but as a means of human locomotion.

We’ve profiled Dean Lawrence Sager before. He looks pretty funny, and he’s a Yankee living in Texas so you know he’s got a sense of humor. And (I say this as a person who knows more about emus than any man ever should) the Dean does have his facts straight: emus taste bad yet they are more easy to domesticate than ostriches.

More from the Dean (and his statement disavowing authorship of the letter) after the jump.

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Ex-Thelen Employees Granted Class Status

By Elie Mystal

Thelen LLP new logo.jpgThelen dissolved, not that long ago. But some former employees claim that they did not get sufficient notice under the WARN act. Those employees are now allowed to pursue remedies as a certified class:

Lawyers and staff for the now-defunct firm Thelen have won class certification of their suit claiming the firm failed to give federally required 60 days notice that it would close its doors….

Thelen stipulated to class certification, a move praised by Steven A. Blum, who represents former Thelen employees.

Congratulations guys. Good luck getting blood out of a rock.

Of course, there are people affiliated with Thelen that still have money, and the lawyer representing former Thelen employees intends to go after those deep pockets, regardless of where they practice now:

Asked if sufficient funds exist for a recovery, Blum said, “From one source or another there should be a substantial recovery. From Thelen itself there are banks to contend with first and we may have to go to other sources in addition to Thelen to get maximum compensation.”

He said those other sources would include “other law firms that have taken large groups of Thelen partners and discarded the employees.”

Interesting. Nixon Peabody picked up 90 Thelen attorneys. Any chance that former Thelen partners now at Nixon will disgorge profits to this new class of former employees?

Ex-Thelen Lawyers Granted Class Certification [ABA Journal]

Judge approves class certification of suit filed by employees of shuttered Thelen [National Law Journal]

Earlier: Thelen Officially Dissolves

Nixon Peabody Picks Up 90 Thelen Attorneys (This is Different From a Merger How?)

Are Salary Cuts Coming?

By Elie Mystal

Salary Cuts.jpgYesterday, we reported that Allen Matkins is cutting associate salaries. We don’t think that Allen Matkins will start a deflationary trend back towards $145K. But The Recorder reports that top firms are “salivating” for at least one market leader to make it okay for top firms to cut salaries:

But it’s clear that firms high on the Am Law 100 list are salivating for a salary cut as well. It has been a sure-fire conversation starter for months now. But so far, no chairman or managing partner has gone on the record saying he or she wants to cut salaries, or by how much.

A firm in the top 10 to 15 will likely never do it, said consultant Peter Zeughauser. It’s the firms in the top 30 or 40 that may move the market, and they will do it only if they’ve “exhausted all other options.”

Why the lemming-like behavior? Details after the jump.

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Lesbianic Lip-Lock LLP?

By Kashmir Hill

The OC girl girls lesbian kiss above the law.jpgBig news in from Minnesota. Remember the story of the female summer associates who got drunk and started making out last year at a firm event? We covered it in our end-of-the-year Biglaw Gossip In Review post. In that post, we wondered:

What happened to our fearless heroines after summer was over? We don’t know their fates. We reached out to them by email, but they did not respond to our queries. Did they land new jobs? It’s not clear.

It has become clearer. Apparently, the two 3Ls were among the many heading into life-after-law-school without job offers. So, like these University of Missouri-Kansas City grads, they’re going entrepreneurial and launching their own firm.

Will they be able to capitalize on their Above The Law fame? How are they getting their start-up cash? And more importantly, are they hiring?

More details, after the jump.

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Morning Docket 04.01.09

By Kashmir Hill

auction above the law.jpg* Eric Turkewitz is putting the New York Personal Injury Law Blog on the auction block. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]

* The Franken-Coleman Minnesota Senate legal drama may finally be drawing to a close. The three-judge panel wants to limit the recount to 400 absentee ballots. [New York Times]

* This is not the time to be perceived as privileged. A wave of populism is sweeping the nation says the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Half of Americans want federal prosecutors to be more aggressive in pursuing criminal charges against business leaders. [Capital Journal/Wall Street Journal]

* Speaking of privileged, those California judges have it good. The conservative group Judicial Watch is going after the over 400 judges who make more than SCOTUS justices, and some of whom have state-provided car allowances and health club memberships. [Associated Press]

* R. Allen Stanford needs a public defender. The Texan billionaire facing “massive” fraud charges from the SEC said he has no money to hire an attorney because all of his assets have been seized. [Bloomberg]

* Justice Department lawyers determined (again) that D.C. is not entitled to representation in Congress, but AG Eric Holder wants a second — or really third — opinion. [Washington Post]

Kirkland & Ellis: Playing Host to Movie ‘Morgans’

By Kashmir Hill

hugh grant sarah jessica parker kirkland.jpgTipsters tell us that Kirkland & Ellis will have a starring role in an upcoming Hugh Grant film called “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” We haven’t heard about the Morgans, but the Internet Movie Database tells us it’s a comedy from the director who brought us the brilliant Music & Lyrics, Two Weeks Notice, and both Miss Congeniality and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous. So, we’re guessing this will be another movie that’s fantastic… if you’re trapped on a plane for 13 hours.

The film, which pairs Grant with Sarah Jessica Parker, is shooting this week at Kirkland’s New York office in midtown Manhattan. Says a Kirkland associate:

Sarah Jessica Parker will be at the offices of Kirkland & Ellis [today] in NY for the filming. They have put up fake firm names in the lobby and reception in preparation for the movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Grant and Parker play “an estranged high-powered New York couple who witness a murder and are placed in a witness-protection program in a small Wyoming town.” We’re guessing that one of them is a high-powered corporate attorney or that the film has them heading to Kirkland to talk about divorce matters. We hope it’s the former. We like it when “working in law” and “high-powered” are used synonymously.

Kirkland’s certainly not the first Biglaw New York office to make a big picture appearance. Cadwalader appeared in a Cameron Diaz movie, Dewey (and DPW?) were in Michael Clayton, and Natalie Portman and Jeffrey Dean Morgan were employed by Kramer Levin in the fall.

Did You Hear About the Morgans? [IMDB]

Elisabeth Moss assists ‘Morgans’ film [Hollywood Reporter]