April 2009

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 […]

This 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 […]

Is 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 […]

Ronald 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 […]

Lawyers 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, […]

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 […]

The 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 […]

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 […]

[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 […]

Shearman & 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. […]

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 […]

At 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 […]

Everybody 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 […]

Thelen 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 […]

Yesterday, 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 […]

Big 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 […]

* 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 […]

Tipsters 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, […]