McDermott Will & Emery sucks.

TAKE THAT SHIT SHEARMAN ASSOCIATES!
it's pretty clear if you don't they're going to stealthpwn you hard and shaft you on the severance.

Not mother?

first to say, shearman and sTTTerling

Yet again, I'd take this deal in a heartbeat if my firm offered it to me.

I would like to be the first to congratulate Partner Emeritus on being named the #2 law blog "character" by the student newspaper at Western State University College of Law. Dow Is Up Guy was #14. Bravo!

Locke Lord blows Baker Botts.

any word on MWE re incoming associates?

This is the beginning of the End to Law firm life as we know it. Shearman's move is nothing less than a wholesale abdication of the law firm model.

In the future, law firms will consist of "partners" who will remain "partners" only as long as they have active and considerable business, and temp attorneys to help with overflow work that the partners can't do themselves. Everyone else is expendable, and will be expended.

The Law firm associate, as a full time and long term position, soon will be as extinct as the dodo bird.

I think it's pathetic that these firms are actually offering incoming associates incentives. Circumstances change, there's no section 90 reliance people, to get paid to do nothing? Terrible. Only perpetuates the dying lifestyle of BigLaw that is no longer viable in the 21st century.

No one gave me a handout when firms weren't hiring or were cutting back. I worked my tail off to get ahead on my own.

Ooooh but we unleashed a lion

Associates now have the choice
(though at the table they ne'er had a voice):
Take a pay cut and leave
Or stay and bereave
That the partner still drives a Rolls Royce.

But kudos to Sherman and Sterling -
This package that they are unfurling
Will give me a chance
To bang hookers in France
And do coke til my body is whirling.

-- by: The Lim Ricker

I think the Nazi's circulated a memo about an External Development Program, too.

Any comment on tipster's spelling and sentence structure?

#7, my first reaction was that "Western State University College of Law" must be a fake law school. Did a Google search. Sorry for doubting you....

LATHAM should have done this.

Latham is getting shown up by every good firm.

What the fuck is wrong with you Latham? More than half the first years in NY? You suck.

11-

People who use the phrase "worked my tail off" should be shot.

The ship be sinking...

18 - I had sex with your girlfriend. Turns out she was a dude. Looks like we both got duked. At least I didnt love her (him)

Any comment on tipster's spelling and sentence structure?

12. Gnashed his teeth ...
--Elie

Dow is in the black for 2009 and no post by The Dow is Up Guy. Has he even posted since moronically outing himself as the godawful Former Partner Emeritus dude?

Take the offer.

nashed his teeth and...

Shearman > Latham now?

Oh dear god armaggedon is here

23: that dude has way too much time on his hands
but i think it's exam time for him right now

17,

People who criticize people who use the phrase "worked my tail off" should be shot.

-- 11.1

13 = great one.

14 = awful.

Shearman tipster is proof of the firm's sTTTatus

This is truly bad news for associates and law student who aspired to BigLaw salaries. While most of the top BigLaw firms have not gone this far, it's only a matter of time. The top 5% might get real positions, but the rest will become cannon fodder on a contract basis.

What's going on at FISH & RICHARDSON?

(Seriously. wtf is going on? Oh, also Kirkland.)

11-

People who use the phrase "worked my tail off" should be shot.

26: i don't think that's true. both suck but

mass regular layoffs > mass stealth layoffs

12 - Get a creepy EV avatar, the one where he's staring into insanity and barking. Then I'd welcome your comments.

18: Wouldn't it still have been better to be fired at Latham with 6 months pay? That's 80,000 min. Also, the fired people get unemployment, which you wont get from these voluntary departure programs. Just sayin'.

7 -

If PE was number 2, who was number 1?

10,
Get back to your secretarial work.

Now.

Can someone help me answer the question of whether Western State University College of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association?

10,

That model makes sense. This bloated one doesn't. Notice how the most successful lawyers aren't the ones that worry about what T5 law school they went to or what V5 firm they work for-- it's the ones that actually have the skills and ability to keep a book of business.

Law students have been so worried about superficial crap for years and it's promoted this worthless cycle. Good riddance.

10 / 40 -

I'm thnking that either the model you suggest will prevail, or one of two others will prevail:

1) A model where everyone in the firm, including attys, paralegals and secretaries becomes a part-owner or "partner", in full recognition of the contributions THEY make towards working for clients and retaining them.

OR

2) A model where all law firms are simply NATIONALIZED, and the PEOPLE become partners !!

Personally, no. 2 is preferable but 1 will do !!!

10 / 40 -

I'm thnking that either the model you suggest will prevail, or one of two others will prevail:

1) A model where everyone in the firm, including attys, paralegals and secretaries becomes a part-owner or "partner", in full recognition of the contributions THEY make towards working for clients and retaining them.

OR

2) A model where all law firms are simply NATIONALIZED, and the PEOPLE become partners !!

Personally, no. 2 is preferable but 1 will do !!!

10 / 40 -

I'm thnking that either the model you suggest will prevail, or one of two others will prevail:

1) A model where everyone in the firm, including attys, paralegals and secretaries becomes a part-owner or "partner", in full recognition of the contributions THEY make towards working for clients and retaining them.

OR

2) A model where all law firms are simply NATIONALIZED, and the PEOPLE become partners !!

Personally, no. 2 is preferable but 1 will do !!!

LOL @ 12

41/42/43 --

I'm thinking a model where you post only once would prevail. Sadly, it does not at this time.

that S&S tipster is such an asshole, i hope his colleagues aren't such douchebags or that would be a terrible place to work

41 - You forgot about the third and most likely model called "securitization".

LATHAM FOLKS DON'T GET DOWN, LISTEN TO THIS SONG AND MAKE IT YOUR ANTHEM.

http://www.retrojunk.com/tv/videos/62-perfect-strangers/2398/#intro

41/42/43, you are a multi-posting dumbass.

(1) Non-lawyers can't own interests in firms.

(2) You can't "nationalize" law firms because there aren't any real assets -- law firms sell time. Unless you want Obama to enslave the lawyers and feed them gruel made out of Hope and Change.

[Great, now we have undergrads trolling this site.]

Layoffs today at Thompson Knight... sad.

Layoffs today at Thompson Knight... sad.

49 - Other countries have IPO'd law practice and England has changed the law to do so in 2011. Don't think it can't happen here would be like thinking the law profession is recession proof. I keep forgetting who makes these laws anyway?

the management of this firm keeps getting worse and worse. the firm didn't get enough incoming associates to take their deferral offer. now they're hoping that they can get rid of associates this way. why don't you just rescind offers to those incoming associates who never deserved an offer to begin with. some of the people i worked with over the summer were the biggest douchebags i had ever met. i wondered where you found them.

Texas bar results have been unleashed too. They huge and ferocious.

Wow, not at all surprising, but here is yet another example of a lawfirm coming out with a plan to deal with the economic downturn that is VASTLY superior to what my TTT firm did.

At Thompson Hine, every associate took a big paycut of at least 1/6th of their pay, they did announced layoffs, and stealth layoffs have been pretty much constant. I would take this S&S offer in a heartbeat.

But I work at a much shittier firm with greedier and less competent partners. C'est la vie.

Jeeze, I'd quit my firm for just a severence package. A crappy one at that. I keep holding on hoping for a crazy package like this. One day at a time. . .

Whatever Shearman does, Latham will emerge as the new Sherman out of this downturn.

LATHAM, ROT IN YOUR FIECES INFESTED HELL CALLED LIPSTICK BUILDING.

what's up with all of the mentions about Kirkland?

Kirkland is like a 3 bedroom septic tank that is now being used by a 30 family tenement. Overflowing with shit and stinking for miles.

N. Wacker Stud

36, No it wouldn't be better to be laid off with 6 months severance. Those who are laid off have no jobs at all. Those who are deferred have (at least in theory) a job when the deferral is over. The stressful part of a lay off isn't losing a job, it's finding a new job in this crappy job market. Someone deferred has no such worry (again, in theory, we'll see how S&S treats them in a year).

May 22nd deadline?

Summers start on June 1st.

My guess is that they want the really slow folks gone before they arrive.

"Participation in this program will be subject to, among other things, the approval of your practice group leader or office managing partner, based on business needs of your practice group. "

What if your practice is busy on the one major deal in the office, so your "group leader" denies you the package? Of course, telling you how awesome you are how much business is in the pipe. Then, say, in July when nothing materializes after you have billed 25 hours for 3 consecutive months, they say you are lagging your classmates in certain critical skiils and give you 6 weeks to GTFO with no severance. Likewise, if you are busy now, you might start to believe that you won't be canned if you refuse the package, which may be a costly mirage for you. Tough call to make.

36: That's what you might think, but if you had actually read your Contracts casebook carefully, you would have realized that since a deferred associate has an expectation of eventually having a job again and getting paid, upon which he can reasonably rely, he actually has a claim against his firm for thousands of dollars and is thus better off.

Is Lim Ricker a Rim Licker?

55 -

I'm at an (almost) peer Ohio firm, and the reputation I've heard is that Thompson Hine is in serious trouble. Like, possibly partners leaving and some offices being drastically reduced (or eliminated) sized trouble. Are the partners doing anything to reassure associates

A major office in Dayton? Did the firm's partners really think that was a recipe for long term success? Says a lot about the quality of business planning/judgment there.

6, why don't you just go find a job in public interest? That's what a lot of these people will be doing. Plenty of them won't be back.

59, who did you interview with at Kirkland? I'll tell you why you weren't hired.

Does anyone know whether they are going to withhold taxes on these "stipends" or are they going to 1099 them to U.S. it makes a difference on whether we have $ to live off of.

Does anyone know whether they are going to withhold taxes on these "stipends" in which case we don't really get the 60,000 to hold us over. Or are they going to 1099 them to us.

Does anyone know whether they are going to withhold taxes on these "stipends" in which case we don't really get the 60,000 to hold us over. Or are they going to 1099 them to us.

Does anyone know whether they are going to withhold taxes on these "stipends" in which case we don't really get the 60,000 to hold us over. Or are they going to 1099 them to us.

Does anyone know whether they are going to withhold taxes on these "stipends" in which case we don't really get the 60,000 to hold us over. Or are they going to 1099 them to us.

Comment 68 - don't worry, taxes won't be withheld.

Comment 69 - you should worry, taxes are withheld

Comments 70 and 71 - that's a very bigoted thing to say. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Hahaha. Nice one, 73.

Hahaha. Nice one, 73.

Hahaha. Nice one, 73.

Given the continued downward trend in the Dow, reflecting the continuing contraction of the economy and the resulting lessening of the demand for legal services, this firm has obviously not been fooled by the recent bear market rally, and is taking the steps necessary to remain financially healthy.

63, law firms aren't stupid enough to get caught on this. If there's no work when the deferral period is up, they hire everyone back, then fire them within a month. At will employment.

Gee, I sure wish my firm had offered this.

- Laid off associate with no prospects

77, the Dow is up dummy. It broke back over 8000 April 24 and has steadily risen to nearly 8500 as of yesterday. Up from 6500 the first week of March. And the highest its been since the beginnng of January.l

shearman has been a festering TTT in decline since the early 90's and i'm surprised it hasn't hit rock bottom yet. anyone who summers there is a retard.

Shearman & Sterling really needs to salvage their reputation to be viable. If they don't give offers to their new summer associates, they'll be showing the world how mismanaged they are. They also need to stop with stealth layoffs and be frank.

Nice job with posts 75-76, Commenter 68-72. Loser.

46, the tipster isn't the "asshole" - it's the people who 'run' the place!!

84: perhaps, but tipster does not understand the difference between "there" and "their"

doesn't bode well for his stealthlayoff chances...

Here's the question: since this is effectively a voluntary furlough, and the payment is being classified as a stipend (as a way of making enticing people to engage in voluntary furloughs), can an employee that accepts the leave of absence collect unemployment benefits?

If you're trying to cut costs, why would you pay someone not to work for a year? Seems like Latham has the better management (yeah, severance is paying someone not to work, but you know they're gone & don't have to deal with 100+ attorneys coming off deferral in a year). What will happen to everyone who takes a deferral when a year is up anyway? Doubtful they will have a position. I'd rather know I don't have a job today instead of a year from now when I've spent that $80K and they tell me that was actually my severance.

85, obviously you are not at Shearman, nor do you know anyone who works there well. It's run by a little group of people (I believe, it's called the Committee?), not all partners have a say, you'd think it was a corporation, not a partnership.

I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO POINT OUT - AS A 3L THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO START AT SHEARMAN IN THE FALL - THEY DID NOT OFFER US HEALTH CARE. I'M GLAD THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR CURRENT ASSOCIATES ENOUGH TO GIVE THEM HEALTH CARE. what exactly are they planning on doing with all these people in the Fall of 2010?

89 - Are you kidding me? You get offered a choice to (a) start your career and start paying your own way in the world or (b) take a well-paid year long vacation from an enterprise you've yet to contribute the square-root of f@#k-all to, and you have the nerve to bitch you don't get health care coverage if you pick the vacation?

Meanwhile, quality seniors and mid-levels across BigLaw get laid-off for nothing more than looking at an under-performing partner cross-eyed - all just to make room for you sniveling little brats.

When partners (like the ones at S&S) focus only on their own greed its depressing - but it's their business and they've earned that right. They will reap what they've sown when associates bolt as soon as jobs start coming back again.

When unaccomplished self-entitled neophytes like you exhibit such massive douchebaggery, it's nothing but damn frightening for the future of us all.

Here's hoping you enjoy your freely chosen furlough, travel to Amsterdam, take some pills, then suffer multiple hemorrhages after a four-hour erection because you fail to seek medical attention due to lack of health coverage.

I don't know what S&S's plan is for 2010 - but I hope it involves assigning anyone who OVER-UTILIZES CAPITAL LETTERS FOR NO DAMN GOOD REASON to see if they can redact their head from their ass.

90 -- maybe you need to take a chill pill. hanging around the office too long?

This is pure S&S PR. They're still laying off associates, pretending it's performance-based. M&A and litigation, after 3 rounds, have lost 10-15% of their people. Some classes lost 50%. The sabbatical is just a way to look nice before the legal community.

For Shearman & Sterling, a major and long-established firm, to go beyond deferring its incoming first-year associates, and offer a one-year deferral to all of its associates, gives some indication of how private sector law firms are currently faring in general. There have recently been some signs that the recession may be hitting its lowest point, the stock market has risen somewhat above its lowest point, and there seem to be some initial indications of a potential future recovery. It may be premature to write off the traditional law firm. We are not out of this recession yet, though. Housing and auto sales are still at their lowest levels in decades, Chrysler has gone bankrupt, GM is teetering, the stock market is far below the level it was at last summer, there are vacant former stores in many shopping malls, and unemployment is at its highest level in many years. For S&S associates to have jobs to come back to next year, the credit crisis will have to ameliorate, the housing and auto markets will have to stabilize somewhat, the stock market will have to avoid any further major declines, and the unemployment rate will have to level off. There are no guarantees, and there may still be some unpleasant surprises ahead, but we have at least a fighting chance for things to start improving somewhat this coming fall. Hold onto that hope.

There have been at least an occasion where a partner at S&S was going to be gone for a year or two to work with whoever or whatever but the guy never reappeared. You suppose that is going to happen to these associates?

There have been at least an occasion where a partner at S&S was going to be gone for a year or two to work with whoever or whatever but the guy never reappeared. You suppose that is going to happen to these associates?

There have been at least an occasion where a partner at S&S was going to be gone for a year or two to work with whoever or whatever but the guy never reappeared. You suppose that is going to happen to these associates?

94, 95, 96, you ought to get a new computer ar a life - "these associates" will come back stronger than ever in another law firm (would like to say another life, but this life is good), make partners and come head to head with the S&S partners - if they are still around.

CNBC said it well, I cannot quote CNBC directly, but it came down to making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Forget about associates, even partners are beiing pushed out, less men more share, something I learnt when I was seven years old.

how can a law firm review its senior associates as bad performance??? bad market??? is it the fault of the associates??? technically incompetent??? joking? a senor associate in S&S is technically incompetent?? no training offered before that associate becomes senior????

obviously Shearman is a firm run by a group of stupid people. there are repeated announcements by the top management to various media in early 2009 that shearman will NOT match the peer firms in cutting people .............. nothing special, just stupid..........

I left shearman in 2007 when I was at PQE 7. again, there is bullshit annual review and my performance is BAD according to rubbish review in april 2007...... why shearman cannot be frank to its associates? why not just say I want you go ? why huminliate people ?

There are many comments pointing to S&S as a lower quality firm and I second that. The quality of the firm's associates is poor and in fact, seniors & partners prefer it that way. The firm is seriously mismanaged. I wouldn't be suprised if clients started dumping the firm, I know for a fact that many are upset about the firm's billing (on a side-by-side basis S&S appears to be consistently more expensive). I am suprised many of the partners can even bring in business, their social skills are nearly non-existent.

So - offer an external development program, the better associates will take the money and run. Move to another firm and thrive.

This appears to be inaccurate in several ways. First of all, Shearman's program DOES include loan repayment, at least according to this: http://theshark.typepad.com/weblog/2009/03/all-the-depressing-info-we-could-find-on-your-future-all-in-one-place.html

Secondly. Skadden's is only 1/3 of base pay, hence about 54k a year for a first year associate. This is less than Shearman, and even with their 1k a month loan repayment only roughly equal to Shearman's base of 65k.