This isn’t going to come as a galloping shock to most people, but it turns out that the firms that are making the most profit aren’t feeling the need to defer their incoming first year associates. Am Law Daily reports:
The only top ten firm that is making deferrals mandatory this year is Schulte, Roth & Zabel, which is requiring all new associates to start in 2010.
But the rest of the top ten most profitable partnerships are taking a different path. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges; Boies, Schiller & Flexner; Sullivan & Cromwell; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Kirkland & Ellis; and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton are starting all of their associates next fall as originally scheduled.
Congratulations to the incoming first years lucky enough to be heading one of these firms in the fall.
But it’s time to learn an important lesson about the difference between “revenue” and “profit.”
More after the jump.
Continue reading “Profitable Law Firms Don’t Do Deferrals … For the Most Part”
* Justice may be blind, but she needs to see your face in Michigan. [True/Slant]
* Lawyers for Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of a massive swindle, want Baker Botts off the case. [Reuters]
* Convicted terrorist Jose Padilla can sue John Yoo for the legal memos he wrote at the Justice Department defending torture. [San Francisco Chronicle]
* Renowned legal scholar Lawrence Lessig stars in a new film. Stanford Law is getting the publicity shout-out in the articles about the documentary, but Harvard recently snatched Lessig for its faculty. [DCist]
* Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So hot right now. [Wall Street Journal]
* Is this year’s cutthroat BigLaw environment worse for summer associates or for the hiring partners they are stalking? [Fulton County Daily Report]
* Does Obama have big plans for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan? [Chicago Sun-Times]
Biglaw is suffering — big time. Meanwhile, many smaller and midsize law firms are doing just fine, even thriving. (A number of them — e.g., Silver Golub & Teitell, McKool Smith, and Stone & Magnanini — are expanding, with the help of job postings on Above the Law.)
These days, Am Law 200 firms are generally doing better than their Am Law 100 counterparts. This generally hasn’t been the case, at least in recent years. Industry observers are wondering: Is small beautiful?
That was one theme of Casting a Wider Net: The Rise of the Small to Mid-Sized Law Firm, another panel at yesterday’s conference, co-sponsored by the New York City Bar and Vault, entitled Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy. (We wrote about an earlier panel here.)
The panel on small to midsize law firms consisted of:
ALLA ROYTBERG (moderator), Solo Practitioner, and Director, City Bar Small Law Firm Center;
PAUL LIPPE, CEO, Legal On-Ramp;
CORIN LINDSLEY, Managing Director, Major Lindsey & Africa; and
RON GEFFNER, partner, Sadis & Goldberg.
The discussion covered such topics as how to learn about high-quality small firms, how to apply to them, and how to grow one, once you’re there.
A short discussion, after the jump.
Continue reading “Casting a Wider Net: Small to Mid-Sized Law Firms”
We usually wouldn’t recommend that law school students try to pay their tuition through gambling — but if you’re a former poker pro, it might not be such a bad idea.
Leo Wolpert, a rising 2L at the University of Virginia, just won “Event 29,” a $10,000 no-limit hold ‘em heads-up tournament in the World Series of Poker. From the Poker Pages:
Wolpert is a 26-year-old former professional poker player who is currently attending law school. He is enrolled at the University of Virginia. He just completed his first year. He graduated with an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. He spent two years as a poker pro, mostly playing online. Wolpert was so successful that he built up a huge bankroll playing mostly cash games. He decided to use his poker winnings to go back to school.
His total winnings in Event 29: $652,682 $625,682. With that in the bank and a law degree from UVA, we see a bright future in the cards for Wolpert.
Former pro Leo Wolpert wins Event 29 [ESPN]
World Series of Poker Leo Wolpert Wins Event 29 $10K HeadsUp [PokerPages News]
* More evidence that Venable is the weirdest and/or coolest law firm in DC. [On the Record]
* Is Harvard Law School just too…. nice? [The Stimulist]
* Should veils be allowed on the witness stand? [Volokh Conspiracy]
* Yesterday, we reported on a Saudi law firm that went a little too far in its efforts to enact affirmative action for white people. But maybe their wallet was in the right place. [True/Slant]
* What’s the best way of measuring the progress of women in large law firms? [Lexis Hub / Building A Better Legal Profession]
* Obama can run from the gay marriage issue, but he can’t hide. In fact, it doesn’t look like he is going to be very effective trying to run away either. [Law Dork 2.0]
* There is no good argument against secession for Long Island. [The Daily Show]
* Summer associates: check out this useful resource, the Summer Associate Survival Guide, courtesy of your friends at PLC. [Practical Law Company]
If you have ever been on financial aid, you know that many law schools require you to work over the summer and make financial contributions towards your debts based on your summer employment. Harvard Law School has such a requirement. Financial aid awards have been traditionally determined based on a ten-week, minimum summer work requirement.
That’s a fine policy during normal economic times, but these are anything but normal economic times. Many students — even Ivy-encrusted Harvard Law students — have seen firms reduce the length of their summer programs to less than ten weeks.
Earlier this month, it looked like HLS students in this situation would not only be losing income because their firms scaled back their summer programs, but they would also owe Harvard more money. A few students received this email from the HLS financial aid office earlier this month:
In processing your application for aid, we note that you have indicated you will be working less than 10 weeks this summer. The official policy of the law school is to impute a contribution in all circumstances (except medical) when students work less than 10 weeks in the summer. Work in a paid law-related position is not required; the only requirement is that you work in some capacity. You can volunteer or work in a non law-related job if circumstances require you do to so. The best way to ensure that you will not be assessed an imputed contribution for part of the summer is to secure a volunteer position or a second paid job in order to meet the 10 week work requirement.
We understand that for students whose employers have reduced their summer programs for economic reasons, it might be difficult to find additional employment or volunteer opportunities. However, at this point we are not able to promise that our policy will be more flexible. If you are not able to meet the 10-week requirement after making an effort to explore other options, you can submit an appeal at the end of the summer to have the imputed portion of your student contribution reduced or eliminated. We will ask you to explain the circumstances and the steps you took to try to meet the 10-week work requirement. In making appeals decisions, the Financial Aid Committee will consider how widespread summer employment reductions were, the timing of your first notification that your summer employment was reduced, and your demonstration of a sustained effort to meet the 10 week work requirement.
Is this policy fair? HLS officials change course, after the jump.
Continue reading “Harvard Law School Adapts Financial Aid Policy to the Changing Market”
Wait, there are people out there who want banking lawyers? Really? This is excellent news!
Morgan Lewis & Bockius announced today that it has acquired eleven people: five partners and six associates, from Bingham McCutchen’s Boston office. But the real shocker is that all of the lawyers are from Bingham’s Banking and Leveraged Finance Group:
Morgan Lewis today announced the addition of five partners and six associates from Bingham McCutchen’s Banking and Leveraged Finance Group–including a former co-chair of the practice–to its Business and Finance Practice, resident in the firm’s Boston office. Partners Robert A.J. Barry, Jonathan K. Bernstein, Sula R. Fiszman, Matthew F. Furlong, and Sandra J. Vrejan, will focus their practice on corporate finance, as well as restructuring. Their experience across a broad range of industries–including retail, manufacturing, food and beverage, energy, media, communications and sports–add to the depth of knowledge Morgan Lewis offers clients as they face today’s rapidly changing economic conditions. In addition, their arrival significantly increases the firm’s presence in Boston.
Isn’t it great to live in a world where law firms need corporate finance lawyers?
“Particularly in light of the difficult credit markets faced by both our lender and borrower clients, there is an ever-increasing need for us to be able to provide additional top-flight financing expertise across a multitude of industries” said Firm Chair Francis M. Milone. “This expansion reflects our continued commitment to providing clients with the kind of counsel they need to execute credit transactions in any business environment.”
It seems right to focus on “any” business environment, considering that the politicians seem to be making it up as they go along.
A statement from Bingham and the the Morgan Lewis press release after the jump.
Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Morgan Lewis Expands Banking Practice in Boston”
Congratulations to newlyweds Stefanie Schneider and David Alpert, voted Couple of the Week by ATL readers in last week’s LEWW poll.
Today, our five May Couples of the Week compete for Couple of the Month honors. It’s a very strong field, including an Olympic medalist, a Wachtell associate, and a wedding officiated by a future Supreme Court Justice. Here are the couples:
1. Leslie Tobin and Nathan Ostrander
2. JoAnn Kamuf and Rusty Ward
3. Sada Jacobson and Brendan Bâby
4. Sabrina Charles and Jamie Dycus
5. Jessica Hertz and Christopher Angell
Vote for your favorite, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Couple of the Month for May”
Yesterday we participated in an extremely interesting panel discussion, Breaking Back into a Large Law Firm: How to Make Your Way Back into a Top Law Firm. It was part of a day-long conference, co-sponsored by the New York City Bar and Vault, entitled Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy.
The panel consisted of:
BRIAN DALTON (moderator), Managing Editor, Vault.com, and Editor, Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms;
JOHN J. CANNON III, Hiring Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP;
T.J. DUANE, Principal, Lateral Link;
HELEN LONG, Director Legal Recruiting at Ropes & Gray LLP; and
DAVID LAT, Founding Editor, AboveTheLaw.com.
Write-ups of the discussion have appeared on the websites of the New York Times, Vault, and the ABA Journal. We recommend them to you.
We’ve also prepared our own summary of the discussion, which goes into greater detail than the other write-ups. It tackles such topics as general recommendations for the job search, when to use a recruiter (and when not to), how contract work is viewed by prospective employers, and what happens to your résumé after you send it into the cyber-ether and it arrives at a firm.
Read more, after the jump.
Continue reading “Breaking Back into Biglaw”
We reported last month that the head of U.S. litigation for Clifford Chance, Mark Kirsch, was leaving the firm’s New York office — and that layoffs in the litigation practice group were imminent. We didn’t know at the time where Kirsch was heading or how many of the 29 litigation associates in the Magic Circle firm’s New York office would be let go. Now we have more information.
Clifford Chance litigation partners Mark Kirsch and Mark Joel Cohen, and senior counsel Christopher Joralemon, have wound up at Gibson Dunn (which seems to be weathering the downturn better than many firms). Clifford Chance tells us the trio will be taking 7 of the firm’s 29 NY litigation associates with them. Kirsch is joining GDC as co-chair of litigation, as noted in Gibson’s press release.
Of the remaining 22 litigation associates, no more than 10 will be laid off this week, leaving a small litigation team in Clifford Chance’s New York office. As we mentioned before, the firm’s U.S. litigation will now be headed by Juan Morillo, who is in the D.C. office. In the words of one tipster:
It’s tragic what the Brits have done to Rogers & Wells.
So what’s the future for litigators in Clifford Chance’s New York office? A tipster weighs in, after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Clifford Chance’s New York Litigation Team Leaves the Circle”
[Ed. note: This post is authored by ATL guest columnist Hope Winters. Hope is an early retired lawyer, turned Senate staffer, turned corporate lobbyist. She lives in Washington, DC. Read her previous work here.]
Well, as I told you in my last piece, I have been desperately searching for inner peace during these incredibly depressing times.
I decided, however, that I needed to amp up my desire for such peace. Meditation class was increasingly becoming too easy, and I was now ready to become a guru of inner peace. So, my friend Olivia and I packed up our car, left the comforts of our urban existence, and headed out to the great unknown. The Ashram.
I had found the Ashram online. It was a place where we could find balance, do yoga, and eat organic vegetarian meals. And it was dirt cheap, to boot. Girls, in case you missed the Times piece, ashrams are the new spas. We all have to cut back now. And isn’t it about time we work on our insides instead of outsides? Don’t worry. Those saddle bags are going to whittle away anyway due to scarce food supplies forecasted for fourth quarter ’09.
“I didn’t know it was a silent retreat all weekend. I thought that was just on Saturday.” Olivia, already breaking the rules, whispers to me upon arrival.
Oops. I forgot to shepardize this case. I don’t recall reading that part on the website.
More after the jump.
Continue reading “The Return of Hope During the Recession: Adventures at The Ashram (Part I)”
The Bingham McCutchen “Stepford Secretary” has decided to speak out about her termination from Bingham and her decision to hire a lawyer.
In an email she sent to Above the Law, the Stepford Secretary describes her firm wide CHARACTER email as “totally harmless.” She also describes the way in which she was fired from Bingham:
I panicked prior to my termination. Bingham disconnected my computer, took my identification and escorted me out of the building.
She also explains why she hired a lawyer:
Why a possible lawsuit? Bingham terminated me for violation of policy. There is no written policy regarding NOT being able to send mass internal emails. It says to use discretion. I’m sure that policy has been or will quickly be updated.
Stepford claims that she always intended her email to be an internal communication with in the firm. She writes that she didn’t even know Above the Law existed before she sent her email.
She does now.
Read her full email after the jump. She has requested that we maintain her anonymity to the general public.
Continue reading “Stepford Secretary Responds to Above the Law”
* Adam Trenk is a rising 3L at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Thanks to his drawing a king of hearts in an election tiebreaker, this law school hottie is also a newly minted Cave Creek Councilman. [New York Times]
* Greg Bachand, 60, is a first-year associate at a Connecticut firm. He managed to score a job in this economy because his daughter is a name partner at the law firm. [Connecticut Law Tribune via ABA Journal]
* A California lawyer is accused of extorting Dole food company for billions of dollars by bringing fraudulent claims against the company. How do you like them pineapples? [Associated Press]
* Catcher in the Courtroom. There’s a hearing scheduled today in J.D. Salinger’s copyright infringement suit against “J.D. California.” [New York Times]
* You no longer have to be married — or straight — to get federal benefits for your significant other. [Washington Post]
* Bernie Madoff hate letters were unsealed Monday. [New York Daily News]
* It really hasn’t been the best couple of days for White & Case. Not only is one of their attorneys involved in a sex scandal, but now their Moscow office has been raided by Russian authorities. [The Lawyer]
* It’s also not the best day to be working at Freshfields. [ABA Journal]
* Meanwhile, David Lat filled up the house at the New York City Bar association this afternoon. He had some very helpful hints on how to break back into Biglaw. [City Room Blog]
* Is anybody interested in practicing law in Mexico? It sounds better than sitting around New York City waiting for the economy to turn. [What About Clients?]
* What movies should lawyers watch? [Texas Lawyer]
Yesterday, we told you about a bizarre love triangle — or perhaps pentagon — between a husband, a wife, and an associate in the Miami office of White & Case. Today, the wife (a.k.a. “SexyLexus”) called us to explain her side of the story and her relationship with her husband (a.k.a. “Cuckolded in Canada”) and the White & Case attorney (a.k.a. “Miami White”). We once again ask that commenters refrain from using real names in the comments.
SexyLexus called to make one thing clear. She told us, in no uncertain terms, “I am not a whore.”
In his email to Miami White’s colleagues at White & Case, Cuckolded in Canada claimed that SexyLexus was a porn star. She disagrees with that characterization:
It’s a camera-site. That is all it is. I am not in contact with anybody, there is no contact between me and anybody on that camera-site.
In fact, SexyLexus claims that not only did Cuckolded in Canada know about her online presence, but that he encouraged her to do it in order to make money for the family:
He told me to get back on the camera-site. I was out of the business, but Cuckolded in Canada told me to get back on to make money for the family … I think it turned him on, me doing it. … He loved it.
Despite her showing off the goods on camera and pursuing liaisons of late, SexyLexus was vehement about the paternity of her children not being in doubt:
Yes, the kids are Cuckolded in Canada’s. They are all his.
Above the Law once again reached out to Cuckolded in Canada and Miami White, but neither responded to our multiple inquires. But SexyLexus has more information on both of those guys, which she shares with Above the Law after the jump.
Continue reading “SexyLexus Speaks With Above the Law: ‘I am not a whore.’”
Above the Law has received reports that Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt will be cutting associate salaries and laying off staff. Never heard of Schwabe Williamson? Well then you need to Lewis & Clark your way out to the Pacific Northwest more often.
Schwabe Williamson is the second largest firm in Portland, OR. According to NALP, the firm has 170 attorneys across six offices (3 in Oregon, 2 in Washington, and an office in Washington, D.C.).
First year associates start at $110,000 at Schwabe. This fact already bothers junior attorneys there, and our tipsters report grounds for increased dissatisfaction among the rank and file:
SWW will be announcing pay cuts for its associate attorneys in the range of 5% – 10% on June 15th.
At least the associates should still have jobs. The news for the staff is much worse. We understand that a number of staffers are going to be let go, but we don’t have official numbers.
Staffers that we spoke with felt that there were other cuts the firm could have made before the firm started firing people.
More details and an official statement from the firm after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: Firms in the Pacific Northwest Also Feel Gloomy”
As you know, many international law firms are affiliated with local counsel based around the world. The magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has an affiliation with a Saudi firm named, The Law Firm of Salah Al Hejailan, or LFSH.
LFSH is hiring a new attorney. The firm sent out an email to the recruiting agencies it works with. But the firm was looking for someone with very specific qualifications. Some might argue that the qualifications were too specific. Here is the email that LFSH sent to recruiters:
We are interested in recruiting one senior Anglo-Saxon lawyer (with 7+ PQE), preferably with Saudi, but at the very least with GCC work experience to play a corporate/commercial role in our Jeddah office. By Anglo-Saxon we mean of Caucasian ethnicity as opposed to lawyers from the MENA or Asian Sub-Continent who happen to have UK or US nationality/qualifications. Please bear in mind that, as a general legal practice, we expect the successful candidate to have sufficient maturity/acumen to handle a broad range of legal work rather being specialised in one particular field.
We are also keen to recruit one junior Anglo-Saxon lawyer (with 3 – 5 years PQE) for the Riyadh office to support our general corporate/commercial practice. [Emphasis in the original]
I’m a big fan of affirmative action, but it seems like something got lost in translation.
After the jump, both Freshfields, The Law Firm of Salah Al Hejailan, and Salah Al-Hejailan himself, responds and apologizes for the poorly worded email.
Continue reading “Freshfields’s Affiliated Counsel in Saudi Arabia Makes a Recruitment Mistake”
On Friday, we reported that Cravath offered a voluntary deferral option to up to 50% of its incoming class of first year associates. People who are not yet associates can count on $80,000, health care, and loan repayment assistance from the firm in exchange for taking a year off.
Apparently, that was the last straw for associates that have been laid off from Cravath over the past several months. Tips started pouring in to Above the Law reporting stealth layoffs that have been taking place at the firm since December 2008.
Tipsters — including sources that claim that have been laid off — report that at least 25 people have been let go from Cravath for “performance” reasons. And sources still at the firm expect more layoffs to come this month:
Cravath Swaine & Moore has been doing stealth lay off of associates since December ’08 (using performance evaluation as the excuse). Since January of 2009, they have been doing stealth lay offs more aggressively. Rumor has it that stealth layoffs of staff will be happening this month (June).
We directly asked the firm whether or not these reports were true. But to this point, the firm has declined to comment.
So if the firm has a performance reason for letting these people go, it is not sharing it with us. But regardless of why people are being let go, some laid off associates are annoyed that they are not getting the same treatment during the recession as 2008 summer associates.
I was fired. I don’t know why. I don’t know why I’m not getting $80,000 to wait out the terrible economy.
After the jump, sources tell us exactly what happens when you get fired from Cravath.
Continue reading “Stealth Layoff Watch: Laid Off Cravath Associates Will Not Be Ignored”
There are certain staples that tend to be recession-proof: alcohol, toilet paper, Spam. You can add smartphones to that list, reports the New York Times. Sales of BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smartphone models are projected to increase by 25% this year.
In case you’re thinking about contributing to that increase, Gizmodo has a guide to the latest and greatest models: the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, the Palm Pre, the HTC Magic, and the BlackBerry Storm. The tech savvy folks at Gizmodo compare the hardware, software, and cost of these little electronic extensions of ourselves.
Check out the Gizmodo piece for tech love poems and detailed charts. Here’s the short version:
To summarize: iPhone OS claims advantages in ease of use, its burgeoning App Store, and a respectable core feature set, but falters on multitasking and its lack of ability to install unsanctioned apps. The Pre’s WebOS is extremely slick and friendly to multitasking, but its App Catalog is light on content, and its development SDK is somewhat restrictive. Android and BlackBerry OS are both more laissez-faire, letting users install apps from whatever source they choose. Neither of their app stores is spectacular, but Android’s is markedly less anemic.
Last month, we did a post on the best iPhone apps for lawyers. If you chose to download Black’s Law Dictionary, we’d love to know if it’s worth its hefty price tag. We included some polls in that post about which smartphones you all prefer, and what’s on offer at your firms. Results after the jump.
Continue reading “The Smartest Smartphone for You”
