Lawyerly Lairs: Orrick Shacks Up With Wachtell
Mega-fraudster Marc Dreier, who recently traded a magnificent penthouse for a cell at the MCC (look him up in the handy Inmate Locator), isn’t the only New York lawyer with new digs.
The iconic CBS Building (aka “Black Rock”), longtime home of Wachtell Lipton, has another prestigious legal tenant. From the New York Observer:
Law firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe was expected Thursday to sign a lease for approximately 220,000 square feet at CBS’ 38-story granite slab known as Black Rock, at 51 West 52nd Street, according to industry sources.As part of the deal, Orrick is taking the space being vacated by UBS and Cushman & Wakefield, which will consolidate its midtown offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Sources say that UBS paid more than $32 million to terminate its lease early, money which CBS applied to the Orrick deal to absorb the costs of Orrick’s build-out of the noncontiguous space to the tune of $150 a square foot, and which will reduce the firm’s rent in the building.
It’s a great building, with handsome, elegant architecture (courtesy of Eero Saarinen). Because the footprint is relatively small, it doesn’t have the impersonal, warehouse-like feel of many other New York office buildings. The midtown location is super-convenient, and the higher floors offer amazing views. (We know Black Rock well, having spent several thousand hours in it while working at Wachtell.)
An Orrick spokesperson confirmed to ATL that the deal, described by the Observer as “expected,” has closed. Congratulations to Orrick on the fabulous new digs!
Links and press release, after the jump.
ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP — PRESS RELEASE
Orrick Signs Lease for a New Office in New York
NEW YORK - Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP announced that it has signed a lease to move to the Blackrock Building at 51 West 52nd Street. The Blackrock Building is owned by CBS Broadcasting, Inc. Orrick’s long-term lease begins in the fall of 2009, and the firm plans on occupying the new space in the spring 2010.
“We are excited about our new prestigious office space and the opportunities for growth and expansion it provides Orrick,” said Peter A. Bicks, Orrick’s New York Office Leader and Litigation Partner. “This was not a quick decision. We evaluated the current and future needs of our firm and its clients, and we carefully assessed the current real estate market conditions before committing to the lease.”
Orrick’s new office space will comprise nine floors and over 210,000 sq ft with the option for additional floors in the future. Newmark Knight Frank advised Orrick on this transaction. Currently, Orrick has over 1,100 lawyers globally and 200 lawyers in its New York office.
Since 2002, Orrick has opened or considerably expanded several offices. The firm opened an office in Paris in 2002, in Milan in 2003 and in Rome in 2004. In 2005, Orrick doubled the size of its London office with the addition of partners from Coudert Brothers and also opened offices in Moscow, Taipei and Hong Kong. In 2006, the firm opened in Beijing and Shanghai. Also in 2006, Orrick greatly expanded its Paris office by merging with Rambaud Martel. In 2008, Orrick opened three offices in Germany—Berlin, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt.
###
About Orrick
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,100 lawyers in North America, Europe and Asia. The firm focuses on litigation, complex and novel finance and innovative corporate transactions. Orrick’s clients include Fortune 100 companies, major industrial and financial corporations, commercial and investment banks, high-growth companies, governmental entities, start-ups and individuals. The firm’s 21 offices are located in Beijing, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Moscow, New York, Orange County, Pacific Northwest, Paris, Rome, Sacramento, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Taipei, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.
Orrick Expected To Sign Huge Lease at CBS Building [New York Observer]
CBS Building [Wikipedia]
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it will be nicer when they finish all the construction too. right now there's a nice view of plywood on the north side of the building and CBS shows premiering in the fall along Ave of Americas. of course when you're 20+ stories up, you can ignore the halal lines and construction.
first?
1 - Yes, first. Congratulations!
With WLRK and Orrick in that building, you can probably loiter in front and figure out what M&A deals are going to be announced based on who is seen coming and going.
What does Thio have to say about this?
Thanks for the weekend posting, Lat.
Your main competitors - WSJ Law Blog, Am Law Daily - are usually dark over the weekend.
Lat, why do you use "we" instead of "I"?
What floors does Wachtell have?
6 - At least 26 through 34, contiguously (internal staircase).
Plus a few more I think?
I'm a Seaton Hall summer at Orrick, should I be worried about this?
8 - Nice try troll. At least spell "Seton Hall" correctly.
Orrick Secure
The Inmate Locator is interesting. Here is Madoff:
http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=bernard&Middle=&LastName=madoff&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=0&y=0
Projected release date: 11-14-2139.
Wow, the Kushners are Fucked.
Isn't Orrick at 666 5th Ave. now? The only way for a corporate law firm to beat that is to somehow get the world to call your building the Death Star.
I'm a rising 2L at a T14 school and had an Orrick Partner just laugh at the thought of looking for a job right now. He didn't look at my resume or anything like that. We were just having a normal conversation and I tried to drop a line about looking for a job to see if he'd bite. Just laughed at the notion of looking for a job. I don't know if that reflects Orrick and it's aggressive, possibly excessively liberal expansion, or the market as a whole.
Former Thelen and current Orrick partner The Glass Cock here, confirming this report about our NY office lease and explaining why we did it. The Glass Cock is a frequent visitor to the Orrick NY office and has always wanted to ride in a crowded elevator with Marty Lipton and, during a moment of silence, introduce himself with "Hi, I'm the Glass Cock, and you're not. Adios, bitches." Now the Glass Cock has that chance. Plus, the Glass Cock thinks it will be good for Orrick associates to see other firms' associates slaving away over schedules and secretary's certificates at 4 am on a Sunday.
clifford chance is also in that building, i think. whatevers left of them
how much space does this vacate in 666 5th? im sure more than a few law firms would love to consolidate their space and nab that area...
*panhandles outside the lipstick building*
-suicidal laid off latham first year
12 - The Arnold & Porter buildign in DC is called the Death Star.
ATL is running out of material. This story was zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I thought Orrick was in trouble...? Guess not.
So if I get an offer, will my office have a view of the park or the basement?
Seton Hall Summer at Orrick
19- no idea where you got that idea. as far as i know, trimming excess is a good thing.
just because they led the charge for no more lock-step, a lot of talentless and mediocre performers at other firms got all scared their firms would do the same and decided to trash talk and claim it's a bad idea. because god forbid law firms actually care about merit in giving compensation.
Yes, the only people who should be afraid of getting rid of lock-step and going to a merit-based system are the people who know they can't hack it in a merit-based system. Since when is rewarding high performers more than low performers a bad idea?
18 - It's a Sunday post. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth!
Peter Bicks gets an autofail for describing Orrick's new office space as "prestigious."
No real law firm has to issue a press release describing office space that way.
Hey 21 -- how is firing first years and juniors trimming excess? I'm sure you can go on and disparage junior lawyers, but I think when first years and juniors are being fired it says more about the leadership than about the poor souls effected. Logically, forcing out senior associates and junior partners is more appropriate as "trimming excess" laying off juniors is something different
How does Wachtell feel about this?
I've attended many meetings / depos in this building. It's very nice (at least if the Orrick space turns out like the Wachtell space).
Agreed 11 -- I predict a bankruptcy filing for the Kushners within 6 months. No surprise it was the Observer that broke this story.
you are all missing the point here:
the Black Rock has been found?? It was last seen March 22, 1845, sailing purportedly on a trading mission to the Kingdom of Siam. My close friend Charles told me this, which he himself read from a journal he bought at an auction. We have been searching for this ship tirelessly for years now; it appears now that Orrick beat us to the punch.
Lat, stop your blithering and answer the question we all want to know: ARE YOU BOTTOM OR NOT?
Again, I think u r a total azn qt and I really hope you are bottom.
haha good luck working at the Black Rock. The smoke monster running around the halls should lead to a productive work environment
Dear David,
Please continue to post often. You are very good at writing about stories that interest us.
Sincerely,
Guest
Latham NY laid off half the first year class, half the second year class, and a third of the third year class.
The managing partner who masterminded the Latham NY growth strategy remains in charge.
Latham had other options (see the lack of mass layoffs at the rest of the v20), but quickly chose the most damaging course of action available. To date no other v20 has done this.
"because the footprint is relatively small"
read: First through third years share offices. Maybe go easy at the falafel stand, out of respect for your officemate.
34 - Maybe at Orrick, but not at Wachtell.
If this building were in Boston, it would be called the Skid Mark.
Seton Hall Alum
25- laying off juniors who don't have work and who aren't making hours is trimming excess. and all it says is that 2 years ago when they hired them, they overestimated need. so yes, that does suck. but getting rid of people sitting around with no work to do is the right thing to do, not reducing everyone's salaries and bonuses - including the salaries and bonuses of those who do work hard and make hours.
If I were a junior/mid-level associate billing less than 2000+ billable (i.e. non-pro-bono) hours, I won't bother unpacking my boxes after the move because there will likely be another round of (stealth) layoff before the end of the year. As for senior associates - if you don't KNOW you are safe, you are not safe.
37 -- maybe if your firm got rid of you, the work you were responsible for, would go to one or two of the laid off associates, then they would have made their hours. I personally know a few completely inefficient assholes who billed clients for their inefficiency (claiming they're told by partners to bill for "everything"), as a result this one guy I have in mind got an "extra-bonus" prior year and ended up keeping his job, while many others who were and are more capable and worked more efficiently got canned. So you're a self-absorbed idiot. I hope you bill 3000 hrs this year, have no life, get fat, and get a $500 bonus
- 25
Orrick sucks hard,
but the law firm of Hoover, Dyson & Bissell sucks even harder.
Orrick giving up the 666 location, wow
22 - The problem is that you've got racial minorities that work below their pay-grade because of AA whether at their school or the firm itself, and women with children that don't give a 110%. Objectively many of these people deserve less pay, but what happens if you do that?
37
no, firing a first year associate fucks up their life. don't overhire. if you do, you'd better be prepared to stick out the year with them. try bringing in more work or firing underperformers from the higher class levels. they shouldn't have their careers destroyed just because you're a shit manager.
40 - That's true but the firm you reference can go from suck to blow pretty fast.
--Mega Maid
I heard that Lat worked all those hours at Wachtell to make the sort of money that would allow him to have an Imelda Marcos-esque shoe collection.
Comment removed by moderator.
latham and madoff were shacking up for years in the lipstick building.
Skadden DC. The ship has sunk. Where's the reports?
PLEASE comment on Skadden DC... I heard from a friend that they have pulled out of OCI for the next three (3) years
46 = Cooley 3L.
Delaware bar in a few hours baby!
Skadden Delaware -- to 190!
42 = douchebag
20, we're putting all the Seton Hall kids in the boiler room. No windows. Sorry.
Wait, where did Lat work again? I keep forgetting.
If only he would drop the name of his old firm at every possible opportunity, maybe then I could bring it to mind...
55 - He doesn't do it that often. I can't remember the last time he did.
15 - Clifford is next door to Wachtell, not in the same building.
This is why Orrick deferred me til April 3042, so they could afford to move in with Wachtell. No doubt they are only hoping to capture some of the pixy dust falling from Wachtell lawyers in the elevators. Genius plan!