Quinn Defers Half of the Incoming First Years in S.F. & Silicon Valley

If you are an incoming first year at Quinn Emanuel’s San Francisco or Silicon Valley office, you are probably on the final stretch of your CA bar exam preparations. If so, please stop reading this post right now. We don’t want to put any extra pressure on you guys.
For everybody else, you might be interested to know that Quinn Emanuel has deferred half of its incoming first year class in those two offices until January 2010.
As we understand it, the firm is not offering any kind of deferral stipend for the affected incoming associates.
Tipsters have been critical of the firm’s decision:

This is a double whammy. First, they hadn’t been deferred at all, were planning on starting in two months, so this is late notice. And second, telling people one week before the bar?!?!? that’s cold.

Well, it’s better than being told between the first and second day of the bar exam.
After the jump, Quinn Emanuel’s managing partner, John Quinn, explains the reason for this decision.


In a statement to Above the Law, John Quinn explained that the reason for the late announcement was the firm’s desire to avoid deferring a portion of its incoming class:

[W]e told the new associates in our silicon valley and san francisco offices that we needed half to start after january 1; we got some volunteers, but others had no choice. We did it to manage workload and the orderly absorption of the new people. We undoubtedly should have done it sooner. We were hoping it wouldn’t be necessary.

Update (6:02): Quinn also told us that the decision affected less than 10 people.
Eeek! This is terrible news to receive so close to the bar exam. Still, future Quinn associates need to buckle down and make sure they pass the bar. They’re already on notice that they only have two tries to get it right.
That said, if there is not enough work to go around this fall, that is one thing. But is there also not enough money to go around to pay these people a stipend?
Good luck to those that have been deferred. At least you guys can start in January 2010, instead of January 2011 or not at all.
Earlier: Second Bar Failure Is Proximate Cause for Quinn Associate’s Ouster
Quinn Emanuel Associate Has Reservations About ‘Redskin’ Victory
Prior ATL coverage of start dates

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