No Offers, Summer Associates

Nationwide No Offer Watch: Zero Offer Extended At Morgan Lewis D.C.

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Ed. Note: This post has been updated (as reflected in the edited title). Please keep reading.
The offer calls for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius went out today, and associates who summered with the firm’s Washington office are receiving some especially difficult news: zero offers.
Update: Morgan Lewis responded with this statement:

Rumors you reported of zero offers in DC are false. We are giving offers in every large office of the firm. Due to the difficulty of predicting 2011 staffing needs, we have today extended only a limited number of offers. To assist those who have not received offers in seeking other opportunities, we will provide a letter to prospective employers that explains the circumstances surrounding our summer program, in the hopes that as these students enter the legal profession, they will be able to obtain employment opportunities commensurate with their qualifications and performance.

The firm refused to elaborate on just how many offers constitute the “limited number of offers” the firm extended. Above the Law has independently confirmed a report of one (1) offer extended at Morgan Lewis in D.C. Is there anybody else? Feel free to email us.
Multiple tipsters from D.C. are reporting phone calls like this one:

They just called. They’re not giving offers this year. They’re re-evaluating next fall for hiring needs for the following year and writing the summers a letter explaining that they were awesome. … [T]he head recruiter honestly sounded like she had been crying … Apparently they’re going to “stay in touch” over the next year to see what’s going on.

According to NALP, Morgan Lewis expected 17 2L summers and 2 1L summers for their 2009 summer program in D.C.
We are still collecting information about Morgan Lewis’s firm-wide offer rate. More details, plus an update from Philadelphia, after the jump.


We understand that the MLB firm wide offer rate will be greater than 0%. So not everybody who summered at MLB wasted their time. According to a tipster, one of the firm’s hiring partners in Philadelphia told summers there that “surprisingly few” offers would be given.
Are summers really that surprised? One of our sources noted that the firm no longer has to worry about its reputation on law school campuses:

I guess when you have already deferred a class, canceled next year’s summer program and are in the process of slashing base salaries, there is not much more to fear as far as PR hits go.

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MLB has already taken itself out of the game for the rising 2L class of 2011. Will members of the class of 2012 even remember what has happened here a year from now when they start looking for summer employment?
We’ll keep you posted as we get more information.
Update (6:25): We’re now hearing rumors of four offers for the Philadelphia summer class. Out of 23 summers. For those keeping score at home, we’ve got 1 of 17 in D.C. and 4 of 23 in Philly for a grand total of 5 of 40 overall. One tipster had this complaint:

What was the point of canceling the summer program next year if you are no offering everyone this year??? They cited canceling the summer program as a reason to give more offers.

Morgan Lewis chairman Fran Milone did cite “committing to the people in whom we are already invested” as a reason for canceling the 2010 summer program. But he made that statement in July. Perhaps he was already excluding the 2009 summer associates when he made that remark?
Anybody have any New York numbers? Did anyone at one of MLB’s smaller offices receive an offer?
Earlier: Morgan Lewis’s New Compensation Structure = Less Base Compensation?
Morgan Lewis Cancels 2010 Summer Program
Prior ATL coverage of No Offers

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