Who cares about these firms. None of them will be here a year from now.

Third.

Suck my dick Mystal you fat piece of shit.

wow...4...serious anger issues there my friend,

Reed Smith is terrible. 25% offer rate in the DC office this summer with absolutely no heads up.

2 - SRZ might they are doing aok so I hear.

Patton Boggs is fine. Big-time lobbying shop.

Chadbourne is a miserable hole.

7 - let me know what you are smoking because it must be good. SRZ has laid off 75-100 associates - the ones who are left are billing 2 hours a day!

4 - This is post is by Lat (who might be happy to take you up on your offer).

5 = agreed. if you would let Mystal blow you, you have real self loathing issues.

So the Wolf Block/Arent Fox deal never went through? Someone made a comment once how cool it would be to answer the phone, "Yeah I work at Wolf Fox, and I'll EAT YOUR FUCKING FACE." I chuckled.

Or maybe it was Wolf Block/Bryan Cave --> Wolf Cave. Either way, lolzies.

http://manhattan.blockshopper.com/news/story/1000030914-Schulte_Roth_Zabel_attorney_drops_2_3M_on_3rd_Ave_/

chadbourne is a piece of shit. laid off wayyy too many 1st years.

13 / 14 - WolfBlock no longer exists:

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/03/wolf_block_dissolution.php

Elie, you can probably just lump 81-100 in a single post. No one really cares about them anyway.

15 - Here's another Schulte partner's real estate purchase:

http://abovethelaw.com/2007/08/lawyerly_lairs_its_good_to_be.php

19 - but that purchase was not two weeks after a 30 minute talk explaining how hard economic times are as a justification for no one getting offers.

The firms on this list are real shitpots. Losers one and all, with the possible exception of Blowjob.

I've only heard of 50% of these firms so they must suck.

--Latham Secure

I have an interesting situation, and I'm hoping I can get some advice from the ATL crowd. I'm a top 10% 3L at NYLS. If I choose to interview with one of these firms, should I disclose that my MPRE score is two points shy of the NY state requirement, or should I just pick a firm and then retake it, never letting them know I 'failed' the first time? Thanks in advance.

2 = a law student not in the know.

8 = knows the deal.

Wall St. isn't the center of the universe right now, its 1 1st St NE.

Mystal, you fat fuck, go eat your weight in Twinkies, fatty.

I wouldn't mind seeing comments from Perkins Coie folks in Portland and Seattle.

23- I hope you're kidding. No firm cares about your MPRE score - they just want to know you're admitted to the bar. So, keep your mouth shut, study, and take the test again if you want to be admitted to the NY Bar.

Perkins Coie pays at (or above) the rest of the market in Portland, no?

Reed Smith is Terrible, no offers due to "performance" and "not living up to expectations" when there was absolutely no indication. Plus they also didn't reimburse for expenses they said they would. So cheap and so unprofessional

10 - Source on that?

Howrey sucks balls

Good firms.

23, I believe you would have an ethical obligation to disclose it, unless you've taken the test again prior to the interview, and are 90% or more sure that you scored highly enough this time.

Why is Schulte so low on this list? Aren't they _the_ hedge fund firm and have huge PPP (despite being, like 40 years old). I hear it's a sweatshop but I'm surprised they're not higher ranked.

34 - I agree. Surprisingly low placement.

Here's all you need to know about Bryan Cave:

Salary freeze, check.
Layoffs (including first years), check.
Salary cuts, check.
Below market pay, check.
Not enough work, check.
Piss-poor management committee, check.
Too many non-producing partners, check.

Portland 1L here, Perkins Coie has received plaudits from folks around here for doing their layoffs earlier this gracefully, and treating their former associated with a great deal of dignity and respect.

How many offers did Schulte give out? Or are they keeping summers in limbo as well?

There is where GTTT belongs. Its ascension is mind-boggling.

I just schulted in my pants.

I heard Perkins Coie (Portland) only hires "the best." At least that's what I heard . . . what do *you* think, "Portland 1L"???

38, Schulte has yet to give out offers to their summers.

How does Hunton stand? Does anyone know? I know they laid off a few a couple months back, but it was a rather benign number.

Crowell & Moring doesn't advertise it, but they are a "look to your left look to your right- one of you wont be here" type firm. Summer offer rate at DC was 20 / 31. They have a history of cold offering people in better economic times as well.

15 = 19 = incoming associate at schulTTTe

43 - Hunton (especially in Richmond) was a miserable place to be an associate BEFORE the economy went to hell.

Things haven't gotten better.

What I want to know is who are the least prestigious firms in the AMLAW 100. Which firms in that list are NOT Vault firms? I hope we can have a special post to mock them.

Reed Smith sucks, but I bet it goes up another 5 or so spaces next year. As the firm gets bigger in the big markets like NYC and London, it will get more name recognition - mostly for the stupid PR moves it makes such as the Fordham debacle. But the sad thing is that there is no such thing as bad publicity. I also expect at least 2-3 AMLaw 100 firms to break up at year's end as partners split when their firms don't make budget.

Howrey indeed sucks, and there is a bloodbath going on in the IP group. There is not nearly enough work, and the partners hoard all the hours that exist.

Reed Smith is a lousy place

37=embarrassing.

37=embarrassing.

Fordham Law School banned Reed Smith from coming onto their campus for 5 years.... Why? B/c Reed Smith sucks balls.

NO ONE GO TO REED SMITH!

41: Get out of that city while you still can. The legal market (private sector) in Portland is done, even more so than in other cities. There will probably be about 10 2L SA positions spread out among all the major firms in town (Perkins, K&L and Davis Wright being the Seattle based firms with Portland offices; Stoel, Tonkon, Schwabe and Miller Nash being the "local" biggies) - literally 1 to 2 jobs (or 0) at each of these firms. Seriously, I have never been in a more provincial, over-lawyered city in my entire life. I finally convinced my wife we should leave a while back, and it was the best decision we could have made. It's a beautiful city/part of the country, but Seattle is a much better destination for someone who wants to be in the pacific northwest.

46 = probably wouldn't be saying that before he / she was laid off.

Anyone claiming to be surprised by a no-offer from Reed Smith DC is a fool. We were told all summer long that there weren't enough offers for all the SAs, and we were told what to do to get one of the few offers available. If you didn't get an offer, you're too stupid to deserve one.

33, you are way off base. MPRE's don't mean sh#t unless it becomes a stumbling block to getting a bar license. H$ll, I even knew an associate who hadn't taken the MPRE before the associate passed the bar. Granted, it was at an AMLAW 200 firm, but I can't imagine the hiring committee of any firm getting his/her panties in a bunch because a law student had a low score on the MPRE... just study up, take it again, and you'll be fine.

Can someone dig into the rumor that Skadden cut its summer program short in NY and then paid the SAs not to tell anyone about it....?

Howrey can't be that bad - they only laid off 10 attorneys during the entire layoff bloodbath, their incoming associates start in two weeks and they have a lot of firms lining up behind them in the move from lockstep

what's so bad about that?

54: Are you in Seattle now? I get the sense just from the recruiting process that it's a pretty miserable market as well, between DLA, Dorsey, and Orrick not having summer classes and Heller Ehrman being dead.

Seriously... do all these firms really exist, or are one or two just made up names that Lat threw in to see if anyone was still paying attention? Really... there's a firm called Aren't Fox? Really?

59 -- it's not the firm, it's the people they hire.

is bryan cave still around? i thought they went under

Tell me about Bryan Cave and Reed Smith's NYC offer rates

Reed Smith is horrible. Associates being let go for imagined performance issues, partners jumping ship at the first chance they get, and overcut budgets. They've cut so many secretaries that lawyers spend time making copies etc.

The Richmond office is falling apart and ready to close (another exit this month). Dominated by one crazy employment partner who is paranoid that everyone is trying to steal her one good client.

Likewise the Falls Church office is getting ready to shut down & send the work to D.C.

Perkins Coie is rapidly losing clients - especially in labor & employment.

It was one thing to hire the big firm that would overlawyer everything when the economy was up, now that clients are looking closer at legal bills, they realize they don't need to pay for a senior partner supervisor, junior partner writer, senior associate researcher, and third-year briefcase carrier for every motion.

33 - I wouldn't tell them. Failing the MPRE is evidence that you are a moron. How did you miss more than 5 or 6 questions on that thing?

1. You receive a personal injury settlement on behalf of your client, Ms. Victim. Should you:
A. Spend the money on hookers and blow.
B. Give the money to charity.
C. Give the money to Ms. Victim. or
D. Mingle the money with your personal money, prior to spending part of it on hookers and blow, then taking the rest to Mexico.

You chose A, right?

Since I don't spend all my time on this site, could someone tell me what TTT means or stands for?

Since I don't spend all my time on this site, could someone tell me what TTT means or stands for?

62 - Explain what you mean. I know a number of people in Howrey's antitrust practice group and they are intelligent and for the most part nice people.

I have never heard a single positive thing about Chadbourne. I interviewed there as a law student and hated every single person I met. The partners seemed totally "checked out" from the firm and its future, and the associates were all overworked scatterbrains waiting for the axe to fall. I have a few coworkers at my current firm who once worked there way back in the day, and they uniformly categorize it as the 10th circle of hell. Some firms never change...

A bloodbath at the Howrey IP group? They had no real layoffs and just acquired the Day Casebeer IP boutique ... hardly a bloodbath.

TTT = Third Tier Toilet

73 = T-T-Trolled.

Hunton, what a JOKE! Poorly managed. They got some inexperienced Cuban managing the place right into the toilet.

Fuck Bryan Cave. Don't accept a summer offer there unless you plan on not receiving an offer for post-graduation.

Does anyone know if Arent Fox has made any offers yet?

Latham should be here.

I interviewed with Crowell and Moring New York and Palo Alto. The New York partner was a real prick... he just lateraled over and sounded like he had something to prove.

79, C&M doesn´t have a Palo Alto office. You mean Irvine? LA?

77 Yes

Crowell & Moring: No layoffs of any sort, no salary reductions, no 1-year delays in its 2010 1st year class, no reduction of summer program for 2010, broke into the AmLaw 100 this year, open an LA office...and drops in Vault.

Does this list even make any sense when firms hemorrhaging work, firing employees, and cancelling recruiting are moving up the list and surprisingly healthy firms are moving down?

#1. No, this list is complete silliness.
#2. A better list is the AMLaw 100 PPP, but note that most firms overstate that by about 33%.
#3. Reed Smith is not closing down Richmond or Falls Church
#4. Hunton is suffering. Very tough year in their biggest markets.

Crowell & Moring has definitely had targeted salary reductions, just not class wide. Overall, if you must work in BIGLAW, C&M is as humane a place as there is.

i heard AF isn't giving out offers and their previous year is still waiting in the dark. good luck people...

Reed Smith better at least be in the 60s next year. fucking embarrassing.

C&M is definitely a stable firm and set up pretty well to weather the storm with nearly no layoffs. The 30% no offers this summer were planned and their summer class knew going into the summer they were not all getting jobs. They simply got more accepted offers than they anticipated last fall. Of those firms, I'd say it's the most secure and stable to work at.

Patton Boggs LOL. Jesus.

Hunton sucks. Who would want to work there? Cuban managing partner and they laid off mostly minority attorneys in May (minority and female). I heard that one of the associates was pregnant and the other one had a high number of billable hours but did not kiss ass... Hunton is a joke.

A-F has now rescinded most of last years offers ... bummer.

A-F has now rescinded most of last years offers ... bummer.

Well, A-F has finally rescinded last summer '08's offers ...

Reed smith is filled with the worst liars. Treat people well my ass.

Perkins is the absolute top firm based in Seattle with big time clients that aren't going anywhere. I'd jump on that in a heartbeat

C&M just acquired a litigation practice in San Fran. They seem to be looking to expand all over the place, which is a good sign. Definitely had fewer empty offices than other firms I've visited. And the people there are fantastic.