third?

frist

elie mytsal

I think Winston is expecting to receive the Nobel Prize in Law that day.

I believe they are going to announce that Winston and Strawn has been nominated for the Nobel prize for physics.

Damn you 4.

5

Mystery meetings are sort of like mystery meats. Never very appealing. And kind of scary. Keep us posted.

Merger.

DISSOLUTION, BABY!!!

Patrick Ewing

I agree with 9

How much does it suck to call a "mystery meeting" on a Monday and tell people on Friday? W&S associates will now have "fun" thinking and worrying about it all weekend . . . .

Hey lat, do you wanna play hide the mystery meat with me?

Jerry Pitcock

Good point 12. Why not just tell them Monday morning. I will bet Elie a cheesburger and a virginia slim that the purpose leaks out today.

I know for a fact that it is Winston to 190!

I vote merger. Dissolution would not be communicated at an all-associates meeting announced three days before.

What about Columbus Day?

I guess they don't get off on Columbus day at W&S.

I bet someone in the firm hasn't been flushing and it needs to stop.

Just got confirmation from a partner. Announcement will be that bonuses will be paid, though lower than years past, and firm is re-evaluating how it compensates associates...great.

It's a way to be certain that no associates take Columbus Day as a holiday.

All associates to be terminated.

16 - I agree. Maybe not a real "merger" but an acquisition of a smaller firm.

@ 8 & 9: you don't need to tell the associates about those on a conference call

I wish someone would play hide the mystery meat with me.

20 - That seems about right. If so, I can live with that. Honestly I would be happy with no bonus, as long as I can keep my job.

19 made me laugh

Maybe it's to announce the rumored merger with Heller Ehrman.

5 was hysterical

That's funny. Winston never had call ins when my salary jumped from 125 to 175 in the course of two years. We just got a memo. It's odd they'd have this big meeting for pay decreases. They never, ever were the kind of place to have "meeting to discuss associates feelings" or whatever. They just issued a memo from the executive or compensation or whatever committee via a envelop market "private and confidential."

If I was a partner at Winston, I'd find out who leaked this and fire them.

It's gonna be the Alec Baldwin Glengarry Glen Ross speech.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY

PE lost two wives due to bathtub drownings and the police failed to investigate.

W&S is deplored here after no offering bright, capable 3Ls while giving offers to all Michigan students.

Indiana 2L

"Please note that the dial in will be listen only to prevent disruption to the meeting from background noise from those calling into the meeting."

I suspect that the "background noise" will be the wailing and gnashing of teeth of the severed associates.

I got confirmation from a partner (actually, two, in the same room), that it is twofold:

1. Confirmation/dispelling rumors of merger activity

2. Headcount Reduction- TIming & Size (latter unclear)

3. Salary expectations & right-sizing for 2010

Interesting that even Chicago is on a video conference. Is the new so bad that the partners on the call decided to be in an undisclosed location?

If I accepted an offer from W&S to join their IP practice next summer as a summer associate and subsequently turned down an offer to work at another firm, would I have a valid promissory estoppel claim?

"I got confirmation ... that it is twofold: ... 1. ... 2. ... 3. ...."

Nice.

38 - No, dipshit.

I'm a former Winston associate (in-house now), and I can say that a meeting of this sort is highly atypical. Raises and benefits info is usually communicated via memo. Mergers and changes in leadership are read about in the media then communicated to associates via memo. Not sure what to make of this.

WS is going to offer a new option for associates: 1/3 of their salary to go back to law school for three years. All associates must re-attend schools better than the schools they originally attended.

Undergraduate education programs are also available at $60,000/year to each associate for four years, unless they have a lot of AP credit from high school, then 3.

And I had this confirmed by fifteen partners, so it's official.

Lat, since you have the dialin, I expect a liveblog

LOL at 42

Other posters are right - Winston doesn't normally have big meetings to discuss stuff so this is unusual. No way it's good.

But who gives a shit that Monday is Columbus Day? That's not a real holiday. Any lawyer planning to take Columbus Day off deserves to be fired.

Earlier this year, Profit Sharing distributions were deferred for all employees eligible with the expectation that it would be released mid October, 2009.

Health benefits were cut at the end of last year for anyone making over $100,000.

Dispell rumors? Even with the Heller merger rumors in 2008, they handled the rumor defense via emails to the firm.

Stealth layoffs? They've been going on since the beginning of the year, across all departments. No one will talk if they're afraid of breaching their severance agreement or afraid of losing their jobs.

This leaves merger, massive layoff, salary modification, bonus deferrals, end of lock step, end of the billable hour, or someone left a mess in the bathroom.

Second 43: Lat, you must call in and liveblog the WinsTTTon Call.

Will George Ryan be the guest moderator?

Rumor has it, the meeting will announce that W&S has to close 5 offices. Each office will pick 4 associates to take up arms in a battle royal among the various offices in D.C. Downsizing, Thunderdome style. Better sharpen your broadswords associates.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

40 - Hang on there.

I think 38 might have a good point. I'm in Contracts this semester and this seems like the kind of situation promissory estoppel is meant to cover. I wonder why no one has thought of this before?

At this meeting, they will cut all those who do not attend. Sorry deferred.

It must be really, really great news.

45, what about government lawyers?

W&S is, as a law firm, getting the Nobel Prize for Physics. No one at the firm knows anything about physics but that is no longer a qualification for the Nobel Selection Committee which has decided to reward "good intentions".

Someone left a mess in the bathroom at every office worldwide? What the hell are they feeding to these guys!?

It's layoffs and a move away from lockstep.

"Take a look at the associate on your left. Now look at the associate on your right. Now get the fuck out. You're all fired."

20, bonuses have always been incredibly low at Winston even for the highest billers. This is why so many high billing people left during the boom times to work at Kirkland.

This is all BS - Winston would handle an unpopular anouncement like salary cuts or layoffs in a memo. It's just going to be an update regarding how the firm is doing this year, projections for next year, etc. Calm down people.

I'm guessing it will be a blood orgy of self-entitled FTTies. Some will be sacrificed so the other FTT hacks can continue their incestuous incompetence.

Can anyone post the dial in number?

Maybe they are going to out all of the scribe monkeys employed in the Chicago office.

Hong Kong associates....11:00 p.m....late night meeting...now that's gonna be one helluva party!

5th year here... confirmed it's to put an end to merger rumors and bonus/salary related (both decrease)...

My prediction is that Dr. Li-ann Thio will NOT approve of what's going to happen to Winston & Strawn associates on Monday.

Latham fired 500 people and all we got was a stinking memo and a phone call with two unfamiliar partners. Latham - out of top 25 next year - rats of new york.

Who moved my $160k?

Everyone Latham terminated was substandard and was lucky to get excellent severance pay...well done Latham and tough darts to all those they kicked to the curb.

68 FTW

Winston is about to merge with a firm from Milwaukee.

Bet W&S announce that they're going to close the London office. Talk about a money pit.

@74 Are you British?

75

Ex-W&S. Witnessed the ups & downs (mostly downs) of the London office.

What do they have now? 3 partners and 3 associates? You've got to be kidding me. That's not a real office!

Ok, so we are 8 minutes in to this meeting. What is giong on?!?! What's the news?!?!

the suspense is killing me. I mean, what else do I have to do on a monday morning?

They all must be packing up their belongings.

So? Someone somewhere has to know what went down.

Anyone?

Can someone please email ATL and let them know what went down at the meeting?

People may be uncomfortable emailing ATL about this from the firm network.
I predict salary cuts

If it is as bad as some people think, someone would email from their own phone or anonymously post a comment here. My guess was it was a lot of nothing.

it's been 3 hours. update?

42 -- where do we sign up?

Well???????????

Looks like they laid off everyone. wow. just wow.

They didn't lay off everyone. It probably was a junk meeting that no one is reporting on because it meant nothing

@88 - or there is no one left in the wasteland of those once hallowed halls. The world will never know.

-87

89, Maybe we'll find out after people go home tonight and one of them has the testicular fortitude to tell people what went down.

I'm a 10th year at Winston and I can confirm 87. They laid off every single associate. Staff attorneys and of counsel are safe, but all associates must exit their respective buildings by the 3pm. No severance.

90, but what if they are all at home already because they were all laid off? Then what?

That's great. That means there will soon be a bunch of whiners commenting here soon.

oh wow, just oh wow

94,

What's the "wow" joke? Am I missing something?

I'm a 2nd year at Winston. I did not dial into the call. I was too scared. But my secretary just came in and told me it was 2:35 and I only had 25 minutes before I had to be out of the building.

They cut off the Internet access at W&S.

I'm a 3rd year at Winston and they did not cut off my internet access. But they did just tell me to be out of the building by 3pm.

Is that 3pm Central, or local time?

98 here - central

Wow, guess the Hong Kong office wasn't given much time to get out.

It's 3:00 - give us updates on your forced departure!!!

wow, just wow, sham wow

winston to wow. just wow bao

Email ATL using your personal iPhone. C'mon, somebody, just do it!

Condolences to all the associates at Winston - you deserved better. You will thrive again somewhere.

105,

W&S took everyone's Iphones.

Echoing 106, there is always family law to go into.

This is UNREAL! Is this the largest layoff yet?

109 - no, see GM

If you exclude Heller and Wolf Block, then yes, 109, this is the largest layoff ever.

But seriously folks, what was the meeting about?

horrible horrible horrible

If absolutely no one has posted anything reliable about the meeting since it finished, odds are nothing important happened during the meeting. It makes no sense that at an all associates meeting that no one has posted anything about it. People probably asked themselves why such a meeting was called in the first place. Come on, why wouldn't a single person post about it unless it was a pointless meeting?

Great post, Lat. Way to follow-up. Dumbass.

They must have been told that if they whistleblew they would lose any residual benefits/severance Insult to injury

Agree with 115. This is a slow news day for ATL and they couldn't find one W&S source to provide details on the meeting? Very weak.

This site blows. You put up one open thread and two stories stolen from other blogs, but can't follow up on your own story. Come on, man. This really is low hanging fruit.

I'm assuming Lat is observing Columbus Day, which is why he hasn't updated us on this post yet.

But, he does have internet access of Fire Island, so, I don't know what it could be?

I'm assuming Lat is observing Columbus Day, which is why he hasn't updated us on this post yet.

But, he does have internet access on Fire Island, so, I don't know what it could be?

This is a disaster! It will be in tomorrow's WSJ for sure. How many associates were at Winston? Chicago must be a zoo right now... Who were their big clients?

Why wouldn't it hit the WSJ Law Blog yet if it is such a disaster? People are getting worked up over nothing. Until someone comes forward and says what went down, I think it's best to assume the meeting was largely irrelevant.

Agreed, this is just fear mongering. Probably nothing happened. Still, this is odd that no one has commented on what the meeting was actually about.

I agree with the above poster...sorry i forgot to get the number. Low hanging fruit.

I am a third year law student searching for a job...want to hire me, ATL, to follow up on stories?

Why would W&S announce a meeting on Friday for Monday morning in this economy if it were nothing? They have to know that this is the reaction they'd get. Also, I HAVE to believe (hope?) that someone at ATL would at least have called W&S for a comment and extrapolate that one was refused. (Otherwise, what sort of piece of s*** are you running, Lat?). If I'm right, its a mess over there.

125,
If you're wrong, it's a mess at ATL. Ellie works at ATL. Which is more likely?

126 - touche.

125.

I've checked the WSJ, Chicago Tribune, Twitter, etc. this afternoon. The only ones talking about possible layoffs at Winston are you guys on this site. I exchanged email with someone at Winston mid-afternoon today and our convo was "business as usual." In other words, no news is still no news.

If the proverbial shit hit the fan at W&S, why would not one person report it (via Iphone, personal email to ATL, etc.)? It makes no sense that 6 hours after the meeting went down, no one had the idea to alert/comment to ATL. I understand that ATL is run by a group of morons, but the lack of a comment on any comment page today about it should be telling enough that nothing severe happened. This has to be the only explanation. If something really bad went down, but everyone wanted to cover it up, wouldn't someone just make something up in the comments to quiet the inquiry?

We are gathering reports and will post about the meeting later (probably tomorrow morning). Based on preliminary reports, it was not a particularly exciting meeting, basically along the lines of a "state of the firm" talk.

If you would like to contribute information, please email us: tips at abovethelaw dot com (subject line: "Winston and Strawn"). Thanks.

129 - someone like YOU?

-126

128 doesn't know what he is talking about. If he did exchange an email with someone at winston, why wouldn't he ask, "what happened this morning?" The truth is that he didn't get any specifics if the email correspondence even happened at all.

126/131,

Dude, I don't work at W&S. Just giving an opinion as to what happened. Sounds like Lat has no idea about it as well.

Lat's right. It was not a very momentous meeting.

The firm did admit earlier layoffs, but it did not offer numbers / details.

No news is good news so everyone at W&S is probably safe.

ATL is always late on reporting news.

I work for Winston & Strawn. I knew Winston & Strawn, Winston & Strawn was a friend of mine. Lat, you are no Winston & Strawn.

But seriously, we had a partners meeting last week at 8 fucking am West Coast time. It was a non-event, just like the associates meeting was. We are close to projections, we need to collect, recruitment is scaled down but we are committed to the summer program. Essentially the same stuff we hear every year.