Could transatlantic law firm mergers become the hot new trend? Last week brought news of merger talks between Hogan & Hartson and Lovells. And now we’re hearing rumors of a possible merger involving Allen & Overy, a top U.K. firm and a member of the prestigious Magic Circle.
This is not, of course, the first time we’ve heard such buzz. A year ago, the word on the street was that A&O was thinking about getting with Shearman & Sterling.
For the record, Allen & Overy denies the latest rumors. Here’s the firm’s official statement, responding to an inquiry from Above the Law:
As a global player who has been quite open about the importance of the US market, we are often subject to such rumours. We have openly stated for a number of years now that we have the desire to expand in the US market and as such we would consider any opportunities that may arise with a suitable US partner. That remains the case, but at the current time we are not in any merger talks whatsoever with a US partner. Your [reports seem] to refer to a global call our management held with all partners recently on our current view on strategy, though your questions below do not reflect the content of what was said whatsoever.
Find out what they were reacting to, after the jump.
Continue reading “Law Firm Merger Mania: Allen & Overy and a Mystery Suitor?”
Back in June, Dorsey & Whitney laid off 55 people and announced that it was cutting associate salaries by 10 percent. At the time, our sources reported that the decisions were made in reaction to the firm’s revenue numbers from May:
Management got May’s figures last night, and apparently, the situation was quite dire. The prognostications for the future months also did not hold to budget and they decided something relatively drastic needed to be done.
A tipster reports that Dorsey is cutting salaries again. And this time the cut is even more drastic:
Per an email from Marianne Short, the firm is slashing associate salaries firmwide. Could be up to 25-30% for midlevel / senior associates.
The firm contends that salary cuts will not get up to the levels reported by the tipster. But Dorsey is one of the firms that has decided to abandon lockstep compensation. Could that result in 25 percent reductions to base pay?
Additional details and a statement from the firm, after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: Dorsey & Whitney Cuts Salaries Again“
* In the wake of a botched execution attempt, Ohio is conducting a review of its executions over the past 10 years. [Washington Post]
* Speaking of death row inmates, were three Arkansas men, now facing either life imprisonment or execution for killing three young boys, wrongfully convicted? [New York Times]
* Roman Polanski, now in a Zurich prison, is depressed and dejected, according to his lawyer. [Reuters via Drudge]
* Two Connecticut doctors have filed a challenge to their state’s ban on physician-assisted suicide. [Courthouse News Service]
* A suspect in a 1968 airplane hijacking has been captured. [CNN]
* Check out the videos and transcripts thus far from C-SPAN’s “Supreme Court Week.” [How Appealing (linkwrap)]
In a speech last night before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, Ronald M. George, criticized his state’s reliance on the initiative process. His remarks focused on how that process, direct democracy taken to the extreme, has paralyzed state government, especially when it comes to fiscal matters.
Continue reading “California: The Not-So-Golden State?”
Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.
Many people fear that this will be a "jobless recovery" and those people keep getting more justification for their concerns. Unfilled positions fell to the lowest level since the Department of Labor began tracking the statistic in 2000, falling to 2.39 million, which is less than half of the number of spots available at the peak just back in July 2007.
That’s the heart of the increasing schism between the fantastic run on the major US equity indices since March (when law-firm layoffs peaked) and increasing unemployment. Earnings have been improving due to cost reduction, not "real" growth, and that’s likely to continue.
The U.S. economy may grow at an average 2.8 percent pace annual pace in the second half of the year, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month. Consumer spending, after rebounding last quarter as auto sales jumped because of the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” plan, will probably decelerate in the last three months of the year as the jobless rate reaches 10 percent, the survey showed.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last week said economic growth next year probably won’t be strong enough to “substantially” bring down unemployment. The jobless rate will “still probably be above 9 percent by the end of 2010,” Bernanke said.
Sadly, the factor that has done the most to keep the unemployment rate down seems to be the massive number of people whose benefits are expiring or have simply given up looking, and thus no longer count.
It wasn’t a particularly good news in the legal corner either. For the first time in a few months, four of the AmLaw Global 100 have had reported layoffs in the same week. (Law Shucks did a comprehensive analysis, complete with charts, of all the layoffs in the Global 100 last week.)
Details of those layoffs, plus other cost-cutting measures, after the jump.
Continue reading “This Week In Layoffs: 10.10.09″
* One (wacko) lawyer thinks Congress must pass a special act to allow Obama to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Anyone ever hear of Teddy Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson? [True/Slant]
* Career alternatives: driving Catharine MacKinnon’s pick-up truck from Cambridge to Ann Arbor. [Harvard Law School]
* Do you have a copy of the Constitution signed by Justices Scalia and Thomas? This guy does. [Josh Blackman's Blog]
* France threatens to sic “The Internet” on stressful companies. [Dealbreaker]
* What’s Hot? Hate crimes. What’s Not? The death penalty. [Law Dork 2.0]
* It’s Supreme Court Week on C-SPAN. Will Tom Goldstein report live from the red carpet? [SCOTUSblog]
Commenters often complain that we feature too many Biglaw associates in this space — uninspiring young people who’ve drifted through college and law school and are now drones at soulless firms. We’re delighted that this week, Biglaw associates make up only one-third of our couples. Rounding out the field are a soulless-drone partner and a former associate who abandoned Biglaw for the classic refuge of the disillusioned JD: law teaching. Enjoy this foray into the unexpected!
Our couples:
1. Caroline Dougherty and Marc Packer
2. Patricia Wencelblat and Richard Cooper
3. Tania Tetlow and Gordon Stewart
Get the details on these newlyweds and vote for your favorite couple, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 10.4: Meet Packer”
Back in February, Nixon Peabody laid off 56 employees. The firm was public about its decision to lay off people at the time.
But sources report that over the past few months Nixon has been conducting additional layoffs — only this time the firm is being very stealthy about the departures. Multiple sources state that the firm casts these reductions as performance-based, but the performance issues are simply low hours during the recession. One tipster puts it like this:
[S]tealth layoffs of associates are happening in a number of different including San Francisco … and D.C. A number of second and third years (since we have no first years yet) have been told to pack their bags. They are being called performance-based though the associates who have been let go have low hours because of lack of work. … Associates are terrified to report to work [lest] they get a call from human resources.
We also have reports of stealth layoffs in New York. And still other tipsters tell us that junior partners are being forced out as well.
This time, Nixon Peabody declined to comment about the layoffs.
But after the jump, we have information that might explain why Nixon is going the stealth route with these cuts.
Continue reading “Nationwide (Stealth) Layoff Watch: Nixon Peabody”
Last year, discussing the surprising success of clothing consultants in the recession, we wrote: “When the going gets tough, the tough get new wardrobes.”
Maybe we should amend that statement: “When the going gets tough, the tough ditch their wardrobes.” Faced with the dismal legal job market, yet another law student has decided to earn extra cash by taking it off for the camera.
In September we reported on Stephanie Christine, a UNC law student who posed nude for Playboy’s “Girls of the ACC” issue. Now, thanks to a horny diligent reader, we’ve learned that Kennedy James (right), a law student at Florida Coastal School of Law, has joined Playboy.com’s “Cyber Club.”
Kennedy was recently honored as “Coed of the Week” by the Playboy Blog. How many law students can claim that accolade? Order of the Coif, suck it.
Kennedy is jokingly described as majoring in “Advanced Sophistry” at Florida Coastal. To preempt the commenters: yes, Florida Coastal is fully accredited by the American Bar Association.
Check out a redacted (and therefore safe-for-work) picture of Kennedy James, plus links to the not-safe-for-work stuff, after the jump.
Continue reading “Another Law Student in Playboy’s Pages”
We’re getting multiple reports that Foley & Lardner is laying off 39 people today. Our sources report that associates are being told right now. If you work at Foley, I hope your phone is not ringing.
One tipster tells us that the IP group could be the hardest hit:
Foley announced associate/senior counsel/etc. layoffs today. Exact number not entirely clear, but about 39 folks are supposedly being informed today. There were others informed earlier that could take the total up to 50+. Not sure which offices, etc. Rumor has it that Foley’s IP group is especially vulnerable — very little work in that group.
I guess cutting the soda subsidy wasn’t enough of a cost savings.
Spokespeople at Foley & Lardner did not respond to an immediate request for comment. We’ll keep you posted as more news develops.
UPDATE: In other Foley news, the ABA Journal reports that the firm is claiming it’s the victim of vexatious litigation filed by a patent holding company. See also The BLT.
Earlier: Reversed Perk Watch: Soda Subsidy Slashed at Foley & Lardner
On Monday there will be an “all associates” meeting at Winston & Strawn.
Any guesses as to what it might be about? Bonuses for this year? A move away from lockstep? Candid acknowledgement of recent stealth layoffs? Feel free to offer us your guesses, by email or in the comments.
UPDATE (10/12/09): 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.
Full memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Mystery Meeting at Winston & Strawn”
According to CNN Money, being a lawyer is one of the Best Jobs in America. Attorneys rank eighteenth on CNN’s list, just behind IT business analysts, and just ahead of doctors.
Congratulations?
If you look at the list, you can make a very cogent argument that lawyers should have ranked much higher. Some of the jobs that did better than lawyers are: CPA (more at Going Concern), nurse, and something called physician assistant, which sounds a lot like doing routine medical work with none of the glory (or pay) of specialists.
Ranked below lawyers (but still in the top 50) are such plum jobs as: human resource manager, hotel general manager, and corporate paralegal.
You know, when you put it like that, maybe we are not “devoting too many of our very best minds” to the practice of law. No offense to hoteliers and all of the challenging work they do, but it’s not like we need more snooty concierges.
All that said, I’m not entirely sure CNN Money knows a whole lot about what it is like to be a lawyer these days.
Let’s take a look at the profile after the jump.
Continue reading “Lawyer = 18th ‘Best Job in America’”
On Wednesday, we reported that Fenwick & West paid $60,000 in “go away” money money to some members of its incoming associate class. Today, we have news about Fenwick’s 2009 summer program, i.e., the most recent summer program, and the firm’s offer rate.
Fenwick took on 36 2Ls and 3Ls this past summer. But the summer was only eight weeks long, and Fenwick’s summer salary was on a $145K scale instead of $160K.
Still, most summers probably would have been okay with Fenwick’s program if it had ended with a strong offer rate. But it didn’t. Sources report that the firm only made offers to 17 of the 36 summers. A tipster reports the breakdown:
Ultimately the firm extended 17 offers (47%): 8 litigation, 8 corporate and 1 patent.
During orientation the hiring partners told us those who did not receive an offer would receive a letter that they could show other firms as a means to explain why we did not get an offer.
Is anybody else interested in this letter that will explain everything to other firms? Let’s check it out after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide No Offer Watch: Fenwick & West Sends Letters of Endorsement, But Not a Lot of Offers”
* President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. I think anything that associates America with “peace” has to be a good thing. [Associated Press]
* The Astor trial highlights elder abuse in our society. [ABC]
* It turns out that Kwame Kilpatrick was outed by a plaintiff’s lawyer. [ABA Journal]
* The allegations against Dr. Phil probably are not true, but they sure are funny. [Popsquire]
* Corporations will spend even less on outside counsel next year. Is that good news for in-house counsel? [National Law Journal]
* America’s so-called “Toughest Sheriff” is being investigated for being tougher on Latinos. [CNN]
Remember Jane Allen Clark? She’s the Texas attorney who originally used the quasi-racy photo on the left for her lawyer profile on the state bar website. After we wrote about it, she replaced it with the more staid portrait on the right:
But where did that first photo come from? An eagle-eyed reader drew something to our attention….
Continue reading “Further Misadventures in Lawyer Advertising: Where Did Jane Clark Find Her Hubba-Hubba Photo?”
“There are no NALP police.”
– James G. Leipold, Executive Director, NALP
Oh, but wouldn’t it be fun if there were? Let’s use our imaginations….
As the Bad Boys theme song plays in the background, a bespectacled Jim Leipold, accompanied by a gaggle of burly NALP goons, breaks down the door at 111 Huntington Avenue — the Boston offices of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.
Leipold and his goons find the recruiting department like heat-seeking missiles, where they confront Katherine Kelly, EAPD’s recruiting director. The goons grab Kelly and turn her back towards Leipold.
Leipold handcuffs Kelly. “You are being arrested for your firm’s violation of Part V.C.1 of the NALP Principles and Standards,” he tells her. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to the managing partner of your law firm, as well as the right to blame the managing partner for your firm’s breach of the NALP rules. But don’t be surprised if you get hit with a stealth layoff after doing so.”
Bad firms, bad firms, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when NALP comes for you?
NALP, the Association for Legal Career Professionals (fka the National Association for Law Placement), promulgates “guidelines that offer an ethical framework for all participants in law student recruiting.” In past years, these guidelines were generally followed by law firms, schools, and students. This year, however, with the economy in the tank, things are… different.
Over the summer, uber-prestigious Sullivan & Cromwell tried to ditch the requirement that law firms give law students 45 days to weigh offers of summer employment. S&C ultimately backed down. But as reported in these pages earlier today, Edwards Angell has told law students receiving offers that they have three weeks to accept, “or until the summer class fills up” — whichever is earlier.
And EAPD isn’t the only firm that has decided to make offers with shorter fuses. Another firm is giving offerees two weeks to make up their minds.
More information, plus reflections on the NALP rules, after the jump.
Continue reading “Is It Time to Revamp the NALP Rules?
(And: Another firm abandons the 45-day rule.)“
* The Astor trial is over. Anthony Marshall has been convicted of theft. [WSJ Law Blog]
* “Nancy Grace is bad for America,” says Blackbook Legal. Perhaps, but she was great for Amy Poehler. [Blackbook Legal]
* So you are being questioned by a terrible interviewer. Now what? [Let's Talk Turkey]
* Reality television can teach you a lot about the law. But we haven’t fully explored the studio space here. Why couldn’t Court TV have a show called “Celebrity Law School”? Come on, like you wouldn’t tune into Carrie Prejean’s first day of Con Law? [Miss Trials]
* Since everybody else seems to have recession survival tips, I figured I should try to help out where I can. [True/Slant]
* Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, will be speaking at this year’s Legal Reform Summit. [Legal Reform Summit]
* How Bloomberg Law can change the legal world. [Litination]
The big decisional news out of New York today is the guilty verdict in the Brooke Astor trial. Anthony Marshall, the son of the late socialite and philanthropist, was convicted in a scheme to defraud Mrs. Astor.
But we also have news of another notable ruling. Longtime readers of Above the Law will recall the case of Jeremy Pitcock, the successful intellectual-property litigator who was fired from Kasowitz Benson in December 2007. The firm issued an unusual statement saying that Pitcock had engaged in “extremely inappropriate personal conduct.”
Pitcock sued Kasowitz for defamation. Kasowitz turned around and sued Pitcock, alleging in its complaint that he “subject[e]d at least twelve of the firm’s female employees…. to a pattern of unwelcome sexual advances.”
Now a judge has ruled in both of the cases. From Nate Raymond of the New York Law Journal:
A nearly two year-long public brawl between Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman and a former partner it fired for sexual harassment could be quieting down now that a Manhattan Supreme Court judge has dismissed both parties’ lawsuits.
Justice Martin Shulman (See Profile) last week found “unavailing” and “unpersuasive” the arguments made against the firm by intellectual property lawyer Jeremy Pitcock, who sued for defamation, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
The judge also found Kasowitz Benson failed to show how Mr. Pitcock had damaged the firm.
Executive summary (or West headnote): “A pox on both your houses.”
Continue reading “Everyone’s A Loser in Pitcock v. Kasowitz Benson”
Last month, we linked to a story in Courthouse News Service about Kansas Judge Kevin Moriarty. Kansas attorney Kimberly Ireland filed a lawsuit against Judge Moriarty, alleging that he had used inappropriate language and masturbated during her divorce mediation.
In her suit, she said that her ex-husband supported her and had testified about the judge’s inappropriate behavior at the mediation during their divorce trial.
After the post went up, her ex, Kevin Ireland, reached out to us to set the record straight:
First off, I am not in support of this lawsuit. I never had issue with anything the judge did during our mediation.
There may have been some bad language, but there was no beating of the honorable gavel, says Ireland.
Continue reading “Coming to the Defense of Judge Kevin P. Moriarty”
