Patton Boggs Mystery Meeting at 2:30
What is going on, D.C.? As you know, Above the Law will be inside the Beltway tomorrow. And we know a lot of D.C. associates are wondering whether their bonuses will be on the level that Cravath has set for the New York market.
We could be getting our first piece of solid information on that front later today. Tipsters report that there is big meeting scheduled at D.C.-based Patton Boggs today:
Firm-Wide Associate Meeting Today at Patton BoggsAbout 2010 salaries and the automatic hours bonuses. 2:30.
The Firm usually lets associates call in but said that if they wanted to attend or comment they had to be in the conference rooms in person. Kind of unusual.
So Patton Boggs wants to make sure everybody is there in person to discuss salaries and bonuses. Maybe it’s bringing all the associates together to announce a raise and a market-busting bonus? The glass is half-full — at least it looks that way through my rose-colored glasses.
We reached out to Patton Boggs spokespersons, but they were not able to provide us with an immediate comment.
We’ll keep you posted here if new information comes to light later today.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of associate bonuses
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Comments
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First. And I'm in love!
Elie, let's try not to drop the ball on this one like you did with the Mystery Meeting at Winston about two months ago.
ichiban?
Secret Santa drawing.
1,
I love you too.
-Car Cash Guy
Chase the blind Walrus slathered in Crisco race?
Firm is moving away from lockstep, and will be rolling out a new hybrid comp. system next week. Bonuses will be lower than last year, but will be competitive with market peers. Just heard it from the powers that be.
We need to bomb Wade Boggs back to the stone age!
-DOJ Secure
I know! It's for a frantic game of bombardment meted out by the partners.
BOMBARDMENT!
Tommy Boggs (http://www.pattonboggs.com/tboggs/) is going to walk in, blast a thunderous fart, and then dissolve the firm. Heard it from the powers that be
Who are these douchebags compulsed to send this information to ATL? ATL is a fucking blog and should mean nothing to anyone.
Patton Boggs makes at least as much money on lobbying as they do on transactional work and litigation, so I imagine they are doing better than most firms in this economy.
The Boggs of War
2 - ATL didn't drop the ball on the Winston meeting. Here is what happened at that meeting:
http://abovethelaw.com/2009/10/winston_strawn_monday_meeting.php
Why do people make up facts? Patton's biggest practice is litigation followed by transactional. Lobbying and regulatory is third. Been that way for years.
11 - ATL would have less market power if people like you didn't keep reading and commenting on it. So maybe you should stop visiting.
Dear staff
We have to cut some people due to market conditions, blah blah blah. We have decided that the people most valuable to our firm are the ones that spend their time working instead of comming to some stupid meeting to greedily hear about the possiblity they will receive a few thousand dollars should they remain employed for long enough to get it. Therefore, effective immediately, all lazy ass slackers that left their desks to come to this meeting are terminated. For cause- your performance today was shameful. Get the hell out. Now. Merry Christmas
The firm is going to announce how many jobs were "saved or created" there by Obama, only by negative inference. They will announce how many are being fired, and the rest will be counted by Obama as jobs saved.
Yes We Can!
I saw Elie eating a couple Patton Boggs just last week.
what is a patton boggs?
I know Wade Boggs, but who's Patton Boggs?
The meeting will be the Alec Baldwin Glengarry Glenross speech.
Mystal's old firm was called Fatton Hoggs.
nicely done 23
I will pay Kashmir Hill 2 million US Dollars to pose nude for my website.
-Big Pornographer.
23 FTW!
VIDEO OF THE TIGER WOODS ACCIDENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i5FlC1MpkE
PUT. That COFFEE. DOWN.
Coffee is for closers.
Haha, Mystal! I think they just made a joke at the expense of your obesity.
CHECK YOU JOBS
If anybody is interested, my father is selling a palm shaped island for a very fair and reasonable price.
Oh, and 25, please refrain from ever addressing my camel blossom, Kash, again. Or else feel the cold steel judgment of my scimitar.
ShaFeef
in regards to 25: there are different types of nude photography:
tasteful
covered
obscured
softcore
airbrushed
full on
hardcore,
etc.
all can be discussed.
50 bucks on acquisition of another firm.
23, i see what you did there
Goodness people, can we please keep the comments relevant. What is a matter with you folks?
Go back to AutoAdmit.
35, have you not been on ATL for the past 2 years?
@35: New to ATL, are we? Irrelevant speculation is what keeps me clicking the comments button. We don't have time to educate you on all the ATL favorites, but Shafeef (above) is a prime example of what passes for commentary here.
35 - I ManuallyDeny you.
SwassLobster
pb associate here blogging from meeting. pb partner heads elie's an idiot. lat shd can him. more to come . . .
PB math. 1st year = 2nd year = 3rd year for salary purposes. Yet 3rd years are billed out at $70 more per hour. Brilliant! Shhhhhh, don't tell the clients!
Get over yourself. 3rd years are soooo over-rated.
18 made me laugh. I now can go on living. Count me as a saved job too.
@22 - Only in our fantasies, unfortunately. Perhaps the only question is how many associates will get "third prize."
Boggs could be fixin to take er JOBS!
only the 1st-3rd year salary info came out of the meeting?
No. 40, baby that's not a PB math invention. Read up on the slurpee freeze. Everyone's doing it. Same math now goes for 3y=4y=5y and so on for 2010. 2008 is here to stay.
32 is correct; all should be discussed.
In other meeting news, exceeds hours bonus policy will stay in effect, blah blah blah. PB does not have a standard meets hours bonus. You must exceed by 100 to be eligible for anything. In theory bonuses range from $7500 to $45000, but no hard and fast guideline, no written policy was given.
Patton Boggs?? I was previously under the impression that was a store in the strip mall that sold candles. Look, I have a simple suggestion: Create two ATL sites. One for the big boys and another - Junior ATL - for small firms in small cities. Hate to sound like a snob, but I don't come to this site for stories about some firm I've never heard of. The new site could be called Below the Law or Below Above the Law.
CHADBOurNE TO 160
The inept troglodytes I met in the Patton Boggs hallways made me pity their clients. Loser firm. Loser lawyers.
Can we get a real update on the numbers that came out of the meeting?
so what happened?
I second 52. Somebody needs to do his/her fucking job and follow up on this.
@51 - JaKe?
##49 and 51 must be loser third years.
56 = loser 2L
49: you or someone else has posted almost that exact comment before. If you want your view to be taken seriously, you need to register and make it into a shtick.
49 - formed his douche bag-ness watching Cardoza grads from the 90's making partner
Patton Boggs said that a number of associates and partners have been given walking papers and threatened leakers with being fired. That's what happened.
The usual 2009 story in BigLaw.
60 - and if that really is what happened....
The firm absolutely should fire leakers. Why do people leak information about their firms to ATL? If you aren't advancing the goals of the firm, why the hell are you working there?
By spewing info on layoffs to ATL you are not helping yourself, your firm, or your laid off colleagues whose layoff was just made public....or at least a google search away.
ATL has created a monster -- people routinely eat their own, crap where they eat (or whatever analogy you like) to get kicks out of sending a tip to ATL.
61 = PB partner or recruiting department.
Its sad that firms can't own up to what they're actually doing. I'm also skeptical that a PB attorney fired for cause would fare better than one that was laid off.
I'm crazy !
They also said that as part of a re-branding effort, the Firm's name will be changed by replacing Patton for Wade, effective Jan. 1, 2010.
The above is BS. No Pending Layoffs announced. Minor paycuts announced for associates 300 hours or more off pace. I believe this applies to very few associates as the firm is actually doing quite well comparatively and the vast majority of associates will make or exceed hours this year.
The real BS is that PB (and apparently most firms) laughingly try to spin "no changes to associate salaries" as a positive when the "freeze" is to stay into effect for the forseeable future. Imagine how much more revenue 3rd and 4th years will generate for the firm vs. 1st years. Yet, 3rd years are paid the same and 4th years only make $10K more. It's absurd and is particularly hard to swallow when most are still easily hitting hours.
All firms that have remained frozen should just man up and announce a new salary scale. There is no way anyone is ever going to get back on pace and if the firm needs to save $$, most understand that, but don't insult your 3rd-6th years that are getting hurt the most by the freeze by continuing to pay 1st years the 'old' market rate.
Of course, until a legit lateral market exists, firms really don't have to worry about any associate complaints.
61 - Maybe some of us appreciate a little transparency in the world of law firms and are willing to do what we can to advance it.
Wade "Patton" Boggs once drank 64 beers in a cross-country flight. Look it up.
Only monkeys throw their own poo at people. Therefore, all managing partners are monkeys. It's simple logic.