Following closely on news of the Vinson & Elkins raise, Andrews Kurth has also raised salaries for first- and second-year associates, to $160,000 and $170,000, respectively. As explained in the memo, the firm is “still working on the details of the compensation structure for other associate classes.” Here’s an article from the Texas Lawyer.
What about other Texas firms? Here’s what we’ve been hearing:
Baker Botts: They should raise later this week or early next week. Prior to the V&E announcement, a Baker source speculated: “[T]hey seem to be waiting on V and E. I think they might be trying to leapfrog them, hoping V and E lowballs.”
Akin Gump: “They had an associates’ committee meeting [yesterday] and said there were working out a few details, but they would be raising in their Texas offices sooner rather than later. Who knows what any of that means.”
The Andrews Kurth memo, in the form of an email from managing partner Robert Jewell, appears after the jump.
Every time we step away from our computer, big news breaks. Here’s a thread for discussion of the verdict in the Scooter Libby case.
We’ll update this post with comments and links as we read the coverage.
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Okay, so here’s the Washington Post lede (which we like better than the NYT and AP ledes — it’s the most substantive and informative of the three):
A federal jury today convicted I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of lying about his role in the leak of an undercover CIA officer’s identity, finding the vice president’s former chief of staff guilty of two counts of perjury, one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice, while acquitting him of a single count of lying to the FBI.
It’s a big victory for special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald (a proud graduate of Regis High School, which is also our alma mater). It’s a blow for Libby’s two talented defense lawyers: Theodore V. Wells Jr., of Paul Weiss, and William Jeffress Jr., of Baker Botts.
(Random digression: Ted Wells was at Lowenstein Sandler in New Jersey for many years, before he was wooed to the other side of the Hudson. Bill Jeffress was previously at the super-elite boutique of Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin, which was acquired by Baker Botts.)
During his closing argument, Ted Wells broke down in tears. Now he has real cause for crying.
His client must be even more sad. Per the Post:
Under federal sentencing guidlines, Libby faces a probable prison term of 1 1/2 to three years when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton June 5.
Update: As one of you notes, sentencing guru Doug Berman thinks Libby’s sentence could go much higher. See here.
Libby reacted to the verdict stoically. Again from the Post:
As the jury forewoman read each guilty count in a clear, solemn voice, Libby was impassive, remaining seated at the defense table, gazing straight ahead and displaying no visible emotion. His wife, Harriet Grant, sat in the front row with tears in her eyes and was was embraced by friends. Later she hugged each of Libby’s lawyers.
Personally we feel bad for Scooter Libby. Much of his defense rested upon claims of memory lapses, and we know all too well about memory problems. We blame our rapidly deteriorating memory upon blogging, which does strange things to one’s mental architecture, and excessive consumption of artificial sweeteners. Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case [Washington Post] Libby Guilty of Lying in C.I.A. Leak Case [New York Times] Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Trial [Associated Press]
They should have induced delivery by Baker Botts associate Alexandra Walsh, so she would have popped out her baby girl in the middle of trial, before the jury (and preferably during the strongest part of the government’s case, for maximum distraction value).
Delivering a baby in open court would have created a magnificently dramatic scene. And it would have generated an unbreakable bond between defense counsel and the jurors that would have guaranteed acquittal for Walsh’s client, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. After you’ve watched a woman give birth, can you really send her client to the Big House?
Alas, the Libby defense team took a more conventional route. Alex Walsh didn’t go to court last Friday, reporting instead to a Washington-area hospital, where she delivered a baby girl.
More details about Walsh, from CNN:
Walsh — a 2001 graduate of Stanford Law School — was named by Washingtonian magazine last year as one of the “40 top lawyers under 40.” She has focused on white-collar criminal law and appellate cases.
If you go back to the Washingtonian listing, you learn that Walsh, after graduating from Stanford, “was hired to clerk for appeals-court judge Merrick Garland and then Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer.”
A member of the Elect with an interest in trial work? Impressive!
Congratulations, Alexandra, on the birth of your baby girl! Verdict: It’s a girl; Libby defense counsel delivers baby [CNN Political Ticker] 40 Lawyers Under 40 [Washingtonian]
Back by popular demand: the LIST OF SHAME.
Since the last publication of the list, one week ago, there have been some changes. Baker Botts has matched market in New York, so they are kinda-sorta off the list — “kinda-sorta” because we don’t think they’ve raised in other offices, including their Texas offices.
(Some of you have bitched about that, in poesy as well as prose.)
Thelen Reid is off the list, as of today. They were so eager to be removed from the LIST OF SHAME that they issued a press release touting their associate pay raises.
So here’s the latest list. If you see inaccuracies, please email us (with supporting documentation). Thanks.
40. Baker Botts
43. Baker & McKenzie
50. Fulbright & Jaworski
58. Vinson & Elkins
70. Hunton & Williams
75. Nixon Peabody
77. Bryan Cave
82. Reed Smith
83. Dorsey & Whitney
86. McGuireWoods
90. Baker & Hostetler
91. Thelen Reid
92. Mintz Levin
95. Dickstein Shapiro
98. Kelley Drye
100. Seyfarth Shaw Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP Increases Associate Salaries [Thelen Reid (press release)] Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of associate base salaries (scroll down)
Two quick pieces of news. First, multiple sources at Baker Botts in New York confirm that “Baker Botts NY has gone to market — retroactive to January 1.”
Second, we have some information about Munger, Tolles & Olson — the super-prestigious L.A. firm with a knack for scooping up SCOTUS clerks. We reprint the info after the jump.
New Partners:
* Proskauer Rose: Fourteen new partners, three new senior counsel. Names here.
* Baker Botts: Eighteen (!) new partners. Names here.
* Wilson Sonsini: Thriteen new partners. Names here.
(Only two members of the class of 1998. How long is the WSGR partner track as a practical matter?) At Risk:
* Some are speculating that William Haynes II, general counsel to the Department of Defense, will be replaced after CIA Director Robert Gates gets confirmed as Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s successor (as expected).
But with his Fourth Circuit nomination in limbo, where would Haynes go? The Legal Times suggests that he’ll end up with “a high-powered legal job at one of the nation’s top defense contractors,” which sounds likely to us. Deceased:
* Anthony Lapham, counsel at Goodwin Procter and former general counsel to the CIA, at the age of 70, of a heart attack. Proskauer Rose Promotes 17 Attorneys [Proskauer Rose LLP] Baker Botts Announces New Partners for 2007 [Baker Botts LLP] Firm Names 10 New NY Partners [NYLawyer.com] Firm Raises 13 to Partnership [NYLawyer.com] Will the Pentagon’s Top Lawyer Follow Rumsfeld Out the Door? [NYLawyer.com] Law Blog Obituary: Goodwin Procter’s Anthony Lapham [WSJ Law Blog] Anthony A. Lapham, 70, Former C.I.A. Lawyer, Dies [New York Times]
Oodles of juicy moves today, especially out of and into the federal government. As the leaves change, so do the lawyers. Government to Private Sector:
* Federal prosecutor John Hueston, a leader of the team that prosecuted Enron execs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, is heading for the greener pastures of Irell & Manella.
All around the country, AUSAs with white-collar criminal experience are leaving U.S. Attorney’s Offices — including our former workplace — for the more lucrative precincts of private practice. The trend is especially pronounced in the legendary Southern District of New York, as noted by Anna Schneider-Mayerson. Private Sector to Government:
* Corporate and securities lawyer Michael Halloran, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop, has been appointed to serve as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lateral Moves:
* Broker-dealer compliance specialist Steven Lofchie, to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, from Davis Polk & Wardwell. (In this day and age, compliance is a hot area. We’re guessing Lofchie got offered a nice deal.)
* Tax lawyer John Narducci, to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, from White & Case.
* IP lawyer Robert Wasnofski Jr., to Dorsey & Whitney, from Baker Botts.
* M&A lawyer Sandy Feldman, to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, from Torys. Retirements:
* Plaintiffs’ lawyer Alan Schulman, of Bernstein, Litowitz — and formerly of the indicted Milberg Weiss — is retiring at the end of the year. Not Going Anywhere — Yet:
* Apple CEO Steve Jobs and HP CEO Mark Hurd are sticking around — despite the problems that their companies face. NY Practice Leader Leaves One Elite NY Firm for Another [NYLawyer.com] More NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com] Milberg Weiss: Merger Talks Break Down; An Alum Retires [WSJ Law Blog] Enron Prosecutor John Hueston to Join Irell & Manella [WSJ Law Blog] The Gang That Shot Straight Is Disbanding, For a Profit [New York Observer]
Musical Chairs is our summary of the most important or interesting moves within the legal profession. We read through the announcements (and pick out the high points), so you don’t have to.
If you have good gossip about any of these job changes and the players involved, or forthcoming announcements, please drop us a line (subject line: “Musical Chairs”). Lateral Moves:
* Patrick Collins and Peter Stergios, to McCarter & English (in New York), from Greenberg Traurig.
* Dennis Duffy, to Baker Botts (in Houston), from Time Warner Inc. Returning Attorneys: Kelley Drye & Warren: Former partner John Kiley, back from online retailer TechSmart, and former associate Jean Park, also from TechSmart. Kiley will co-chair the firm’s labor and employment practice, and Park comes in as a partner. Firms Bolster Labor and Employment Practices [NYLawyer.com] Time Warner VP Settles in at Firm [NYLawyer.com]
In a land that is right here and in a time that is right now, a technology has arisen so powerful that it can replace basic human document review. Is it time to bow down before our new robot overlords?
First, here’s a little story about me: my life in the legal world began as a paralegal. My first case was a GIANT patent infringement case that was already six years old and had involved as many as five companies, multiple US courts, the ITC and an international standards committee. I knew nothing about any of this.
On my first day, my supervisor (a paralegal with at least eight other cases driving her crazy) sat me down in front of a Concordance database with a 100,000+ patents and patent file histories. “Code these,” she said. I learned that “coding”, for the purposes of this exercise, meant manually typing the inventor’s name, the title of the patent, the assignee, the file date, and other objective data for each document. I worked on that project – and only that project – for at least the first six months of my job. After a week or so, time began to blur.
What I know, in retrospect and with absolutely certainty, is that as time began to blur, so did my judgment. So did my attention to detail. If you could tell me that I did not make at least one mistake a day – one inconsistent spelling, one reversed day and month, one incorrectly spaced title – I frankly would need to see your evidence. I would not believe it. The human mind is trainable but it is not a machine.
Watch to find out what some of our subscribers received in their May box!
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We currently have a number of active openings for associate roles at US and UK firms in HK / China, Singapore and two new in-house openings. As always, please feel free to reach out to us at asia@kinneyrecruiting.com in order to get details of current openings in Asia, as well as to discuss the Asia markets in general and what we expect for openings later this year. Our Evan Jowers and Robert Kinney will be in Beijing the week of March 25 and Evan Jowers will be in Hong Kong the week of April 1, if you would like to meet them in person.
The US associate openings we have in law firms are in the usual areas of M&A, cap markets, FCPA / white collar litigation, finance, and project finance. The most urgent of our top tier (top 15 US or magic circle) law firm openings in Asia (among many other firm openings that we have in Asia) are as follows:
• 2nd to 5th year mandarin fluent M&A associates needed in Beijing and Hong Kong at several firms;
• Korean fluent 2nd to 4th year cap markets associate needed in Hong Kong;
• 2nd to 5th year Japanese fluent M&A associates needed in Tokyo;
• 4th to 6th year mandarin fluent cap markets associate needed in Hong Kong;
• 2nd to 4th year M&A / cap markets mix associate needed in Singapore.
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Following closely on news of the Vinson & Elkins raise, Andrews Kurth has also raised salaries for first- and second-year associates, to $160,000 and $170,000, respectively. As explained in the memo, the firm is “still working on the details of the compensation structure for other associate classes.” Here’s an article from the Texas Lawyer.
