Nothing huge today, like yesterday’s news about Harriet Miers’s departure; but a few interesting moves. The two most noteworthy ones involve transitions between the public and private sectors:
From politics to private practice:
* Asa Hutchinson has rejoined Venable’s Washington office. Hutchinson — a former Undersecretary of Homeland Security, Republican congressman, and chief of the DEA — left the firm in March 2006, to run (unsuccessfully) for Arkansas governor.
From private sector to government:
* New York’s brand-new Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, snags another former federal prosecutor for his “dream team.” Henry Greenberg is leaving the Albany office of Greenberg Traurig to serve as Cuomo’s counsel.
Law firm news, after the jump.
Biglaw
- Andrew Cuomo, Biglaw, Bingham McCutchen, Kramer Levin, Mayer Brown, McDermott Will & Emery, Mintz Levin, Morrison & Foerster, Musical Chairs, Politics, Real Estate, Thelen Reid & Priest, Venable
Musical Chairs: 01.05.07
By David LatWhy did the merger between Dewey Ballantine and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe die on the vine?
Traditional theory: Dewey’s loss of key partners, such as M&A stars Michael Aiello and Jack Bodner, made it a much less attractive merger partner. Why buy a cow after the milk has dried up? See here.
Revisionist theory: It was that godawful nickname, “Dewy Orifice” — a clear sign that the gods did not look favorably upon this union. See here.
We got our hands on the email that went around at Dewey Ballantine this afternoon, announcing the death of this combination. You can check it out after the jump.
Continue reading “The Closing of the Dewy Orifice: The Announcement Email”
Via the WSJ Law Blog, here’s the text of the two firms’ joint statement:
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Dewey Ballantine LLP have jointly decided to end merger discussions. Both firms are successful, global firms that saw great potential in a combination. However, a combination of this size and scope posed significant challenges. While both firms tried their best to work through these challenges, we were unable to bring the merger to completion. No one issue led us to this point, and each firm leaves this process with great respect for the leaders and partners of the other.
This is very bad news for Dewey. Uncertainty in the wake of the merger caused several of their top partners, including leading M&A lawyers, to leave for other firms. So Dewey is now worse off than it was before the announcement of the merger — and now without a merger partner.
At first we thought: Orrick is like a Lothario who seduced Dewey, gave her a loathsome disease, and then dumped her.
But then a Dewey tipster told us:
The word is that Orrick is unhappy with the M&A partners who have left. Mort [Pierce] asked [Ralph] Baxter to come up with a counter proposal, but Baxter [didn't produce an adequate alternative].
So now we think: Orrick is like a Lothario who seduced Dewey, gave her a loathsome disease, and then dumped her. When Dewey asked Orrick, “Why are you dumping me?”, Orrick responded: “Why would I want you? You’re damaged goods. And you have a loathsome disease!”
Earlier: Prior coverage of the Dewey-Orrick merger (scroll down)
The planned merger between Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has been called off. Last month, the troubled transaction was indefinitely postponed — not a good sign.
Given the unfortunate nickname that was bestowed upon the new entity, the disintegration of this deal may be just as well.
We hear that an internal email just went around at Dewey. If so, can someone please forward it to us — or post its text in the comments?
If you have tips or further details about the scuttling of this deal, please email us.
Update (12:45 PM): Orrick chairman Ralph Baxter Jr. has confirmed the news to the WSJ Law Blog.
P.S. No, we couldn’t bring ourselves to make a joke about “withdrawal from the Dewy Orifice.”
Dewey, Orrick Merger Is Off [WSJ Law Blog]
Earlier: Prior coverage of the Dewey-Orrick merger (scroll down)
Before the holidays, we asked the Biglaw associates among you to tell us how you feel about your bonuses. (We’d use “boni,” since it sounds cooler, but we don’t think it’s a real word.)
We conducted a reader poll. The results, which we realize aren’t terribly exciting, are reproduced at right.
The most popular response, although not by an overwhelming margin, was “Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied.” The rest of the responses formed a bell-shaped curve around that general sentiment of “Eh” (but with slightly more votes on the dissatisfied rather than satisfied side).
What does this all mean? We think it shows that as far as the Greedy Partners are concerned, associate bonuses were “just right.” If they had been “too generous” — from the perspective of partners, that is — there would have been more satisfied responses, from pleasantly surprised associates. And if they had been “too stingy,” in a way threatening to firm morale, there would have been more dissatisfied responses.
Instead, associate sentiment in response to this year’s bonus levels fell right in the middle. This suggests that associate expectations were perfectly met — neither missed nor exceeded. So, as far as the firms are concerned, the 2006 bonuses weren’t so big as to eat into profits per partner, but just enough to keep the associate proletariat toiling away.
Are year-end bonuses the opium of the Biglaw masses?
Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: How Does That Bonus Make You FEEL?
- Biglaw, Cadwalader, Department of Justice, Dewey Ballantine, Dickstein Shapiro, Federal Government, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LeBoeuf Lamb, Musical Chairs, Nixon Peabody, Patterson Belknap, S.D.N.Y., U.S. Attorneys Offices, Weil Gotshal
Musical Chairs: 01.02.07
By David LatA few of the more prominent moves within this noble profession:
From government to private sector:
* Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is joining Royal Dutch Shell, as general counsel for its “unconventional resources division” (e.g., extracting oil from “oil shale” and “extra heavy oil” — don’t ask us, we don’t know).
(A WSJ Law Blog commenter sniffs: “One would think that she could have secured a more lucrative and high profile job, given her resume.” We agree somewhat on the “high profile” part, but don’t know enough about the filthy lucre associated with this gig.)
* Former assistant U.S. attorney Mauro Wolfe, with whom we used to work, to Dickstein Shapiro. He will be a partner in the firm’s securities practice, in the New York office.
* Mark Paoletta and Andrew Snowdon, to the D.C. office of Dickstein Shapiro (as partner and of counsel, respectively). Paoletta previously served as served as Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Snowdon previously served as a lawyer on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. They join the government law & strategy practice.
Within government:
* The United States Attorney for Connecticut, Kevin O’Connor, has been named associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department. His DOJ work will focus on violent crime, gangs, and guns. O’Connor plans to retain his post as U.S. Attorney for at least six months.
Lateral moves:
* M&A lawyer Michael Aiello, to Weil Gotshal, from Dewey Ballantine (as previously noted).
* Finance lawyer Philip Haber, to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, from Nixon Peabody.
New partners:
* Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft: Seven new partners. Names here (PDF).
* LeBoeuf Lamb: Five new partners. Names here.
* Patterson Belknap: White-collar defense lawyer Daniel Ruzumna, promoted from counsel to partner. Ruzumna served for six years as an AUSA in the legendary Southern District of New York. His final post in the S.D.N.Y. was Acting Chief of the Major Crimes Unit.
The voluminous links are collected after the jump.
- Biglaw, Dewey Ballantine, Dewy Orifice, Law Firm Mergers, Mergers and Acquisitions, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Weil Gotshal
Dewy Orifice: More Merger Missteps?
By David LatThe indefinitely delayed, potentially troubled merger between Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe isn’t being well-received by Dewey support staff.
From a Dewey Ballantine tipster:
As far we non-attorney types go, it seems like more of a hostile takeover than a merger. So far, Orrick management is calling the shots on all the administrative areas of the merger. In the meetings I have been in or have heard about, Orrick is having their way with us.
Many in Payroll, Finance and IT [information technology] have already been given hard end dates. Many others are actively looking for other positions. Orrick has their IT department in Wheeling, West Virginia, whereas Dewey’s IT department is in New York. Having met some of the Orrick IT types and, I believe that the merged firm is going to lose out in that area.
In this merger, Dewey is looking like the receptive partner — the one getting f***ed.
Update: In the meantime, Dewey continues to hemorrhage key lawyers. The WSJ Law Blog just reported that Michael Aiello, who had been one of Dewey’s top M&A partners, has left the firm for Weil Gotshal & Manges.
Top Dewey M&A Partner Decamps to Weil [WSJ Law Blog]
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Dewy Orifice (scroll down)
Most major law firms have paid out, or are about to pay out, their 2006 associate bonuses. And we all know what that means: a massive exodus from Biglaw of frustrated midlevel associates (with new flat-screen TVs).
From an unexpected source for law firm news, the New York Post, comes this excellent article:
The city’s largest, most prestigious law firms are suffering from serious brain drain.
Young, Gen-X lawyers in their third to fifth year in the business are walking away from their $200,000-a-year positions in record numbers — at times without another job in view.
The reason? They are unhappy with their Blackberry lifestyle — being tethered to the job 24/7 and having to rush back to the office at a moment’s notice when e-mail orders pop up on the ubiquitous PDA.
Here are some of the consequences:
The big-firm brain drain is also giving partners a major case of agita — forcing them to do the yeoman grunt work usually assigned to associates. In addition, the firms are being forced to scramble to fill the mid-level talent void. Some are even doing the previously unheard of — hiring from second-tier law schools.
Oh no — ring the alarm! As the Book of Revelation teaches, when Fortune 500 document dumps are being reviewed by Cardozo rather than Columbia grads, the end is near.
Lawyers, Fun & Money: Brain Drain Hits Major Law Firms [New York Post]
P.S. If you’re an outgoing Biglaw associate wondering what to do next, check out this exciting job opportunity.
P.P.S. We’ll close our associate bonus poll shortly. If you haven’t already voted and would like to do so, click here.
- 2nd Circuit, Biglaw, Blogging, Death Penalty, Deaths, John Paul Stevens, Morning Docket, Perverts, Saddam Hussein, SCOTUS, Sex Scandals, Supreme Court, Videos
Morning Daily Docket: 12.28.06
By
David Lat
(Yes, this is ridiculously late. But we hope, for the love of God, that you don’t rely upon us for real legal news. News aggregation is not our primary purpose, and there are many other sites that do it better and faster.)
* Now that President Ford has passed away, everyone must write the obligatory article about his long-lived SCOTUS appointment, Justice John Paul Stevens. [Chicago Tribune, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, WSJ.com; all via How Appealing]
* State bars tend to give government lawyers a wide berth. So when a bar brings ethics charges against a prosecutor, you know something stinks to high heaven. [Associated Press]
* Videotaping an execution is pretty grotesque. But then again, it’s probably no more disturbing than this video. [CBS News]
* You can accuse the Catholic Church of many things; but selective application of their teachings is probably not one of them. The Vatican opposes the death penalty even for Saddam Hussein. [Associated Press]
* Speaking of death penalty cases, the Supreme Court’s incredible shrinking docket may be getting even smaller. [SCOTUSblog]
* Biglaw + Racial Issues = Lively Blog Comment Threads. [Overlawyered; WSJ Law Blog]
* Tax lawyers at Cravath aren’t the only ones with a weakness for underage girls. [Associated Press]
* Oyez, oyez: Interested in an administrative gig that pays over $150K? The Second Circuit is seeking a new Clerk of Court. [2nd Circuit (PDF) via How Appealing]
Law firm bonus season is over, at least in terms of announcements (even though some firms won’t dole out the cash until next year). We’d like to use this quiet week to do some final follow-up and housekeeping on the bonus front.
Please email us, at tips AT abovethelaw DOT com, with any of the following:
(1) any significant New York bonus announcements that we missed;
(2) any bonus announcement memo that we’re missing — e.g., the Proskauer memo (if there was one) — because we like to archive these for posterity; and
(3) any non-New York bonus news you’d like to pass along (since we realize we’ve been neglecting legal markets outside NYC).
You can see what we have and haven’t covered by clicking here, and scrolling down through our past bonus coverage. Or you can search the entire site for the name of the firm in question.
Also, if you haven’t done so already, please take our Biglaw bonus poll. We’ll keep the voting open until at least January 2.
Re: Low Bonus? No Bonus? Anyone hear of this? [Infirmation / Greedy NY]
-
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