As litigators know all too well, there are two -- or more -- sides to every story. Unfortunately, in many controversies involving law firms, we never hear the firm's side (usually because they clam up -- we try to pressure them give them incentives them to talk, but we don't always succeed).

Earlier today, we reported on allegations made by a former associate at Bingham McCutchen in Boston. Michelle Moor claimed that (1) she was drugged at the firm holiday party; (2) a fellow Bingham associate told Moor that she had also been drugged -- and then raped -- by a Bingham employee the year before; and (3) a male employee at the firm "made 'a number of alarming sexually inappropriate comments' about 'roofies' and having sex with unconscious women." Along with Moor's allegations, we posted a brief statement from the firm.

Now we can bring you more of the firm's side of the story. Earlier this afternoon, Bingham McCutchen's general counsel, William Southard, sent out an internal email to all personnel. The email contains more specifics than the firm's prior statement.

We got our grubby paws on it, of course. Based on the email, it seems to us that Bingham has handled this difficult situation with sensitivity and "delicate handling" (as touted in its ubiquitous advertisements).

Of course, you're free to form your own opinion. Check out the email, after the jump.

Michelle Moor was a first-year associate at Bingham McCutchen, and a successful one judging from this Bingham press release on a case victory. She left the firm in February for the much smaller (and lower-paying) Kotin, Crabtree Strong, after allegedly being drugged at Bingham's holiday office party. She has filed a sex discrimination complaint against Bingham for not taking appropriate actions after she reported the incident.

From Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly:

The seven-page [Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination] complaint, which was sent to multiple newspapers yesterday evening, states that on Dec. 14, 2007, Moor attended the firm's annual holiday party for associates at Lucia, a North End restaurant. Allegedly, after her second glass of wine, she felt "dazed and extremely disoriented." At an emergency room that evening, the complaint says, a blood test revealed that she had ingested Tegretol, an anti-seizure medication that causes memory loss when taken with alcohol.

After the incident, another Bingham associate allegedly told Moor that she had been drugged and raped by a Bingham employee the year before, but that she had not reported the incident to the firm.

On Dec. 20, according to the complaint, Moor reported both incidents to the firm's human resources department and asked that the firm warn other female associates.

A month later, on Jan. 17, according to the complaint, Moor attended a dinner at a restaurant with fellow Bingham employees, one of whom, a litigation specialist who worked on the same floor as Moor, made "a number of alarming sexually inappropriate comments" about "roofies" and having sex with unconscious women. The employee's comments allegedly indicated to Moor that he "may have been the person who drugged her and may have intended to rape her while she was unconscious."

At what kind of firm dinner does an attorney feel comfortable talking about taking advantage of passed-out women?

The story is getting considerable media attention. It also appeared in the Boston Globe and the WSJ Law Blog.

We contacted Bingham for comment. Their statement, plus links to collected coverage, below the fold.

The season for bonus news is mostly over, but not just yet. Yesterday brought news from Bingham McCutchen:

Bingham has started delivering bonus news. In all offices except New York, it looks to be something like the Latham scale you posted about a few weeks ago. Higher scale in NYC, but not sure how much. Don't have too much information yet - it is communicated individually in annual reviews.

If it's similar to the Latham scale, then people should be pretty happy (since the LW folks generally were). If you're at Bingham, feel free to provide some data points in the comments.

A summary of what was paid out will be sent out to everyone in a few weeks. As in past years, you have to hit 2000 hours. Higher amounts at 2150 and every 100 hours after that. Policy for next year is being raised to 2100, but more non-billable type stuff is now able to be included towards the 2100.

We have a copy of that policy, which you can access by clicking here (PDF). One source described it to us as "convoluted," and the memo setting forth the policy certainly is lengthy (12 pages, counting tables). But look on the bright side: at this level of detail, where they even talk about how your hours get adjusted if you have jury duty or take bereavement leave, at least there's total transparency (unlike at some firms).

Bingham McCutchen -- Associate and Counsel Hours and Bonus Policy [PDF]

Congratulations to this quintet of five law firms, which just made Fortune magazine's annual list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For (listed below in rank order):

19. Arnold & Porter: "Staffers get 12 weeks paid maternity leave and profit sharing of 7.5% of salary. The less you make, the less you pay for health-insurance premiums."

Actually, a correction: 18 weeks (as of January 1, 2008).

31. Alston & Bird: "Both the legal and nonlegal staff get super benefits, including 90 days of paid maternity leave, coverage of fertility treatments, and concierge services."

Concierge services? Fabulous. Atlantans, stop yer whining!

41. Bingham McCutchen: "They're proud of their elite grads: 72 from nearby Harvard Law, 24 from Yale, and 20 from Stanford. They all start at $160,000 a year."

55. Perkins Coie: "They value fun at this law firm. At 2007's Lawyerpalooza battle of the bands, the Perkins Coie rock & rollers brought down the house (and took home the top prize)."

See also Nixon Peabody: "Fun is not prohibited here." Speaking of which...

66. Nixon Peabody: "The law firm excels on policies for GLBT employees (a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign); it targets 3% of billable hours annually for pro bono work."

Please send us any theme songs that are composed to commemorate these honors. Thank you.

100 Best Companies To Work For (2008) [Fortune]

Earlier: Bingham McCutchen: Land of the Amazons?

Not exactly.

We've been receiving a multitude of tips indicating that that was exactly what Bingham intended to do. So we did some asking around, and here is Bingham's official comment on the situation:

Our hours policy reflects a balance between understanding that billable work is critical to Bingham's success and that non-billable contributions to pro bono, professional development and firm citizenship are valued and encouraged.

We will be raising the core-hours expectation (which is not a requirement) of our hours policy for next year from 2,000 to 2,100. Core-hours are not solely billable hours. They include non-billable pro bono and creditable hours. The new target includes billable hours, pro bono hours, and up to 50 creditable hours for non-billable firm citizenship responsibilities, such as committee work, etc.

The new core-hours expectation supports Bingham's continued success while encouraging associates to continue contributing to pro bono and participating in professional development/firm citizenship opportunities. We will be working closely with the firm's Committee on Associates (which includes elected associate representatives) to flesh out the details of the new core hours policy.

It's unclear from this whether they already had a "core-hours expectation" in place, or whether previously the 2000 hours was a billable minimum. Either way you slice it, however, there will at least be an "expectation" of more work out of Bingham associates next year, even if some of it is pro bono work (if the previous policy was 2000 "core hours", then it also included pro bono work, but more will be expected now; if the previous policy was 2000 required billable hours, then 100 more hours are now expected, even if some can now be pro bono work).

So really, despite the nice spin put on it, the answer to the lede question is yes.

Is this going to be a trend at other firms too? Is this the tradeoff that's going to be required of associates for the salary increases? Let us know if you've heard about this sort of thing anywhere else.

Update: Additional explanation, from Bingham partner Tony Carbone, after the jump.

Last night's Colbert Report was a bonanza for law nerds. The featured guest was Jeffrey Toobin, who spoke about his new book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. Toobin and Colbert had a relaxed and easy rapport, and their conversation was highly entertaining -- perhaps the best CR appearance since Neal Katyal. You can check out Stephen Colbert's interview of Jeff Toobin by clicking here.

Before turning to the SCOTUS, they discussed the most recent legal troubles of O.J. Simpson. As you may recall, Toobin was one of the lead correspondents on the original O.J. trial, as well as the author of a bestselling book about it, The Run of His Life. Toobin summarized the defense strategy in the armed robbery case against Simpson as follows: "If it's his s***, you must acquit."

But that's not all! There was a special shout-out to Bingham McCutchen, during the ThreatDown.

More details, plus a video clip, after the jump.

It's a subject of tremendous importance, since it has a major effect on the day-to-day lives of associates, but it doesn't get talked about as much as one might expect. So to everyone going through the fall recruiting process right now, don't be afraid to ask:

How does the law firm assign work?

It might not sound very sexy. But the assignment system employed by a law firm might determine whether you're staying until midnight every night while the guy next door, who's getting the same paycheck -- and maybe even the same bonus, if you're at a firm with lockstep bonuses -- is leaving every day at 6 p.m.

There are many different ways that firms can handle the issue of assigning work. Some have an assigning partner (or partners); some have a non-lawyer administrator who makes assignments; some have a "free market" system. Sometimes assignments and hours are tracked by computer, and sometimes they're not.

Please discuss the subject in the comments. To get the ball rolling, we reprint a recent memo from Bingham McCutchen that lays out their approach to the issue. You can check it out after the jump.

There's a lot going on this morning, including the resignation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general and the Michael Vick plea hearing. But none of this will prevent fall recruiting from going forward, full speed ahead. So let's continue with our open threads on Vault 100 law firms.

Here are the Biglaw shops to talk about this morning. Two of them -- Alston & Bird and Bingham & McCutchen -- are, along with Nixon Peabody, on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.

61. Alston & Bird LLP (5.742)
62. Heller Ehrman LLP (5.690)
63. Vinson & Elkins LLP (5.676)
64. Bingham McCutchen LLP (5.641)
65. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (5.635)

As you may recall, we wrote about Bingham McCutchen recently. Our post triggered some additional tips, which appear after the jump.

Please discuss these five firms in the comments. Thanks.

The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]

Earlier: Vault 1-5; Vault 6-10; Vault 11-15; Vault 16-20; Vault 21-25; Vault 26-30; Vault 31-35; Vault 36-40; Vault 41-45; Vault 46-50; Vault 51-55; Vault 56-60

As you may recall, earlier this year there were rumors about there not being enough work to go around in the San Francisco office of Bingham McCutchen. Some of these rumors were prompted by the firm offering buyouts to some associates.

The rumors of slowness are starting to resurface:

I am a 2L at [a top ten law school], and we are mid-EIP. Early this summer I bid for Bingham's San Francisco office, only to receive an email after bidding closed that they would not be coming to EIP and my bid was cancelled.

I just spoke to a friend who bid for their DC office and received an interview. She got an email (last week I believe) saying Bingham DC would not be attending either, and her interview was cancelled.

What's up? Sinking ship? Not enough work?

Not so, according to firm spokesperson Claire Papanastasiou:

We carefully assess our hiring needs and annually review our OCI approach to maintain a balance of entry-level attorneys in all of our offices. Class sizes change from year-to-year, and we adjust our on-campus schedules accordingly.

For example, in San Francisco and D.C., we had a higher-than-anticipated acceptance rate for this past summer. To maintain the appropriate balance of entry-level lawyers in those offices, we've adjusted next summer's class size.

If you have more light to shed on the situation, please feel free to email us (subject line: "Bingham McCutchen").

Update: Remember the Fried Frank policy on entering one's billable time? Bingham is also anxious about time entry (even if their policy is more forgiving). Memo after the jump (or click here).

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Bingham McCutchen (scroll down)

An interesting and odd observation about law firm ad campaigns, from Copyranter:

What The F**k is up with all the law firms using goofy animal symbolism? Dykema thinks it's a giraffe amongst zebras. Zuckerman Spaeder says I'm a canary threatened by a lion.

And Bingham McCutchen (above) was, first, a lion-chasing zebra (where does the Dykema giraffe fit into this equation?) and now, a baby-coddling grizzly bear. Hey, if any of you crows want to see an idea using puffins, drop me a line.

(All ads scanned from the Wall Street Journal, the bear ad from yesterday's edition.)

A commenter at Copyranter offers some great suggested captions for the Bingham ad. To read them all, click here. Our personal favorite:

"Bear lawyers who accept babies as payment."

What, no sharks or leeches? [copyranter]

Remember those Bingham McCutchen associates who took buyouts and left the firm? They're royally p.o.'ed about this article, and they want to set The Record[er] straight about the circumstances surrounding their departures.

Check out their angry letter to The Recorder, plus additional information from an ATL tipster concerning how these buyouts were mishandled, after the jump.

Yesterday we asked: "What's Up With Bingham McCutchen?"

Associate salaries, that's what. Last night, Bingham McCutchen sent around an email announcing that it "will be increasing 2007 base compensation in our domestic U.S. offices to match the base compensation structure in our New York office, consistent with the new national market." The raise is retroactive to June 1.

That's the good news. And the bad news?

Well, just check out this interesting (but depressing) article from The Recorder. The upshot: the litigation department is slow at Bingham, and the firm is offering buyouts to associates to leave.

We'll probably do a more detailed write-up about the Bingham buyouts in a later post. If you have some information to share about the situation, please email us (subject line: "Bingham McCutchen").

The Bingham pay raise memo, verified by multiple sources at the firm, appears after the jump.

As far as we know, Bingham McCutchen has not joined in the latest round of associate pay raises. Many people have been wondering why -- even the media:

Add Morgan, Lewis & Bockius to the list of Cal Law 25 firms that now pay associates on the $160,000 scale.

The only real holdouts now are Bingham McCutchen and Reed Smith, both huge firms with big California presences and fairly high profits that could probably absorb the raise.

This comment is representative of others:

[I]t is time to turn your attention to Bingham. The firm has a national presence in four major markets that have all raised to 160k base (DC/SF/LA/Boston) and 2006 profits per partner well in excess of peer (and lesser) firms that are paying those market salaries.

What exactly is Bingham's problem? Its associates deserve answers, and after one month of hearing about raise after raise, there is nothing but silence. Please do anything you can to squeeze some information from firm management before the firm starts bleeding associates and decimates its summer recruiting program for the year.

Any thoughts on why Bingham is sitting on the sidelines? Please discuss in the comments, or email us (subject line: "Bingham McCutchen"). Thanks.

Earlier: Morgan, Lewis follows the Salary Leaders (Legal Pad / Cal Law)

This will probably be our last salary-related post of the day, so you can treat it as the end-of-day open thread. We'll post any memos we receive later today sometime tomorrow morning (unless they're extraordinary for some reason).

Here's a good short item about D.C. pay developments, by Nate Carlile of the Legal Times. According to Carlile, the firms that have raised to $145,000 for first-year in Washington are as follows:

1. Akin Gump
2. Arnold & Porter
3. Covington & Burling
4. Gibson Dunn
5. Hogan & Hartson
6. Latham & Watkins
7. O’Melveny & Myers
8. Patton Boggs
9. Sidley Austin
10. Steptoe & Johnson
11. WilmerHale

After the jump, confirmed pay raise announcements from Bingham McCutchen and McDermott Will & Emery.

Congratulations to these five law firms, which just made Fortune magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For:

-- Alston & Bird (#19)
-- Arnold & Porter (#26)
-- Nixon Peabody (#49)
-- Perkins Coie (#64)
-- Bingham McCutchen (#94)

The Recorder has a write-up of the results, which contains some fun factoids. Did you know that each Perkins Coie office has a "Happiness Committee," which throws surprise parties for lawyers and staff?

This is unusual. Many law firms have "Unhappiness Committees," which are sometimes called "Personnel Committees" or "Associate Life Committees." But we don't know of any other firm with a "Happiness Committee."

And here's something we didn't know about the #94 company on the list, Bingham McCutchen (whose name we keep on misspelling):

[A]t Bingham, women outnumber men two to one and make up 23 percent of the partner ranks -- believed to be the highest percentage in the industry, according to the Fortune report.

No wonder the Bingham men are so happy.

Five Law Firms Score Places on Fortune Magazine's 'Best Companies' List [The Recorder via Law.com]
100 Best Companies To Work For [Fortune]

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.

At the White House:

* On the heels of Christopher Oprison and Cheryl Stanton, former Wilmer Hale partner Paul Eckert joins the White House Counsel's Office.

Lateral Moves:

* Nicholas H. Politan, to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (NY), from Bingham McCutchen, where he served as co-head of the project and structured finance group.

(Wild guess: He's the son of former federal judge Nicholas H. Politan (D.N.J.).)

* IP litigator Duane David-Hough, to Fish & Richardson, from Ropes & Gray (NY).

A few more moves, plus links, after the jump.

New Partners:

* Sullivan & Cromwell: Jeffrey Chapman, Michael Escue, Hydee Feldstein, Stacey Friedman, Brian Hamilton, Julia Jordan, Eric Kadel, Jr. and Juan Rodriguez.

The partnership promotions will be effective January 1, 2007. Congratulations, kids!

Like many other top New York firms, Sullivan still has a single-tier partnership structure. All partners are equity partners.

And all S&C partners are doing very well for themselves. In 2005, the firm enjoyed average profits-per-partner of $2.4 million. See here (subscription required).

Lateral Moves:

* Private equity lawyer Stephen Culhane, to Linklaters (10 points -- Magic Circle!!!), from King & Spalding.

Government to Private Sector:

* Harry Sandick, to Jenner & Block, from the venerable S.D.N.Y. U.S. Attorney's Office (where he served as deputy chief appellate attorney and, before that, as acting chief of the violent crimes unit).

* Hawyood Haywood Gilliam, to Bingham McCutchen, from the well-regarded San Francisco U.S. Attorney's Office (N.D. Cal.).

[Ed. note: See this comment, and this juicy article. It appears that the office has slipped in the past few years.]

Haywood Gilliam headed the securities fraud section of the U.S.A.O. and worked on various stock options backdating cases. His move to private practice is timely, given the explosion of backdating scandals in Silicon Valley. But Gilliam will presumably be conflicted out of a bunch of cases that he worked on while at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

UK Firm Adds Another NY Partner [NYLawyer.com]
Former Federal Prosecutor Joins Firm in NY [NYLawyer.com]
In Timely Hire, Firm Grabs Backdating Prosecutor [NYLawyer.com]

We have oodles and oodles of moves -- some actual, and some rumored -- to share with you today.

Lateral Moves:

* Antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Brennan and mass torts/products liability lawyer Kathleen O'Connor, to Dechert, from the FTC and Merck, respectively.

(Can O'Connor be the "Countess of Toxic Torts"? The title of "Queen of Toxic Torts" is already taken -- by Skadden's Sheila Birnbaum, with whom we are obsessed.)

* Leveraged finance lawyer Christina Ungeheuer, to Latham & Watkins (Frankfurt), from Milbank Tweed (Frankfurt).

* William Nordwind (legislative and government affairs) and Michael Volpe (labor), to Venable, from Capitol Hill (an interminable subcommittee name) and Clifton Budd, respectively.

* Financial restructuring lawyer Stephen Peppiatt, to Bingham McCutchen (London), from Shearman & Sterling.

* Trusts and estates lawyer Kenneth Page, to Hughes Hubbard & Reed, from Coudert Brothers (where he headed their T&E practice).

Also, here's more detail about a move that we wrote about last week -- the move of Dennis Orr and three colleagues from Mayer Brown (NY) to Morrison & Foerster (NY).

Shoes Waiting to Drop?

* Over at scandal-ridden computing giant HP, Ann Baskins "remains employed by the company as general counsel." But her days may be numbered. (The commenters at the WSJ Law Blog are certainly calling for her head.) [WSJ Law Blog]

Think Tanks:

* William Gale has been named Vice President and Director, Economic Studies, at the Brookings Institution.

NY Lawyers Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
MoFo New York hires four-partner litigation team from Mayer Brown [Legal Week Student]
H-P Mess Casts Harsh Spotlight on Ann Baskins [WSJ Law Blog]
Gale Named VP & Director of Economic Studies at Brookings [TaxProf Blog]