We’ve received tips, texts, and phone calls about Blank Rome. As spring hurtles towards summer, the firm is letting incoming associates know that they won’t be starting any time soon. A tipster reports the firm is “rescinding” offers, but that’s not technically correct:
I just heard from a friend that Blank Rome has rescinded offers to Blank Rome 2009 associates … It’s pretty awful that a firm waited this long to finally rescind offers to its 2009 associates–and the legal gossip market ought to know about it.
Actually, the firm is not rescinding offers, it’s merely extending the deferral period for a few incoming first year associates. Indefinitely. With no expectation that the job offer will ever result in a job. And no stipend.
Yeah, I think the indefinitely deferred associates will get the point…
Continue reading “Blank Rome: Indefinite Deferral Isn’t A Subtle Signal”
Here we are. The end of the Vault 100.
To be on the Vault 100 is to be a well-known firm. Sure, maybe not well-known to law students or junior associates who can’t see past the mountain of doc review boxes in their windowless conference rooms. But known to partners … and clients. Look down your nose at these firms if you wish, but remember the old African proverb: “The smallest elephant can still crush your Lexus.”
Here is the final batch of top law firms for discussion:
91. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
92. Blank Rome
93. Seyfarth Shaw
94. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
95. Manatt Phelps & Phillips
96. Squire Sanders & Dempsey
97. Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton
98. Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler
99. Wiley Rein
100. Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo
What say you about these fine firms? Some final thoughts after the jump.
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 91 – 100 (2010)”
This year hasn’t been a fabulous one for Blank Rome. They’ve had to cut both salaries and headcount. The firm also pushed back start dates for first-year associates, until “at least” January 2010, and the 2009 summer program was a brief six weeks.
This latest news doesn’t improve matters. From the Legal Intelligencer, via Am Law Daily (and also a commenter):
Blank Rome has entered into a $20 million agreement with the trustee of a former client that is now in bankruptcy to settle a complaint that alleged breach of fiduciary duty, professional malpractice and breach of contract claims against the firm.
The settlement, reached in the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court case Miller v. Blank Rome, was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath for the District of Delaware on July 28. Walrath is overseeing the bankruptcy of American Business Financial Services, which is involved in a string of litigation in both state and federal court stemming from its bankruptcy and business dealings.
Blank Rome does not admit any liability or wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement, according to the agreement.
Of course they don’t admit liability. Still, $20 million is a lot of dough. Who’s on the hook for that?
Continue reading “Blank Rome’s Massive Malpractice Settlement”
Obviously, things are not well in Pennsylvania. Ballard Spahr has canceled its 2010 Summer Program. Dechert is laying people off. Drinker Biddle is changing the nature of the Biglaw experience. WolfBlock … does not exist.
So it’s not surprising that people are becoming concerned about another titan of the Philadelphia market, Blank Rome. The firm has cut associate salaries, and it did lay off 79 people back in March.
On Wednesday, multiple rising 2Ls at Penn Law received information that led them to believe that Blank Rome was pulling out of on-campus interviewing at Penn. That made others speculate that Blank Rome’s entire 2010 summer program was in jeopardy.
But sources at the firm — including some partners — contend that the firm is going full steam ahead with its 2010 Summer Program, which will include recruiting at Penn. A firm spokesperson furnished Above the Law with this response:
I can confirm that we are currently scheduled to recruit at Penn and that we will be continuing our summer program.
How did so many Penn students get spooked about the Blank Rome recruiting situation? We investigate after the jump.
Continue reading “Step Away From The Ledge: Blank Rome is Coming to Penn”
It’s almost Independence Day! And the invisible hand that guides our robust, capitalistic system continues to exert significant downward pressure on the salaries of law firm associates. The crushing economic logic opined by some Brit — who would have gotten his butt whupped at Yorktown with all the rest of them — named Adam Smith inexorably leads to today’s announcement by Blank Rome:
The legal industry continues to evolve in the midst of challenging economic conditions. As we work to continue to position Blank Rome strongly for the future, we have reviewed and decided to reset compensation for our associates, with particular emphasis on the first few classes.
Uh oh. I think the redcoats are coming:
Effective July 17, 2009, pay will reflect a starting salary for new associates being reduced from $160,000 to $145,000 in New York; from $145,000 to $130,000 in Philadelphia and Princeton; and from $150,000 to $135,000 in Washington, DC and Wilmington.
This news annoyed our Washington D.C. tipsters most. Back in 2007, we reported that Blank Rome did not raise Washington D.C. associates to $160K. But the firm is scaling D.C. down today. A D.C. tipster tells us:
Wait. The firm didn’t raise us up during the good times, but is all too eager to push us down in the bad times. I’m so outraged I will …
Whatever, what I am going to do?
Come on, what would the founders say to that? You could at least dump some firm stationery into the Potomac.
After the jump, Blank Rome explains that that it was just following what the market would bear.
Continue reading “Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: Blank Rome Loves America”
The National Law Journal reports that eight firms have opened up offices in Los Angeles during the recession. Is this really going to work? We’ve already established that the San Francisco legal market is about as relevant as an aging hippie. Are we sure that L.A. is the promised land?
According to the NLJ, firms have been capitalizing on the glut of available lawyers in California:
To do so, many firms, such as Snell & Wilmer, Atlanta’s Alston & Bird, Philadelphia’s Blank Rome and Lathrop & Gage of Kansas City, Mo., took the opportunity to snag lawyers who recently became available, largely due to dissolutions and economic conditions.
Let’s see, Blank Rome just laid off 79 people. Alston & Bird has been conducting stealth layoffs.
And just last week, Above the Law received some new information about Snell & Wilmer. Details after the jump.
Continue reading “Is Opening in L.A. Really a Good Idea Right Now?”
It’s one of those days. We told you that we expected Blank Rome layoffs to come today. And here they come.
Blank Rome just confirmed that it has laid off 79 people: 27 associates, 52 staff.
And that’s not all. The firm is pushing back start dates for incoming first year associates until “at least” January 2010. No word on whether there will be any kind of extra money for those not-quite-yet first years.
But wait, there’s more. Blank Rome will also be scaling back its 2009 summer program from ten weeks to six.
I know that Friday the 13th is supposed to be a bad luck day, but honestly somebody needs to make a Saw-style movie about Thursday the 12th.
Read the full statement after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Blank Rome Cuts 79″
Now that K&L Gates finally announced its layoffs, it’s time to adopt a menacing flight pattern over another firm. We are hearing that Blank Rome is preparing to announce layoffs.
Our sources are telling us that 25 – 50 attorneys will be let go from Blank Rome late this week or early next week. We don’t have a conference room schedule handy to pinpoint the date, but the firm is buzzing that Thursday, March 12th is the most likely day.
The firm has not responded to Above the Law’s multiple requests for comment.
This would be the second round of layoffs at Blank Rome. Back in January, the firm laid off a number of associates and staff. As we saw yesterday, a lot of firms that have already made cuts are going back for seconds.
This round of layoffs is expected to focus on associates. According to some tipsters, that is very different than the last round.
Details after the jump.
Continue reading “Impending Layoff Watch: Blank Rome, Come On Down”
As we noted in yesterday’s Morning Docket, even the New York Times has taken note of the salary freeze trend at law firms. The Times reached out to Above The Law’s own David Lat for the story:
Although many associates are angry about the freezes, others are relieved, said David Lat, founding editor of AboveTheLaw.com, a blog about law firms and the profession.
“There is this sense that firms didn’t act prudently during the boom and now they are getting religion, and that it’s better late than never,” Mr. Lat said. “Many associates we have spoken to think the freeze probably saved jobs.”
At the beginning of the month, we did a round-up of firms that have frozen 2009 salary rates at 2008 levels. That list was 16 firms long. Since then, quite a few other firms have announced freezes. Due to frequent requests, we’re updating the round-up list since the number of firms with freezes (that we know of) has more than doubled, to 33 32. Check out the as-comprehensive-as-we-can-make-it list, after the jump.
Recently announced salary freezes include “solid ice freezes” at Blank Rome and Townsend and Townsend and Crew; and “Slurpee freezes” at Bingham McCutchen, Fish & Richardson, and Texan firm Andrews Kurth.
Memorandums, as well as a new list of all firms with “solid ice” and “Slurpee” freezes, after the jump.
Continue reading “Updated Salary Freeze Round-up: Even More Firms on Ice”
Last night and this morning, tipsters informed us that significant layoffs were taking place at Blank Rome. A firm spokesperson is now able to confirm the news:
As we continue to focus on helping our clients manage through these challenging economic times, and in order to position the Firm for continued success in 2009, it is important that we take the necessary steps to adjust our attorney and staff complements in the context of our clients’ current and anticipated needs. These are purely economic decisions – this is a group of talented attorneys and staff who have made valuable contributions to our Firm.
Our tipsters report that at least 12 associates and staff have been let go so far. But:
Also, there is an unconfirmed report that when this ends the total of layoffs will be 50. Good lord.
The firm could not provide us with official numbers of how many people will be let go by the end of the day.
But we do understand that the layoffs will affect all departments and class years — we know some non-equity partners have already been shown the door. Blank Rome’s Philadelphia office was hardest it, but layoffs happened in New York as well.
Maybe if Mos Def would pay his bills, this wouldn’t be happening.
Read the full firm statement after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Blank Rome Lays Off 12 … So Far”
We’ve previously reported on law firms having difficulty getting clients to pay their bills. It’s not just happening to firms working on deals that go bust; it has also happened to a firm representing a celeb after his marriage went bust. From Am Law Daily:
Blank Rome is suing rapper/actor/activist Mos Def for over $60,000 in unpaid legal bills stemming from his 2006 divorce from Maria Yepes.
The couple ended their 10-year marriage that year in a Brooklyn court, with Judge Sarah Krauss pleading with them to settle their differences outside her courtroom.
Reports say that the Brooklyn-born Mos Def (real name: Dante Smith) owes the money to Blank Rome in the form of unpaid fees and retainers. The Emmy, Golden Globe, and Grammy award-nominated entertainer retained lawyers from the firm’s well-regarded matrimonial practice, which advises high-end clients on divorce, mediation, property distribution, paternity, visitation rights, and trusts and estates.
This is Mos Def’s second month in a row of legal troubles. In November, Las Vegas police issued an arrest warrant after Mos got in a scuffle with a photographer. In more bad news, his portrayal of Chuck Berry in the recently released music biopic extravaganza Cadillac Records was panned by the Los Angeles Times.
We wonder if this will make him rethink the title of his upcoming album, rumored to be titled Ecstatic.
Some good news for Mos Def, after the jump.
Continue reading “Mos Def is Johnny B. Bad when it comes to his Blank Rome legal bills”
Our continuing coverage of no offers suggests that a 90% offer rate is actually outstanding. Today we have news from two more firms that fell short of 90% but still made offers to the majority of their 2008 summer associates.
Our tipsters were right on the money with the information that Blank Rome no offered 4 summer associates out of a class size in the mid-20s. According to Blank Rome spokesperson Topper Ray:
Our 2008 summer associate class was comprised of 28 summer associates -24 2L’s and 4 1L’s. 20 out of 24 2L’s received offers.
Ray also confirmed that the 4 1Ls received invitations to summer with the firm next year.
In this market an 83% offer rate isn’t terrible, even though Blank Rome was able to extend offers to all of their 2007 summer associates.
The news was a little worse at another Philadelphia powerhouse, Pepper Hamilton. According to Pepper Hamilton spokesperson Polly Coxe:
In 2008, Pepper Hamilton extended offers to 20 of 27 summer associates in Philadelphia (two students withdrew from consideration before we made offer decisions). Firm-wide, we made offers to 30 of 38 summer associates. This is approximately the same number of offers we extended the past two years.
More from the streets of Philadelphia after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide No Offer Watch: Rocky Balboa Division
Blank Rome and Pepper Hamilton”
This isn’t super-exciting news, since the key point — an increase in starting salaries — was previously announced.
But in case you’re interested, the pay raise (and bonus) memo of Blank Rome — which announced an increase in first-year associate salaries last fall, but said it was still “reviewing the compensation levels for all Associates to make appropriate incremental increases based on class year” — appears after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Pay Raise (and Associate Bonus) Watch: Blank Rome”
Yesterday Blank Rome announced associate pay raises, of varying sizes, that will take effect in 2008. The firm will move to a starting salary of $160,000 in New York, but not in Washington. In the Philadelphia mother ship, starting pay will be $145,000.
The billable minimum at Blank Rome is 2000 hours. Here’s the memo:
MEMORANDUM
TO: All Attorneys
FROM: David F. Girard-diCarlo, Chairman
Carl M. Buchholz, Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer
RE: Associate Compensation
We are pleased to announce that the Firm will be increasing starting salaries for Associates, effective January 1, 2008. Starting salaries for Associates in New York will be increased to $160,000, in Washington to $150,000, and in Philadelphia to $145,000. All other offices will be appropriately adjusted to reflect their respective markets.
In addition to increasing starting salaries, we are reviewing the compensation levels for all Associates to make appropriate incremental increases based on class year. Adjustments will be made effective January 1, 2008, and the information regarding these adjustments will be communicated directly to Associates by the Practice Group Leaders once they have been determined. These adjustments will be in addition to the merit increases and bonuses being awarded to our Associates.
We’ve previously covered Denver and Hartford. Today our series of posts profiling associate compensation in various smaller legal markets — smaller than New York or Washington or Los Angeles, at least — turns to Philadelphia.
What’s going on in the City of Brotherly Love? Based on some recent articles we’ve read, it seems that the standard starting salary in Philly hovers between $135,000 and $145,000.
At $135K: Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis; Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll; Duane Morris; Blank Rome; Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen; and DLA Piper.
At $145K: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Dechert; Drinker Biddle & Reath; and Pepper Hamilton.
Will Philly move to the $160K scale anytime soon? If so, when? And who will lead the charge?
In the cheesesteak metropolis, starting salaries aren’t the only issue. Per a commenter:
[W]hen you do [Philadelphia], please make sure to point out our mid-level comp which sucks. We get about a 5k raise per year (though [in] some years we do get 10k but not most). After 7 years we’re just clearing 200k.
Interesting — and depressing. Is so-called “compression” higher up the seniority ladder a more pressing salary issue in Philly right now than the state of starting salaries?
Please discuss, in the comments. Thanks.
Hangley Aronchick Raises Associate Salaries to $135,000 [Legal Intelligencer (subscription)]
Pepper Hamilton Raising First-Year Associates’ Salaries by $20,000 [Legal Intelligencer (subscription)]
A few more announcements have floated in, including ones from Blank Rome and Winston & Strawn. More details, plus a memo (in the case of Blank Rome), after the jump.
(These were the announcements that were into us and confirmed by the time we left for New York this morning. If you submitted confirmation of an announcement after 5 AM today, we’ll include it in our next round-up of pay raise news. Thanks.)
Continue reading “Skaddenfreude: Winston & Strawn, Blank Rome, and Morning Open Thread”
Here are the highlights from the latest collection of job moves:
New Firms:
* Eve Rachel Markewich and Lawrence Rosenstock are leaving Blank Rome’s New York office to set up their own shop, to be called Markewich and Rosenstock. They will focus on Surrogate’s Court and general commercial litigation. Markewich was an unsuccessful candidate for Manhattan surrogate last year; Rosenstock is a Democratic district leader in the borough.
Lateral Moves:
* Dr. James Hill, to McDermott, Will & Emery (IP department), from Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear.
* The stork is coming — not with a bundle of joy, but a book of business. Anita Stork is leaving Cooley Godward, which is about to merge with Kronish Lieb, to join Covington & Burling’s litigation and antitrust and consumer practice group as a partner.
Two NY Partner-Politicos Quit to Launch Their Own Firm [NYLawyer.com]
Left-Coast Lawyers On the Move [NYLawyer.com]
