According to the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.), small law firms have adopted the mantra: merge or die. Indeed, the number of law firm mergers is staggering. “At least 60 mergers occurred in the U.S. and abroad last year, the highest level since 2008 and a 54% jump from 2010, according to legal-industry consulting firm Altman Weil Inc. Industry experts expect the figure to rise this year.”
Why the up-tick in mergers? The economic downturn has caused a shift when it comes to legal service providers: it is a “seller’s market for the first time in 20 years.” In other words, law firms are not able to raise rates in order to increase profits. So, small firms turn to mergers as a way to increase their revenue and allow them to compete with all-purpose, larger firms. Randall H. Miller, who as managing partner at Denver-based Holme Roberts & Owen LLP helped engineer its acquisition by Bryan Cave, explained that “[l]ittle by little, our ability to service our clients’ needs ha[d] been limited by our smaller size,” which was why he pushed for the merger.
Yet, small firm to large firm mergers are not the answer for all small firms. The article featured several potential problems….
Continue reading “Size Matters: Should I Get a ‘Merge or Die’ T-Shirt?”
With fall recruiting gearing up, and the lateral market warming up, we continue our annual series of open threads about the law firms featured in the Vault prestige rankings. These threads provide ATL readers with a forum to discuss the different firms and their various strengths and weaknesses.
The end of the Vault 100 is in sight. We’re covering the firms in batches of 20 now. Here are the firms ranked #61 to #80, which will provide today’s discussion fodder:
61. Greenberg Traurig, LLP
62. Holland & Knight LLP
63. Fish & Richardson P.C.
64. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
65. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
66. Foley & Lardner LLP
67. Perkins Coie LLP
68. Nixon Peabody LLP
69. Patton Boggs LLP
70. Kaye Scholer LLP
71. Hunton & Williams LLP
72. Reed Smith LLP
73. Steptoe & Johnson LLP
74. Chadbourne & Parke LLP
75. Howrey LLP
76. Bryan Cave LLP
77. Lovells (US) [now part of Hogan Lovells]
78. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
79. Crowell & Moring LLP
80. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
This is a very eclectic group, including a few New York-centric firms, some D.C.-dominated places, and a bunch of national and even international giants.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these shops….
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 61 – 80 (2011)”
Things haven’t been easy for Bryan Cave and its associates during this recession. But today is a good day. There is no need for an A.K.
Last night, we received word from tipsters that BC associates across most of the firm’s offices will be told that they are getting a raise:
Bryan Cave announced to associates that associates will be getting a pay raise effective august 1 and another at the “normal” pay raise date of January 1.
Our sources tell us that associates in all U.S. offices, and London, will receive a raise.
However, the salary bump will not affect first years. The BC starting salary will remain at $145K in Chicago.
The amount of the raise will obviously vary by office, but we’ve got some information for the Chicago people…
Continue reading “Happy Friday to Our Friends at Bryan Cave: They’re Getting a Raise Today”
Do you remember the scene in the Amityville Horror House movie where the toilet says to the family, “Get out”? That seems to be what firms are telling incoming associates when they defer first-years until 2012.
Today, we’ve got another firm that has decided to put some of its incoming associates on the long march towards nowhere in particular. Missouri Lawyers reports:
St. Louis-based Bryan Cave is among the firms that have pushed off start dates on new associates to 2012.
The firm’s St. Louis office made 14 total offers last fall to 2010 law school graduates, but told seven of them at the time that they wouldn’t be starting until January 2012, said managing partner Peter Van Cleve. The other seven were extended offers to start in January 2011.
Remember, Bryan Cave is still trying to absorb the members of the class of 2009 — at least the ones who didn’t already take the firm’s offer to split…
Continue reading “Incoming Bryan Cave Associates: Welcome to 2012.”
Every now and then, we like to offer our readers some career alternatives — things you can do with your law degree and legal training that don’t involve, say, working in a large law firm or as a contract lawyer. We’ve profiled a wide range of individuals, from lawyers who have left the law for everything from football coaching to CEO-ing to therapy (giving, not receiving).
A number of past profiles have involved attorneys turned entrepreneurs. We’ve looked at lawyers who have started restaurants and gone into college admissions consulting. We’ve profiled a lawyer who makes hot tamales, and a lawyer who is a hot tamale.
Today we continue down the path of attorneys who have gone from representing companies to launching them. Our latest interviewee has started a company, Urban Interns, that might be of interest to any ATL readers who are looking to hire interns — or any ATL readers who are looking for internships, which can provide valuable experience and/or a paycheck (of great value during these times of still-high unemployment).
Meet Cari Sommer, a Biglaw alum who last year launched Urban Interns….
Continue reading “Career Alternatives: Internship Market Maker”
Last month, Midwestern firm Polsinelli Shughart raided Bryan Cave. Approximately 22 attorneys from Bryan Cave’s Phoenix, D.C., and Chicago offices spread their wings and flew over to Polsinelli. The Phoenix flock was the largest, consisting of 12 partners and associates.
When a big group of attorneys leave, it sometimes spooks those left behind. We hear that one partner at Bryan Cave was really spooked.
The attorneys that left had all been on the 22nd floor, the main floor of the Phoenix office on which clients are greeted. Their departure left the floor eerily vacant, so the firm asked some partners and attorneys to move into the empty offices. One of those asked to move was longtime partner Bob Shely. He felt his new office was tainted, though; according to reports circulating widely at the two firms, he said it had an “evil feeling.”
I see defected people?
According to the rumor mill, he wanted the carpets torn out and the office renovated. But a recruiting coordinator at the firm offered a cheaper solution: a do-it-yourself spiritual cleansing kit….
Continue reading “An Exorcism at Bryan Cave?”
Way back in November 2008, Bryan Cave became one of the first firms to freeze associate salaries. At the time, the firm said that it was only delaying its planned salary increase by three months. But firms said a lot of things back in 2008 that proved unworkable in 2009.
A tipster reports that the freeze is on again at Bryan Cave for 2010. The firm hasn’t made a formal announcement about it or issued an internal memo, nor has it responded to our multiple requests for comment. But a few people have been informed internally that the freeze is on again for 2010 — and we have not heard from anyone who has had a pay raise so far in the new year. If you have additional information on how widely this “no pay raise” message has been disseminated, let us know at tips@abovethelaw.com.
UPDATE: Although there was no memo, there were meetings at which a continued salary freeze was announced.
But that’s not all. If you look at the full scope of Bryan Cave’s actions, the firm appears to be in some very special company.
Continue reading “Bryan Cave: Set for the Dreaded Double Freeze?”
Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks. Law Shucks has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.
We’ll actually be hitting a week and a half in this roundup, going back to August 1. As we’ve been saying for a while, September is not likely to be as tranquil as August was (3 layoffs, 126 people in total), and the layoffs have already started. Eleven days in, and twice as many firms have laid off almost twice as many people.
Let’s step back and start with the big picture.
The really bad news came just before the Labor Day weekend, as unemployment hit 9.7%, a 26-year high. If you really want to find a silver lining, the net job loss for August was less horrible than expected, coming in at 216,000 jobs lost for the month. The decrease in total unemployment in July is now just a blip on a 16 out of 17 month streak of worsening employment numbers. It’s not even like the improvement in July was a result of actual new jobs, either — it came from people becoming so disaffected that they stop looking for jobs entirely, which takes them off the rolls of the unemployed. Hurray for government math!
Coincidentally, BLS reported 100 jobs lost in the legal sector for the month, which is right in line with the tracker (although they’re measuring two entirely different things).
Overall, 6.9 million jobs have been lost since the beginning of 2008 — which, coincidentally, is also the beginning of the Law Shucks layoff tracker (we count from Cadwalader’s first round). Major firms account for just over 13,000 of those.
So what has been going on so far this month? After the jump, we analyze the looming surge.
Continue reading “This Week In Layoffs: 09.13.09″
We continue our slog push through the nation’s 100 top law firms, as ranked by our friends over at Vault. Here are the next ten firms, to be discussed in the comments to this post:
71. Reed Smith
72. Bryan Cave
73. Perkins Coie
74. Hunton & Williams
75. Patton Boggs
76. Arent Fox
77. Schulte Roth & Zabel
78. Howrey
79. Chadbourne & Parke
80. Crowell & Moring
Assorted observations about these firms, after the jump.
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 71 – 80 (2010)”
My friends, we have a trend. Bryan Cave has become the third firm we know of to offer its incoming associates money to simply go away instead of starting at the firm.
Tipsters report that the firm is offering some associates $70,000 to “walk away” instead of showing up for work. That’s the carrot. This tipster reports the stick:
[A Bryan Cave letter] stated that they are unable to guarantee a start date at this time .. The letter [also] said was that they are unsure if they will need any first year associates before 2011. Shady, shady, shady…
Stroock — the first firm to offer incoming associates go away money — offered $75,000. Pillsbury offered $60,000. So Bryan Cave is keeping up with the market for these kinds of things.
After the jump, a reader poll, and Bryan Cave’s strategy for incoming associates.
Continue reading “Bryan Cave Offers Incoming Associates ‘Go Away’ Money”
At least the salary cutting craze is staying localized in the lower echelons of the Vault 100. But that probably doesn’t mean very much to associates at Bryan Cave. Today, the firm announced that it was cutting salaries. The cuts were announced via firm wide email from firm chairman, Don Lents:
Annual compensation levels for existing associates will be reduced by 10% across the board (but where applicable to not less than the newly established entry-level compensation). Annual compensation levels for certain other lawyers (e.g., certain staff lawyers) will also be reduced. Information regarding your new annual salary will be available under the Comp Adjustments tab in the “My HR Information” section of eCave by 12:00 noon EDT today. The reductions will become effective in all of our U.S. offices other than those located in the State of Missouri on July 1, 2009. Due to legal notification requirements in Missouri, the reductions will become effective in our Missouri offices on July 13, 2009. In the U.K., a one month consultation period will commence immediately with a view to implementing the proposed 10% reduction to compensation with effect from July 13, 2009.
Bryan Cave is ranked #77 in your Vault Guide. But at #76, Chadbourne & Parke has already cut salaries. At #78, Thacher Proffitt & Wood no longer exists. So at some level Bryan Cave is keeping up with the competition.
The new base salaries for all offices after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: Bryan Cave(s) to the Salary Cut Phenomenon”
Earlier today, we reported that Bryan Cave laid off 58 attorneys.
The firm just released a statement with the official numbers. In addition to the 58 attorneys, 76 staffers were also let go today. The numbers account for 5% of the firm’s attorneys and 6% of the firm’s support staff:
We have regretfully now concluded that we must reduce our attorney and staff ranks, by 58 attorneys and 76 staff. These reductions represent about 5% of our attorneys and 6% of our staff. The attorneys and staff affected have been advised of this decision.
Bryan Cave also took this opportunity to inform the survivors that salaries will be frozen for all of 2009. Previously, the firm indicated that raises would be made in April, 2009.
Read the full statement from firm Chairman Don Lents after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Bryan Cave’s Official Statement”
It wasn’t that long ago that Bryan Cave acquired Powell Goldstein, aggressively expanding during the recession.
But then came news of a salary deferral. At the time, a Bryan Cave tipster said:
I hope this actually means no layoffs, though, as many junior associates have been really hurting for work. I also hope it means they won’t have to be too stingy with raises when the deferral period ends, since Bryan Cave is not lockstep with the Simpson 160k scale after the first couple years.
Well, today layoffs have come to Bryan Cave. The news first started leaking out on Tuesday. As we understand it, Bryan Cave is letting people go today. Our sources report that 58 attorneys have been laid off.
Some additional details after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: 58 Bryan Cave Attorneys Let Go”
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”
The new year is shaping up to be a cold one. As we noted in our 2008 Year in Review series, one of the biggest stories heading into 2009 has been that of the salary freeze. Rather than instituting lock-step raises for associates entering a new class year, a number of firms have informed associates that their salaries will remain at 2008 levels.
There have been two types of freezes: the “Solid Ice freeze”–with salaries frozen through all of 2009–and the “Slurpee freeze”–where firms are sticking with 2008 levels for now, but promise to revisit the decision later in the year.
Many an ATL reader has requested a round-up, and we aim to please. So find your pleasure, after the jump. Some of the firms have been reported on before, and some are new.
If you know of other frozen firms, send us an e-mail at tips@abovethelaw.com with the subject, “Salary Freeze: FIRM NAME.” Also, if your firm has raised salaries as expected, feel free to send us the news, with the subject “Salary Raise: FIRM NAME.” While freezes are news, raises as expected aren’t, so we will not be covering firm by firm, but we may do a round-up.
Find the list of the sixteen firms that have frozen, after the jump.
Continue reading “ATL Salary Freeze Round-up: The Firms on Ice”
When we last saw Bryan Cave, the firm was busy acquiring Powell Goldstein, and saying great things about their long-term future and financial health.
Having just added so many new attorneys, the message ATL received this morning was surprising.
Two pieces of news for Bryan Cave associates today: they’re deferring salary increases by three months and eliminating the associate shared fee program (where associates got bonuses for bringing in new clients)….
The spin on the deferrals is that they’re a better option than layoffs and less drastic than an all-out salary freeze.
Shortly after this first report, we received the full firm-wide email announcing the changes:
In light of the continuing volatility in the economy and the uncertainties in the marketplace as we move into 2009, we believe it is now prudent to implement the following actions with respect to our compensation programs:
* Deferral of Consideration of Increases for Counsel and Associates. Consideration of increases for counsel and associates will be deferred in all offices. For example, for those cities where increases were previously effective January 1, the date for 2009 will be April 1. Offices with different compensation consideration dates will
Occasionally, commenters in our layoffs posts suggest that they would be willing to give up some of their salary in exchange for keeping their jobs. So … here’s a chance to do just that, at least for a period of time.
But most Bryan Cave associates will be pissed. Because you know what would have been even more “less drastic” than an all-out salary freeze? Not acquiring the debts and liabilities of Powell Goldstein.
More tipster reaction and the full Bryan Cave memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Bryan Cave Delays Associate Pay Raise By Three Months”
The spin that Powell Goldstein chairman James McAlpin always wanted was finally released in today’s Fulton County Daily Report (subscription). The official announcement blurs the lines between a “merger” between Bryan Cave and PoGo and an acquisition of PoGo by Bryan Cave, but the report is largely positive:
“This is a transformational event for us,” said Powell Goldstein’s chairman, James J. McAlpin Jr. “It propels us into a different league.”
PoGo gives up its name in the deal and cedes leadership to the St. Louis firm. (The firm will be Bryan Cave-Powell Goldstein for two years in Atlanta and simply Bryan Cave elsewhere.) In return, PoGo’s lawyers gain an international and national platform that expands the depth and breadth of their practice groups–increasing the firm’s resources in areas such as intellectual property and broadening its core areas of banking, finance, real estate and litigation.
Getting swallowed up by a much larger firm and losing a 100-year old name certainly has all the bells and whistles of an acquisition, but partners on both sides characterize the deal as a “combination.”
Some Bryan Cave partners, like their partners-to-be from PoGo, prefer to characterize the deal as a combination, not an acquisition–even though their firm will absorb the smaller one.
“It’s a combination, not a slash-and-burn acquisition,” said Kenneth L. Henderson, the Bryan Cave partner who’s overseeing the integration. Henderson was a member of the 170-lawyer New York firm Robinson Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn & Berman that Bryan Cave acquired six years ago in its last major acquisition.
Whatever it’s called, PoGo associates really only care about their future job security. More on that after the jump.
Continue reading “Bryan Cave & Powell Goldstein ‘Officially’ Announce Merger
(Or Acquisition Or … Something)”
We reported earlier that Powell Goldstein is set to be acquired by Bryan Cave. We’ve been told to expect an official announcement from Bryan Cave on Monday.
PoGo has still not directly responded to ATL about the rumors that a number of associates, staff, and partners could be on their way out of the door. But we understand that they have sent around an internal email addressing some concerns in light of the merger information. A tipster tells us that the email offered the following clarifications:
1) Everyone has a job. This is a specific term of the deal.
2) BC wants to expand the Atlanta office. …
3) We have no problems at all with our finances. Credit is strong, bank relationships are strong, etc.
We have not gotten our hands on the merger agreement between PoGo and Bryan Cave. But the “promise” that every job is secured is encouraging. The email does not speak to our previous reporting that PoGo’s banks threatened to pull their credit line if a merger was not reached. But regardless of what could have happened, the firm’s contention that they are in a strong financial position is certainly worth noting.
The Chairman’s conference call after the jump.
Continue reading “Update: Powell Goldstein’s Internal Response to Bryan Cave Acquisition”
Heller Ehrman and Thelen dissolved after big time mergers fell through. While our readers have been speculating on the next capitulation to the financial crisis, it seems that Powell Goldstein has narrowly avoided a full scale dissolution thanks to Bryan Cave. A tipster reports:
Powell Goldstein, which has been an prominent firm in Atlanta since 1909, will no longer exist next week. PoGo partners voted last week to approve an acquisition by Bryan Cave, and BC will announce the acquisition on Monday.
Bryan Cave did not return multiple calls requesting comment on the story. Meanwhile, a PoGo spokesperson said “I have nothing to report” when asked about the acquisition.
As we understand it, the union between Bryan Cave and PoGo is not a “merger” so much as it is a buy-out. Additional tipsters have reported that nobody from PoGo — not staff, not associates, not even partners — is safe. Equity partners could be let go early next week.
Putting together the rumors after the jump.
Continue reading “Bryan Cave to Acquire Powell Goldstein”
