What do Cadwalader, Cravath, and Fox News share in common?

Put your guesses in the comments.

Then click here to learn the answer.

Some folks, including Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, think that we've seen the worst of the credit crisis. Let's hope that they're right.

But the business climate is still less-than-fabulous for finance lawyers. Here's another sign of the times: at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, the Global Finance department, a former powerhouse within the firm, has been folded into the Corporate department.

From a tipster at Cadwalader who sent along the announcement:

See below re: CWT's recent departmental merger. This has also affected the way summers will receive offers. In the past, summers received department specific offers. While this will remain true for litigation, tax, and IP, those wishing to pursue a transactional practice will receive a transactional offer. It is unclear at this point whether new transactional associates will then be placed into one pool from which any transactional department can draw or whether there will be a departmental rotation.

If you're interested, the memo appears after the jump.

When a Biglaw partner is accused of domestic violence, we can't help but honor him with ATL's Lawyer of the Day. But we must note that this article from the New York Daily News drips with lawyer hatred, in describing a case where the attorney was not convicted.

They didn't even spell Cadwalader partner Ira Schacter's name correctly. We've put the perceived lawyer hatin' in bold:

A high-powered Manhattan lawyer was cleared of wife-beating charges Tuesday -- even though cops said his estranged wife was hurt in a scuffle last fall at the couple's East Side townhouse.

Ira Schachter, a partner at the white-shoe firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, was freed despite dramatic photos that appear to show him causing a commotion outside the pricey brownstone on E. 78th St.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Larry Stephen also scrapped an order of protection against Ira Schachter, 48, after prosecutors said they couldn't prove the case against him....

Ira Schachter walked out of court surrounded by an entourage of powerful lawyers, including divorce lawyer Raoul Felder and Ira Sorkin, former head of enforcement at the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Not to say that beating your wife is okay. His wife claims he choked her, and police photos showed bruises on her head and neck. Schacter claimed it was self-defense after his wife bit his finger "to the bone."

One tipster tells us that Ira Schacter is "awkward, very messy, constantly touching himself, a general slob. But not violent." This tipster opines that Mrs. Schacter is "nuts" and that neither spouse is blameless, but that she was the one who ended up filing charges.

More about Ira Schacter, from a second source:

Very strange guy and hard to describe -- everyone suspected he had Asperger's. He has very quirky mannerisms and a speech impediment.... But he has a ginormous book of business and is probably the only rainmaker in corporate outside of Dennis [Block]....

Not a particularly likable guy. Very controlling of his little fiefdom, and very nasty to anyone perceived to be hitting his bottom line.

I am loathe to blame what may be the victim or defend anyone at CWT, but his wife was known around the firm to be extremely abusive to everyone she came in contact with. [She] could be heard screaming obscenities at undeserving secretaries and Ira over the phone.

They sound like they were meant for each other. Now we are going to watch War of the Roses.

Upper East Side wife reels after judge clears husband of wife-beating charges [New York Daily News]

Here's the most comprehensive bit we've heard from a tipster:

[N]o longer at CWT anymore (thankfully), but I did hear that Chris White (the Partner who deposed Link) is attempting a major realignment of practice groups. Apparently he wants to move the Corporate department into the Real Estate and somehow make it a sub group. As expected, this is not going over well with the Corporate partners (imagine Dennis Block being told he needs to move?) and there's all kinds of infighting and threats from the Corporate partners in regards to this.

Is this the source of the rumblings we've been hearing? We'll update you as we find out more information.

UPDATE #2: This tip just came in the comments from someone in the office at Cadwalader today:

I'm in the office today and something is definitely going on. There is absolutely no work going around. I asked a partner if everything was OK and he told me to mind my own business. This is not a joke. I also have some friends at other firms (Milbank) who say that they are also extremely slow.

So, we have confirmation that "something" is going down. Could this be just another slow Friday, or are we on the verge of a serious scandal?

We're getting tips about something big going down at Cadwalader today, but no specifics yet. If you have information, be sure to let us know: tips AT abovethelaw DOT com.

Hopefully this is as exciting as their bed-bug infestation of '07.

Cynics might say the firm is rearranging the proverbial deck chairs, but these leadership changes strike us as prudent. From a report by Anthony Lin in the New York Law Journal:

As it wrestles with an ongoing slump in its core capital markets practice, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has shaken up its top management team.

The New York-based law firm announced today that Robert O. Link, its longtime chairman and managing partner, would relinquish the position of chairman to W. Christopher White, effective March 1. Mr. Link will continue to serve as Cadwalader's managing partner and remain a member of the firm's six-partner management committee.

The firm minimizes the import of the change:

[Management committee member (and Cameron Diaz pal) Gregory] Markel said the elevation of Mr. White was "not in any way a criticism of Bob." He said the firm would regard Messrs. White and Link as a team, with neither reporting to the other.

Additional discussion, which will probably interest only die-hard CWT groupies, after the jump.

Here's an open thread request we've received from multiple sources. A representative message:

I'm trying to gather more info about firms / offices that pay NYC salary + NYC bonus in secondary markets. For example, I believe that Weil and Skadden both do in Dallas and Houston, but none of the other firms in Texas do. I don't know if you've done a post about this before, but I think it might be interesting, because $205K goes really far in TX.

Skadden Wilmington is another possible example.

That's correct about Skadden in Wilmington. Another well-paying secondary market: Charlotte. A CLT tipster tells us: "Mayer Brown, Dechert, Dewey, and Cadwalader have all increased salaries to $160K here in Charlotte."

Hold on a sec -- Cadwalader? Didn't they just lay off 35 lawyers, including some in Charlotte?

Yes, they did -- but they also raised salaries for the survivors. More after the jump.

We've spent a ridiculous amount of time and energy trying to get to the bottom of the bonus situation at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. We've heard all sorts of conflicting rumors, but we think we've finally figured things out -- to the extent that they can be figured out. This post supersedes all prior coverage of CWT bonuses.

In Litigation, we think that bonuses were fairly straightforward. This is our understanding, on very good authority:

1. 1900 hours and above = full, market-level, year-end and special bonus.

2. Between 1850 and 1900 = 75 percent of the regular year-end bonus, but NO special bonus.

3. Below 1850 = nothing, nada, zilch. Unless you were a first-year from the class of 2006 (first full year at CWT), in which case you got 50 percent of a year-end bonus.

4. For purposes of calculating hours, only client billable, pro bono, and "pre-approved" marketing hours counted. Other marketing hours, and recruiting hours, were NOT counted.

Read more -- including a dramatic epic narrative from a CWT associate, describing how the firm epically mishandled the bonus situation -- after the jump.

An interesting article in today's New York Times -- by Lynnley Browning, author of the earlier Biglaw perks piece -- focuses on the subprime mortgage mess and current investigations into the adequacy of disclosures to investors.

Investigators are focused on Wall Street, but lawyers involved in the securitization process may also face scrutiny. Government investigation is the last thing these struggling law firms need, as they try to retool in the face of a grim outlook for structured finance and real estate work.

The article focuses on McKee Nelson:

McKee Nelson burst onto the scene in 1999 and quickly grabbed lucrative Wall Street work from long-established rivals. William F. Nelson, one of its co-founders, said the firm, which is known for its sophisticated tax work, did not employ any special legal maneuvers to outflank its competitors. “There’s no secret, magic elixir that we sprinkled,” Mr. Nelson said.

In any case, the mortgage turmoil is now hitting the highly regarded McKee Nelson hard. The firm recently pared its structured finance department to 80 lawyers from about 115 through buyouts, sabbaticals and transfers to other departments. More cuts are unlikely, a spokeswoman said.

So that's good news. And the firm is trying to take lemons and make the proverbial lemonade:

[A]fter profiting from the mortgage boom, McKee Nelson is now positioning itself to profit from the bust by riding the coming wave of lawsuits. In January, the firm flew its partners and their spouses to Charleston, S.C., aboard four Delta commuter jets, to map out its strategy.

“We’re heavily committed to doing more litigation,” Mr. Nelson said. The firm hopes to represent investment banks, hedge funds and other financial companies, as well as their executives, in a variety of litigation, he said.

And maybe law firms, too, as lawsuits and investigations proliferate? See, e.g., Cadwalader, facing a $70 million lawsuit arising out of a securitization deal gone bad.

Small Law Firm’s Big Role in Bundling Mortgages [New York Times]

Our favorite bride this week is one we don't get to write about. Rachel Berkowitz is a professional organizer who "helps individuals and businesses to organize closets, filing systems and offices and to move and pack." And if you're not a little bit turned on by that, we want to see your underwear drawer.

On the legal-eagle front, three Fordham JDs (at least) and a Sunday school teacher make this our first Catholic-themed week here at LEWW.

The contenders:

1. Sandra Zucker and Joshua Bennett

2. Mari-Claudia Jiménez and Steven Coffey

3. Laura Brown and Brian Vogt

More about these couples, after the jump.

Back in November, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft issued a bonus memo that was devoid of numbers. Today, the CWT associates who survived the recent layoffs -- which, to be fair, is most of them -- learned how much they'd be getting.

But since there was no firm-wide memo, there's still a lack of total transparency about how much people are getting. Associated were notified individually:

"CWT announced its bonuses today in individual letters to the remaining associates. Some people got full market bonuses and others got letters that merely told them what 2008 salaries are, with no mention of a bonus."

If you can shed more light on the situation, feel free to post in the comments, or email us. Thanks.

Associate layoffs have been the big news in 2008 thus far. Appropriately enough, they're the subject of our latest column for the New York Observer. Here's an excerpt:

“It's tough. People are scared,” [one] jettisoned Cadwalader associate said. “It’s so rare that this happens. The first-years are freaked out. People are wondering: Is this continuing on a rolling basis, or did they take one big hit? People worry about [the impact on] recruiting efforts, both on a lateral basis and for incoming law students.”

The associate, like the others laid off that day, was given barely more than a week’s notice: His last day of work would be the following Friday, Jan. 18.

He’s getting three months of severance, paid out every two weeks, just as when he was employed. But he’s no longer able to tell prospective employers he’s still at the firm, which he predicts will make his job search harder.

“It’s like dating,” he said. “When you’re with someone, everyone wants you; when you’re on your own, it’s that much harder.”

You can read the complete column by clicking here.

P.S. We've been writing this column for a few months now. The archives are accessible here.

Will Work for Dinner at Nobu [New York Observer]
Lawyers Column archives [New York Observer]

Today's Washington Post contains a very interesting article by Ian Shapira (who seems to love writing about lawyers; see here and here). It's the latest in a series of stories about well-educated young people in the D.C. area. Today's piece focuses on college-educated twenty-somethings, living in metro areas, who decide to buck the trend and have kids. Shapira writes:

[Erin] Rexroth, a former congressional aide, and her husband, Philip, 27, who works for the Department of Homeland Security, are defying the norm for their class and age group: They are raising a child. The majority of college graduates in their 20s in metropolitan regions postpone having kids until at least their 30s or never have any, according to recent demographic research.

Like anyone who strays from the generational pack, college-educated parents in their 20s often face questions about friendships, careers and their place in life. Although rearing children invigorates them like a high-profile job, these parents sometimes say they feel like guinea pigs among childless peers. They wonder whether it's possible to befriend older parents. Some say they feel isolated from friends, those who don't change diapers or deal with sleep deprivation.

Later in the story, an associate at Cadwalader is quoted about how she decided to have kids early so it wouldn't disrupt her path to partnership as much:

"By the time I'm at a point in my career where I am going to be making partner, my kids are going to be old enough to be playing on their own and sleeping on their own," said Erin Foley Lewis, 28, an associate at the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft who recently had twins. "If I had waited until 33 to have children, I'd have newborns at the time I would be up for partner."

Cadwalader -- they still make partners over there? They better not get into that habit, or their crazy leverage -- and sky-high profits per partner -- are sure to fall.

On the bright side, at least Ms. Lewis is (1) in litigation and (2) in Washington. So her chances of being laid off are relatively low.

Bringing Up Babies, And Defying the Norm [Washington Post]

We resume our wall-to-wall coverage of the recent associate layoffs at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Here are the latest news articles and tidbits:

1. Highlights from an article by Anthony Lin, in the New York Law Journal:

[M]ost of the laid-off lawyers worked in Cadwalader's New York headquarters though the firm's Charlotte, N.C., office was also affected. All were in the firm's global finance and capital markets practices. Almost all of the affected lawyers were associates, said [management committee member Gregory] Markel, though he said one or two counsel may also have been let go.

[Per Markel:] "We concluded that this was not a three-month phenomenon or even a six-month phenomenon."

Mr. Markel also said the firm was confident there would be no more layoffs in the future. After yesterday's action, the firm will still have around 260 lawyers in the two affected practices.

A number of law firms active in the area have already announced cutbacks. Clifford Chance terminated a six-lawyer group in November. Thacher Proffitt & Wood and McKee Nelson both have offered buyouts to large numbers of associates working in the area.

2. Highlights from an article by Nathan Koppel, in the Wall Street Journal (via the Law Blog):

"We were very careful about this, and we waited to see if there were any signs of the economy turning around" before letting lawyers go, says Cadwalader partner Gregory Markel, chairman of the firm's litigation department. "We didn't see any evidence of this turning around."

Cadwalader is one of the most prominent law firms to recently announce layoffs, which could trigger a chain reaction among other firms; capital markets and real-estate practices are down at many firms.

It is still relatively rare for large law firms to engage in mass staff reductions. For one, many large law firms boast specialties, such as litigation and bankruptcy, that typically pick up during down economies.

3. From an observant tipster not at CWT (and presumably happy about it):

"CWT apparently doesn’t update its lateral recruiting page very often, as it currently claims to be looking for structured finance and capital markets attorneys in several offices. See here."

4. From a source at the firm, an interesting theory about how the news was disseminated, including a possible explanation for why it wasn't announced announced internally first:

[A] partner in Corporate leaked all this information about the Capital Markets situation to a bunch of associates. Some of it was false, some true. [Management was] really upset with him because they wanted this information to come in an official announcement or meeting, not in rumors flying around.

I'm thinking they accelerated the press announcement because the information started leaking to outside sources, rather than staying inside. I still definitely think that they could have released it internally first, but there may have been other circumstances that I don't know about. I am not sure if the press release and the corporate partner things are related, but it seems like they would not have released it so abruptly if it didn't happen. Whenever something major happens, it is usually disclosed internally first.

5. Finally, in case you missed it -- we posted it fairly late yesterday, as a mere update to a previously published post -- here is CWT's reassuring email to 2007 summer associates who accepted their offers to return full-time.

Cadwalader Laying Off 35 In Wake of Slumping Markets [New York Law Journal]
Law Firm Cadwalader To Lay Off 35 Attorneys [Wall Street Journal]
More on the Sackings at Cadwalader [WSJ Law Blog]

We're stepping away for a bit. Before we go, we wanted to provide you with the latest Cadwalader layoff news, verified by sources at the firm:

1. The 35 associates who were laid off were given 3 months severance, medical/dental through this year, bonuses (if they met the hours requirements), and outsourcing services.

2. The laid-off associates were in Capital Markets and Global Finance.

3. About 20 to 25 associates in the affected departments were moved to non-affected departments (including more than half of the first-year associates in Global Finance).

4. Six first-year Global Finance associates were permanently moved to Litigation (but these were the associates who had already been on document review since arriving in September).

5. Regular and special bonuses will be paid to all associates consistent with CWT's competitors. An official announcement is forthcoming; look for it in the next few days.

As for the rumors about layoffs at other firms that have been flying around, we're looking into them. We don't have anything concrete and confirmed just yet.

We need your help. If you have firsthand information (we have enough secondhand stuff already) -- i.e., you are at a firm that you know is doing layoffs -- please email us (especially once you get home from work, and don't have to worry about your email being monitored). Thanks.

UPDATE: Earlier today, CWT sent out an email of reassurance to 2007 summer associates who accepted offers. We reprint the email after the jump.

In our earlier post about the layoffs at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, we praised the firm for its candor. Those of you who weren't already in the profession when the last bubble burst may not recall that many firms, instead of being honest about dismissing associates for economic reasons, tried to cast them as performance-based. Firms should be commended for not taking that path.

But we do have some criticism for the firm as well. While we appreciate the firm sending us the news, it was not very classy to share the layoffs with the media before doing so internally. It's not appropriate for associates to first learn about layoffs at their firm through a blog. As one tipster told us:

"Associates here at CWT are a little in shock right now since the firm has neglected to inform us of the layoffs through an intra-firm email."

Now, in the firm's defense, it appears that perhaps they want to provide such news in person. But even if they notify the affected associates individually and in person, they could at least have sent around a firm-wide email mentioning the overall action.

Some other random things we've been hearing, from different sources:

1. "As I write this to you, CWT laying off associates one by one... A friend of a friend just got the ax. It sounds dreadful there...."

2. "If you get laid off, no bonus. MEAN..."

3. The entire Corporate department is meeting today at 5:30 p.m.

4. "I bet most partners weren't even told [about the layoffs]. That's how it worked with the bonus announcement [recall the number-free bonus memo]. Most partners found out at the same time we did."

5. "Nobody knows who the 35 are -- whether they're coming from NY or another office -- or even what department."

6. "I don't think litigation is going to be affected by this. We have people from Global Finance down here doing doc review for us."

There's also lots of good stuff in the comments to our prior post. But we can't vouch for the comments to the same extent that we can vouch for the information above (sent to us by trusted sources whose identities are known to us).

Update / Correction: Speaking of the comments, we have confirmed the truth of this comment:

No, you DO get a bonus, IF you made your hours. But the amount of that bonus is not known....

This is a big story, and we'll be covering it extensively (so if you don't find it interesting, you might want to take the day off from ATL -- we have more traffic right now than our poor servers can handle). Expect an update later today.

If you're at CWT and have firsthand information to share, please email us. If you're afraid of your email being tracked, you can also reach us via Facebook message or AIM (our screen name is in our Facebook profile). Thanks.

Just half an hour ago, based on information we gleaned from various sources, we asked: "Is today Layoff Day at Cadwalader?" The answer would appear to be: YES.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has confirmed to us that it will be laying off 35 attorneys. Please see the statement below, which we just received from Hill & Knowlton, the powerhouse public relations firm. When a law firm hires an outside PR / crisis management shop, you know they have something big on their hands (e.g., Sullivan & Cromwell during the Aaron Charney case, when it hired Sard Verbinnen).

Update: We commend Cadwalader for its candor about these associate layoffs. They're being open about these dismissals as being economic in nature; they don't try to claim they are "performance based." To the contrary, the firm praises the affected lawyers for their contributions.

Also, note that CWT is trying to get in front of the bad news and manage it, instead of letting it come out in dribs and drabs, Chinese water torture style. As noted, they've hired an outside PR firm. At the same time that they emailed the statement to us, they appear to have reached out to mainstream media sources as well (e.g., the WSJ Law Blog, which posted the statement two minutes before we did).

STATEMENT OF CADWALADER, WICKERSHAM & TAFT

Unexpected and persistent volatility continues to disrupt sectors of the financial markets; and is affecting the capital markets, many of our clients, and certain practices within our firm.

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft is responding to these market developments with a number of initiatives: Targeted personnel reductions will affect 35 lawyers in our US offices. Other strategies involve continued practice diversification, practice enhancements, and strategic redeployment of certain persons.

These actions affect some talented lawyers who have made significant contributions to the firm. The firm’s partners and Management Committee have put a great deal of effort into mitigating the impact of the business environment on the firm, making today’s announcement even more difficult.

Our objective is as it always has been: to provide superlative client service, and astute legal counsel. We remain committed to those goals and the long-term strength and success of our firm.

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Is Today 'Layoff Day' at Cadwalader?

We've been hearing, from multiple sources, that something big is going down today at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Some of our sources have dubbed it "Layoff Day," although we don't know yet whether the news relates to layoffs or something else.

Here's what we've been hearing:

1. One can check the availability of conference rooms on the CWT intranet. Today's schedule shows that Mitch Walsh, the firm's executive director, has reserved an entire floor for the day that consists of nothing but conference rooms, and Patti Ellis, the firm's head of Associate Development and Recruitment, has reserved a half dozen other conference rooms.

2. A meeting of the Firm Committee is scheduled in the afternoon.

3. A rumor is going around of a merger (although one source says, "I don't know why they would need all the conference rooms to do that," and another asks, "Who would we merge with?").

4. Another theory is that the firm is going to inform associates of their bonuses individually (although one tipster wonders why they wouldn't they have made the announcement ahead of time, so people could plan their schedules accordingly).

5. Yet another possibility: the firm will be laying off associates, and they will be using the rooms to process people. This is what one source declares: "Layoffs are starting this week in areas impacted by the credit crunch: capital markets, global finance, etc. No ideas as to numbers."

6. Some claim that "stealth layoffs" already took place last month, with five partnership-track associates quietly let go in Capital Markets right before the new year.

7. Some Capital Markets associates were previously offered moves to other departments, including Corporate, Financial Restructuring, and Litigation.

Sounds grim. One source sums up: "No one knows for sure, but today looks like it will be the culmination of rumors circulating for over a month now."

CWT layoff rumors have been circulating for quite some time (and were mentioned in Crain's New York Business back in December). Before the holiday break, we asked the firm if it had any comment on the gossip. A CWT spokesperson told us: "Cadwalader does not respond to speculation concerning staff or operations."

We've reached out to them for comment on these latest rumors, but we haven't heard back from them. We assume their previous policy of not responding to rumors about internal operations remains in effect.

If you have any information to share, please email us. Thanks.

UPDATE: Cadwalader has confirmed to us that it is laying off 35 lawyers. We've just put up a new post with the firm's official statement. Please comment in the new thread; we are closing this one. Thanks.

Remember this attorney, who announced the dissolution of his law partnership in most unorthodox fashion? We sure do (and so does "Tim from Anaconda").

Our friends out west are idiosyncratic when it comes to office decor, too. From a piece by Debra Cassens Weiss for the ABA Journal:

A Montana lawyer said his decision to put a shark tank in his office started out as a joke.

“I said, ‘What would it take to put a shark in a lawyer's office?' and it just kind of took off from there,” lawyer Christopher Gillette told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Workers hoisted the 1,000-gallon aquarium through the second-story window of Gillette’s new office in downtown Bozeman on Monday. He plans to fill the tank with a blacktip reef shark and other saltwater fish, including a venomous lionfish.

Forget mediation. Nothing brings about settlement as quickly as the prospect of being devoured by a blacktip reef shark. With a venomous lionfish on hand to clean up any leftovers.

Gillette, who practices family law, says he thinks clients will find the tank to be relaxing. “People seem to be comfortable with fish,” he told the newspaper.

Others will get a chance to watch the marine life, too. Gillette plans to install a camera and broadcast video of his fish tank beginning in February at www.cjgillettelaw.com and www.ccaqua.com.

No word yet on whether Bob Link of Cadwalader -- official holder of the "shark tank" nickname, courtesy of the New York Law Journal -- plans to install an aquarium at One World Financial Center.

ABA Journal [ABA Journal]

Earlier: An Update on the Managhan Law Firm (aka 'My Wife Is Sleeping Around and That's Why We're No Longer Law Partners')

We previously opined that it would be tough to top last year's holiday party at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. The Carnivale-themed festivities featured drag queens, dancers covered in silver make-up, and albino boa onstrictors.

But if the firm fails to equal that extravaganza, it won't be for lack of trying. Check out the "Schedule of Events" -- how lawyerly to have festivities on a schedule -- for this year's CWT holiday party, taking place tonight at the firm's offices in lower Manhattan. Be in the Empire Room by 7:45 PM sharp, or you'll miss the "Holiday Greeting by Bob Link"!

See also quesadillas. Mmmm, quesadillas...

P.S. We've been hearing all sorts of rumors about CWT lately. If you have some gossip to contribute, please drop us a line. Thanks.

Boogie, Counselor! Which Law Firm Gives Best Party? [New York Observer]