We have chronicled Biglaw firms that are taking drastic measures to reduce the money they spend on summer associates and recruiting. This spring, McDermott Will & Emery cut salaries of its summer associates. This week, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius canceled its entire 2010 summer program. And, in between, current summer associates and future summer associates have suffered all kinds of indignities.
But folks at Covington & Burling must be happier than a nerd in a library. The firm reached the Final Four in our Safest Firm tournament this past March. Now it’s telling current summer associates that the firm’s strong finish was no fluke.
After the jump, let’s all be jealous of the good fortune of those working at Covington & Burling.
Covington & Burling
- 2nd Circuit, Columbia Law School, Covington & Burling, Cravath, Debevoise & Plimpton, Harvard, Harvard Law School, New York Times, Sonia Sotomayor, University of Chicago Law School, Weddings, Yale Law School
Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 5.31: Canon-Baller
By Laurie LinWe were dying to write about this wedding announcement, featuring a slutty Strawberry Shortcake costume (WTF?) and a wacky/tacky proposal story. But alas, commenters would have crucified us for elevating comedic potential over excellence.
So behold, this week’s finalists. They include five Harvard degrees, five Yale degrees, and OMGOMGOMG the best Article III officiant ever. Enjoy.
1. Jessica Richman and Matthew Smith
2. Jessica Hertz and Christopher Angell
3. Ashley Lynn and Kenneth Leonczyk Jr.
The scoop on these legal-eagle weddings, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 5.31: Canon-Baller”
We’ve been following the lawsuit filed by former Covington & Burling staff attorney Yolanda Young against Covington. She alleged that various incidents of racial discrimination derailed her Covington career.
Covington denied those claims.
Today, we have a judgment. Attorneys from Akin Gump — which represents Covington in this matter — sent out the following press release, earlier today:
United States District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton today dismissed Yolanda Young’s lawsuit against Covington & Burling LLP after Ms. Young and her attorney failed to appear for a court hearing.
Young filed her complaint in February 2009 against Covington and five of its present or former lawyers. Covington answered, denying Ms. Young’s allegations. Separately, on March 11, Covington filed a motion to strike certain of plaintiffs’ allegations on the grounds that they were false and scandalous, a motion which plaintiff neither responded to nor disputed. In addition, two of the individual lawyer defendants moved for dismissal for failure to state a claim against them, which the Court granted on May 28.
The Court on May 14 issued an order warning plaintiff that her failure to abide by the Rules and participate in a meet and confer conference might be treated as grounds for dismissal. Today’s hearing was scheduled more than two months ago. When neither Ms. Young nor her attorney, Latif Doman, appeared for the hearing or contacted the Court, Judge Walton dismissed the case without prejudice for want of prosecution.
Talk about anticlimactic.
After the jump, more details from the order.
Continue reading “Yolanda Young v. Covington & Burling: Case Dismissed”
In March, we reported that Skadden was essentially canceling its staff attorney program. We reported:
Only staff attorneys that were “integral” to ongoing matters have been kept on. And there is no word on whether those people will have any job security after their matters wrap up.
It appears that Covington & Burling is also undergoing a major reduction of its staff attorney program.
Tipsters (including some recently laid off staff attorneys) report that firm management has decided to effectively discontinue its staff attorney program. The firm has been letting go of staff attorneys at the rate of a couple per week over the last few weeks. As we understand it, as staff attorneys finish up their active matters, they are being let go.
Our sources tell us that the decision was made by firm management some weeks back. At the time the decision was made, the staff attorney manager was out of the office on vacation. When she came back, she allegedly told Covington’s staff attorneys that they should start circulating their resumes.
In some cases, laid off staff attorneys are being given a one week severance option. One week, if they sign a form promising not to sue the firm over the circumstances of their termination. Some Covington personnel that spoke to Above the Law believed that clause is proof that Covington decided to move out staff attorneys as a response to the lawsuit filed by former-Covington Staff Attorney Yolanda Young.
After the jump, we have statements from Covington & Burling, and Yolanda Young.
Continue reading “Covington & Burling Staff Attorneys: An Endangered Species?”
We’re pleased to announce that HLS grads Tracy Zuckerman and Ryan Van Grack triumphed in a high-turnout vote to win ATL Couple of the Month honors for April. Kudos!
On to this week’s contest. Once again, it’s too close for us to call, so get your voting fingers ready; there’s a poll after the jump. Here are the entrants:
1. Elizabeth Arens and Christopher Mathews
2. Jennifer Toll and Brett Schulman
3. JoAnn Kamuf and Rusty Ward
Check out these couples’ resumes and photos, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 5.10: Toll House”
* The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that hundreds of juvenile court cases in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania will soon be overturned. After former judge Mark Ciavarella pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from juvenile prisons in exchange for more convictions, the state hired a “Special Master” to investigate. He is not a Malasian Martial Arts expert or the Commander of a space shuttle. [WNEP news]
* Cuomo is still running around in his superhero cape putting out bonus fires. He has expanded his investigation into credit derivatives to see whether banks like Goldman Sachs received taxpayer funds. Do I smell a presidential run in 2012? [Bloomberg]
* In a stunning act of self parody, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has picked a Director for the NRA for the state’s new Attorney General. Check out this sweet picture of him sitting on a hummer. [Anchorage Daily News]
* Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has joined Covington & Burling. [Covington & Burling LLP]
* Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has a different response to executive compensation than Cuomo and Blumenthal. He says “..there is no law in Wisconsin making a contract illegal simply because someone is well compensated.” [The Wall Street Journal]
* In case you missed it, ATL got a shout out in the New York Times and Time Magazine.
Back in rosier economic times, we started a series of open threads on career alternatives for attorneys, i.e., things you can do with a law degree that don’t involve Biglaw or contract work. These days, we’re starting to think of the series as things you might do if you can’t find Biglaw or contract work.
The latest installment in the series is inspired by a profile in last weekend’s Washington Post Magazine of “Saphira,” a lawyer who traded in regulatory analysis for shimmying in sequins and spangly scarves.
Rachael Galoob-Ortega has been a “professional oriental dance artist,” a.k.a. bellydancer, since 1996. She used to just moonlight as a bellydancer while working full-time as a partner at a small firm, The Salem Law Group. That led to at least one embarrassing incident, recounts the Washington Post. A potential career downside is having to perform for judges inside and outside of the courtroom:
After passing the bar on her first try, she started practicing at a Sarasota law firm representing building contractors. She also joined a belly-dance troupe that performed at high-end soirees. Her two worlds comically collided one night, after she’d spent part of the day discussing the motion docket with a county judge. At a party that evening, she was in the midst of a solo dance, dressed in full belly-dance garb and a long wig, when she shimmied up to a table and recognized the judge. “He said: ‘Oh my God. That’s Rachael Galoob — she was in my courtroom today!’ ” Saphira recalls. “And of course, the room erupted in laughter.”
She winked at the table and moved on.
We hope that after winking, Saphira told the judge, “These hips don’t lie.”
The Oklahoma City University Law grad also has an LLM from Georgetown. She gave up her full-time law job to open Saffron Dance studio in Arlington. The tipster who sent us this story says:
There are lots of belly-dancing lawyers. No fooling. We sometimes call ourselves founding members of Raqs Judicata (Raqs Sharki is the Arabic name for the dance). It’s a great exercise for people who have to sit in front of computers all day long drafting briefs and memos.
Indeed, Saphira has even recruited a Covington & Burling partner teach at her studio. More on that, as well as video of Saphira in action, after the jump.
(Warning: It’s not just shaking the belly. There’s also copious licking of lips and tossing of hair.)
Continue reading “Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Bellydancer?”
- Covington & Burling, Department of Justice, Eric Holder, Hunton & Williams, Morning Docket, Parties, Wal-Mart
Morning Docket 11.25.08
By Kashmir HillEric Holder
* Covington & Burling’s Eric Holder is now definite as Obama’s choice for Attorney General. Look out for the official announcement after Thanksgiving. [Politico]
* Former Hunton & Williams partner Emerson Briggs gets 70 months in federal prison for doing very bad things with his firm laptop. [Legal Times]
* California AG Jerry Brown is doing what he can for the pocketbooks of Walmart shoppers. Look out for a $3 discount near you. [Business Week]
* What year is this? “Judge rules that suspects cannot be detained because of ethnicity.” Thanks to Judge Frederic Block, now it’s okay to be Egyptian on a plane. [New York Times]
* Considering a lateral move? Ask the tough financial questions first. [The Recorder]
* Exxon Shipping, Footnote 17. It’s so hot right now. [New York Times]
* New Yorkers, join the ATL editors for drinks and merriment on Dec. 2, courtesy of Major, Lindsey & Africa. [Above The Law]
- Arnold & Porter, Cadwalader, Clifford Chance, Cooley Godward, Covington & Burling, Heller Ehrman, Hogan & Hartson, K&L Gates, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Layoffs, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Sheppard Mullin, Sonnenschein
Crisis for some firms, opportunity for others
By Kashmir HillIt’s been a dark week on ATL. Layoff news has been pouring in: 21 attorneys cut at Katten, up to 60 at Sonnenschein, and 20 at Clifford Chance.
To prevent you from jumping out your windows, we’re revisiting a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this month on the silver lining for law firms during the economic crisis.
Firms with relatively strong balance sheets are hiring lawyers from competitors that are hurting from the dropoff in mergers, debt offerings and other staples of the legal business. Leaders of these firms figure that being bigger and more geographically diverse will help them weather downturns in particular market sectors and capitalize on complex business opportunities that require a variety of specialties. In most cases, they’re even giving the new hires raises.
Did you hear that, despondent ones? Raises!
Many firms have been feasting on the remains of Heller Ehrman (R.I.P.). Heller partners and attorneys have been snatched up by Hogan & Hartson; Orrick; Sheppard Mullin; Arnold & Porter; Covington & Burling; Jones Day; and Cooley Godward Kronish. Other firms have been poaching partners from struggling Thelen.
Some firms are buying on the cheap, while others are giving new attention to more resilient practice groups:
K&L Gates LLP has acquired medium-size firms in Texas and North Carolina this year and hired 45 partners from other firms. “We have no debt — no long-term debt, no short-term debt — and therefore have a balance sheet that allows us to grow aggressively into a downturn,” says Peter Kalis, chairman of the 1,700-lawyer firm…
But many law firms believe that they have no choice but to expand specialties, such as restructuring, intellectual property, securities litigation and antitrust, that are generally believed to remain steady — or even pick up — during down cycles. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in New York laid off 131 lawyers — nearly 20% of its staff — earlier this year because of the implosion in the mortgage-backed securities market, a key practice area for the firm. But it has hired lawyers in other practice areas, including financial restructuring.
Chins up.
Some Law Firms Hire in Slump [Wall Street Journal]
As Heller is sliced and diced, many associates are out in the cold [National Law Journal]
Earlier: ATL Layoff Coverage
Heller Ehrman continues to stave off involuntary bankruptcy, despite not being able to pay employees their accrued vacation time. But Heller’s breakup continues to take weird twists.
The latest bizarre news comes from Seattle, where some associates have wondered whether they are about to be evicted from their offices. Tension was so high that Heller management had to send around a clarification email:
TO ALL HANDS (SEATTLE):
I have heard various rumors in the hallways to the effect that the Seattle office will close imminently and therefore that everyone needs to move out pronto. To clarify, here is the status.
The landlord has not issued a notice to vacate. If such a notice were issued, the notice period would be ten days. For reasons too long to explain, we overpaid rent throughout 2008. When those overpayments came to our attention, the firm asked that they be applied to cover (completely) the October rent obligation. The landlord has since asserted that the overpayments instead should be applied toward a fee that was due in connection with our give-back of space on 58. The Dissolution Committee is working with our outside counsel and communicating with the landlord to hopefully resolve this issue, and to clarify with the landlord any issues relating to removal of property from our space. To the best of my knowledge, closure of this office is not imminent and the date of closure remains to be determined, based on the pace of collections versus ongoing costs and also based on the banks’ decisions about what spending they will approve.
A law firm on the edge of solvency “overpaid” their rent? We hope that the explanation for this oversight is too long and difficult to get into, but we wonder if it is just too embarrassing.
Meanwhile, the Heller refugees that ended up at Covington have officially started .
Associates that we are speaking to say that it is just starting to sink in that they will be out of a job soon. Hopefully the Seattle associates will get as much time as possible to come to grips with this reality, instead of showing up at the office one day only to find locks on the door.
Update: The Blog of the LegalTimes reports that Arnold & Porter has picked up the latest Heller refugees. The big fish is Kenneth Chernof, Heller’s managing partner in the D.C. office. Any associates coming along for the ride?
Homeless In Seattle? [Heller Highwater]
Heller partners join Covington & Burling [Business Journal]
Arnold & Porter Picks Up Heller Partners [The BLT: Blog of the LegalTimes]
Earlier: Anatomy of a Dissolution: BoA & Citi Tell Heller Ehrman There’s No Money For Vacation Time
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