Here's a topic we haven't written about in a while: clerkship bonuses. But we're guessing it's of interest to at least some of you, judging from the robust discussion on the recent Community post an ATL reader started about law firms hiring -- or not hiring -- judicial law clerks.

A source passes along this information about Davis Polk & Wardwell:

The firm is amending its clerkship bonus policy to pay $50,000 for a one-year clerkship and a $70,000 clerkship bonus for a two-year clerkship or two one-year clerkships. As you know, Cravath, Debevoise, Paul Weiss, Shearman, Skadden and S&C have this policy in place.

The full clerkship bonus policy of DPW, after the jump.

We received 1,036 responses to last week's ATL / Lateral Link survey on where you'd most want to work, which, in turn, was based on your nominations last month.

Here's how it turned out:

Survey Results: Which Firm Would You Most Want To Work For?

Overall, Latham & Watkins dominated the field, pulling in almost one fifth of all votes. Latham was the most popular choice among voters in L.A., the Bay Area, and Washington, DC, and was particularly favored by tax lawyers and litigators.

Runner-up Wachtell was actually the top choice of respondents in New York, narrowly besting Davis Polk and Latham. It was also, by far, the most popular pick among M&A lawyers, with roughly 30% of their vote.

Kirkland placed third overall, but was the top choice of Chicago respondents and patent lawyers, with almost twice as many votes as the next most popular firm in Chicago (Latham) and almost as many patent votes as the next two firms combined (Latham and Quinn).

Williams & Connolly, Ropes & Gray, and Davis Polk tied for fourth, with Ropes & Gray dominating the Boston vote, Williams & Connolly pwning DC (and gaining the second highest vote from litigators after Latham), and Davis Polk rocking the investment management scene (with Ropes & Gray running second best in that field).

Paul Hastings was the clear winner among labor & employment attorneys, winning almost 70% of the vote, and was also the most popular choice among real estate attorneys and lawyers in Atlanta.

On the Magic Circle front, Linklaters proved more popular than Allen & Overy, and was actually the most popular choice among securities lawyers. Allen & Overy was the most popular choice among structured finance attorneys.

This month's ATL / Lateral Link survey, focused on which firm you would choose if you could go anywhere, was dominated by Latham & Watkins and Wachtell Lipton. But several firms were close behind.

  * Respondents had several reasons to applaud Latham: "Prestige", "Friends there are happy", "Awesome firm, awesome people", "They rock", "Prestige, substantive work, great litigation practice", and "Top notch clients and matters; kick ass bonuses; selective hiring in a good way (need good grades plus a good; personality); Vault top 10 without the stuffiness of originating on the east coast; good growth but no risk of Brobecking (great management + tons of funds).....should I go on?" Or, as one respondent summed it up: "ass kickers."

  * At Wachtell, with 2007 profits per partner of $4.48 million, money played a key factor in respondents' enthusiasm for the firm: "100% bonus", "money", "it's all about the cash", "I want the compensation!", "money honey" and, of course, "CASH."

  * "Money" was also a big plus for Cravath (even though their profits per partner were a mere $3.3 million). Voters also noted "Prestige, training, can go anywhere else afterwards."

  * "Prestige" and "Exit opportunities" also won several votes for Skadden, who also had more than $2 billion in revenues last year. (Their SideBar program is pretty cool, too.)

  * "Bonuses and work" were praised at Kirkland & Ellis, as was stability: "They're well positioned for the credit crunch and M&A downturn. And the pay's better, of course."

  * Sullivan & Cromwell was also coveted for "good work, and $$$$" as well as "reputation." With profits per partner of $3.13 million, that "$$$$" is appealing at multiple levels.

  * Paul Hastings surged in popularity as respondents complemented their labor & employment practice and their compensation structures in Atlanta and Chicago.

  * In an incendiary match-up, Davis Polk was heralded as "da bomb", while Boston heavyweight Ropes & Gray was declared "the bomb."

  * Among the Magic Circle firms, Allen & Overy supporters declared "Great offices, european attitude" while Linklaters was called "the best globally, both in equity and debt."

  * Debevoise won several votes for its combination of "prestige and culture".

  * Litigators were torn between Quinn Emanuel, where "hard core litigators with a great reputation" create an atmosphere where "[p]ersonality, quirkiness, and fun seem prevalent," and Williams & Connolly, as "the best litigatio[n] shop. Period."

So of these fourteen juggernauts of practice, prestige, and sweet, sweet profits, who would you most like to work for?

Cast your vote in today's ATL / Lateral Link survey, after the jump.

Last week's ATL / Lateral Link survey asked, "If you knew then what you know today, would you still choose to join your current firm?"

We received 540 responses, and, overall 68% of you said yes. But the gruntlement (i.e., satisfaction) varied quite a bit from market to market:

  • Atlanta - 50%
  • Boston - 74%
  • Bay Area - 79%
  • Chicago - 70%
  • Dallas - 80%
  • Houston - 82%
  • Los Angeles - 71%
  • New York - 71%
  • Philadelphia - 75%
  • Washington, DC - 68%

Apparently, "everything is bigger in Texas" includes job satisfaction, and the Bay Area is close behind, followed by Philadelphia. Meanwhile, firms in Boston have managed to produce slightly happier associates than firms in New York, notwithstanding the city's often lamented bagels and challenging pizza scene -- a challenge Chicago offices, hampered by quiche deep dish pizza, have been unable to surmount. Washington, DC lags a bit behind, and Atlanta clearly needs a hug.

Associates at a few firms were particularly likely to say they'd make the same choice today. Find out which firms have especially happy campers, after the jump.

We're back with another installment of the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, where we weigh the relative prestige and fabulosity of the newlywed lawyers who are brave enough to splash their happy news across the pages of the New York Times.

Here are the latest LEWW hopefuls:

1.) Mindy Jaffe and Per Chilstrom

2.) Jennifer Abrams and David Stier

3.) Christine Pelosi and Peter Kaufman

More about these couples, after the jump.

Sometimes we wish we had the breastses. Then we could enjoy the luxurious lactation room at Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Back in this post, we wrote about the lactation room at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. We're sure it's plenty nice. But we doubt it's as snazzy as what the competition on the other side of Lexington Avenue is offering.

Check out this Davis Polk email, which went out late last year (exclamation mark in the original):

From: **** On Behalf Of Associate Development
To: all.lawyers.ny
Subject: Nursing Room

We are pleased to announce that the firm now has a private nursing room!

Located on the 10th floor, this cozy room is equipped with brand-new furniture, including a comfortable chair and end table, refrigerator, and reading materials of interest to new mothers. Access to the secure room is available through the Security Desk. A small sign on the outside of the door indicates when the room is occupied.

We hope that this amenity will provide returning mothers who wish to continue nursing their babies additional support during this important transition. Your privacy and comfort are our priority.

Please do not hesitate to contact [xxxx] or any member of the Associate Development Department if you have any questions. Thank you and congratulations to all of our new DPW Parents.

We're curious about the "reading materials of interest to new mothers" at DPW. Draft asset purchase agreements? SEC proxy filings?

Meanwhile, in other happy news for parents, Arnold & Porter has jumped on the improved parental leave bandwagon. Following the recent trend, which we've been following in these pages, they've increased the paid leave they provide to women who give birth or primary caregivers of a newly adopted child. It used to be 12 weeks; now it's 18 weeks, which appears to be the "market" rate these days.

Transmittal email, plus A&P's full leave policy, after the jump.

Earlier: Biglaw Perk Watch: Lactation Rooms

Following in the footsteps of Latham & Watkins and Simpson Thacher, whose moves were first reported in these pages, Davis Polk has just adopted a new and improved "Primary Caregiver Leave" policy.

We predict that, with respect to maternity leave for birth mothers, 18 weeks will become the new "market rate." One tipster quips: "Four and a half months of paid time off almost makes me want to have kids."

Here's the email, which went out around half an hour ago:

From: **** On Behalf Of Management Committee
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 3:07 PM
To: all.lawyers
Subject: Primary Caregiver Leave Policy

We are pleased to announce that, effective immediately, the firm has adopted a new Primary Caregiver Leave policy, which will provide lawyers who are primary caregivers to a newborn or newly adopted child with up to six weeks of paid leave within the first six months of the birth or adoption of a child. This leave is in addition to the other parental and disability/maternity leaves offered by the firm. For example, a Davis Polk associate who gives birth and is the child's primary caregiver will now be eligible for up to 18 weeks of paid leave.

For additional information about the new Primary Caregiver Leave policy and the policies on Parental Leave and Disability/Maternity Leave, please consult the Lawyers' Handbook.

Thank you.

All the beautiful people over at Davis Polk can still afford their gym memberships and spa treatments. DPW just matched market in terms of bonuses.

Davis is paying the standard year-end bonuses, topping out at $65K, and special bonuses, to be paid on November 26. Bonuses for counsel will be determined individually.

Memo after the jump.

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch 2007 archives (scroll down)

Cadwalader isn't the only New York law firm with a sideline in serving as a film location. As previously reported in the ABA Journal, the recent George Clooney film, Michael Clayton, was filmed in the offices of what was then Dewey Ballantine (now Dewey & LeBoeuf).

But did Davis Polk & Wardwell also get a piece of the action? This email was recently sent to an internal email group at the firm:

"A couple of friends of mine saw 'Michael Clayton' last night and said they saw a credit to Davis Polk at the end. Any idea why?"

Find out, after the jump.

We had a tough time picking our finalist couples this week, and LEWW will be the first to admit that we're not totally certain we chose the right three. (We're sure our commenters and e-mailers will let us know if we've dropped the ball.) Specifically, in addition to our three finalists, we considered these three couples, and if you work at Shearman, Simpson Thacher, Wachtell, Willkie, or Ropes & Gray, you might want to click on those links to read about your colleagues or their spawn.

But onward to this week's finalists! Here they are:

1.) Nisa Leung and James Lin

2.) Beth Schonmuller and John Williams

3.) Virginia Boyd and J. B. Lockhart IV

More on these couples, after the jump.

Warmest congratulations to our friends Junko Ozao and Jason Choy, whose lovely wedding was written up in this week's Vows column. Jason is an associate at Kirkland & Ellis, but Junko is a normal person, and that shortcoming cost them a spot in this week's Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. The news will likely ruin their three-week honeymoon, but such are the ruthless decisions our readers expect LEWW to make.

Here are the six finalists (all lawyers):

1.) Amanda Trivax and Brian Burnovski

2.) Anna Skotko and Ben Vonwiller

3.) Amy Tovar and Benjamin Horwich

More about these legal eagles, after the jump.

We apologize for the tardiness of this edition of LEWW. We've been in the thick of a real estate transaction and various related matters, and we haven't been able to devote our usual amount of attention and energy to wedding criticism. But fear not -- the nuptial machine grinds on, and we have three impressive couples to examine this week:

1. Catherine Holahan and Christopher Murphy

2. Susan Green and Adam Greene

3. Melanie Forbes and Jason Goins

More about our featured couples, after the jump.

Here's an idea that we liked, from a thoughtful and helpful reader:

I was a big fan of your recruiting threads by city. Same goes for the firm benefits/perks threads. One problem, however, is that people often say what it's like at their firm but fail to mention which firm those perks apply to. I understand the need for confidentiality, but it defeats the purpose of finding out what certain firms are like.

One possible way to remedy this is to do similar posts, but to list just a handful of firms to discuss for that day. Probably the best way would be to go down the Vault 100, since most people consider this gospel. For instance, the first day you could start a thread about the top 5 firms on Vault, to discuss perks, hours, recruiting, firm life, etc.

This way, if someone who posts does not want to discuss which firm they are at, people can still have a general idea [of what firms in that tier are like]. There aren't too many differences between the top 1-5 firms, and same goes for the next five and the next five.

We like this idea, and we like Vault. They publish a great guide to law firms, they advertise on ATL, and they have a shout-out to us in their write-up of Wachtell Lipton (which you can see after the jump).

So we'll give this a try. If the discussion is anemic and/or insipid, then we'll just write it off as a failed experiment. But if the discussion is robust and informative, then we'll keep on going. Here is today's quintet of law firms (with Vault prestige scores indicated parenthetically):

1. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (8.780)
2. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (8.732)
3. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (8.224)
4. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (8.197)
5. Davis Polk & Wardwell (8.126)

Please discuss and compare these firms in the comments. Thanks.

The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms (2008 Edition) [Vault]

Summer associate stories. Wacky farewell messages. Two great tastes that go great together.

Some brief background, from a tipster:

This kid was a summer at Davis Polk, and his farewell email has made the rounds in both DC and NYC. For anyone who knows him, it is no surprise....

[He] believes that we should not have a republic, but that an autocratic state would better suit everyone. He usually speaks in latinate phrases like "Hail, brother, farewell," and he would send out emails all summer about obscure historical books to recommend to his fellow summers.

Check out the farewell email, and vote in our poll, after the jump.

Here is the latest unverified gossip making the rounds among summer associates in New York City:

"I'm not summering at Davis Polk, but I have some friends who are, and I've been to a few of their events. The general assumption among people there was that the firm is going to $180,000, probably in time for fall recruiting season."

"My career adviser at Cornell said that it is all but declared that NYC associate starting salaries will be going up to $195K. Is there truth to this? I haven't heard it anywhere else?"

At this point, since such rumors have been percolating for weeks, we don't put much stock in them. But maybe we can have a meta-conversation about them: What does the persistence of these (perhaps ridiculous) rumors say about law students and young lawyers?

(Other than that they have huge-ass student loans and/or a taste for the finer things in life. E.g., Cristal.)

Although located uncomfortably close to the site of yesterday's steam pipe explosion, Davis Polk & Wardwell has some of the nicest offices around. When we were in law school, Davis was known as "Land of the Beautiful People." They had the most gorgeous offices, and the best-looking associates (and summer associates).

DPW also seems to have great -- or at least distinctive and unique -- perks. First we heard about their marriage bonus. And now, in the wake of yesterday's calamity, we get this news:

I am an associate at Davis Polk, a few blocks from the explosion in midtown [yesterday] afternoon. We were evacuated and I took the firm-provided emergency kit as I left. No real news from the evacuation but here is something that came up as I was walking home.

A friend from White and Case was having a drink at a nearby bar and I stopped on my way home. She saw my emergency kit and asked what it was. I said "you know the emergency kit that all the firms give you on your first day." Well, needless to say she was pissed that White and Case has no such kit!

I think this would be another fun "perks" thread. So kicking it off, the Davis Polk kit has a flashlight, glow stick, emergency blanket, battery powered radio. But the real kicker is that we have this hood that you can wear in a smoke-filled room and still breathe for about a half hour.

So if a "dirty bomb" goes off in New York City someday (God forbid), bet on the Davis Polksters to emerge alive. Along with a few Milberg Weiss partners cockroaches.

Update: From our original DPW source:

"By the way, forgot to mention that besides the f'ing awesome smoke hood, the safety kit also has potassium iodide tablets to prevent radiation poisoning."

"Suck it Wachtell!"

We have heard from the subjects of a couple of today's posts, and would like to post a couple of clarifications based on what they told us.

First, a source from Davis Polk wants to make it very clear that the marriage bonuses are not "bonuses" per se, but are instead gifts from the partnership, which always happen to be in the exact amount of $500.

Second, we stated in the Mayer Brown post that the firm had not commented on the examiner's report in the Refco case. We made that statement based on the fact that two online sources reporting on the case had reported that Mayer Brown had not commented at that time. The statement was not based on any specific request for comment from ATL. However, we now have received an official statement from Mayer Brown, and it is posted in its entirety after the jump.

Earlier: Does It Pay to Be Married In Biglaw?
Court-Appointed Examiner Blows The Whistle on Mayer Brown In Refco Case

A rather odd rumor recently came across our desk that Davis Polk hands out marriage bonuses of $500. That's right, $500 for being married (and if you're married to someone at Davis Polk, you each get $500, according to the rumor).

We hadn't heard of this at Davis Polk or anywhere else previously, so we decided to float it to some Davis Polk sources. Here's what they had to say:

Source 1: We do get a $500 marriage bonus... I got mine last year.

Source 2: I know that people got them in the past, but I am under the impression that this benefit no longer exists.
I think the most accurate characterization of it is that the benefit "once existed but may no longer exist."

Source 1 (upon being told about Source 2's claim that the benefit no longer exists): It definitely still exists. You have to ask for it, though.

So, can any Davis Polk folks out there tell us if this benefit still exists? Are any other firms doing this?

LEWW is so devoted to you, dear readers, that we haul out our scanner every week so we can show you pictures that the Times doesn't post in its online edition. But this week the NYT was showing no photographic love for the lawyers. All three of our featured couples are picture-less!

We hate it too, but to borrow a way overused line from recent TV criticism, "Whaddya gonna do?" Just try to picture them in your minds or something. Here are our finalists:

1. Eva Temkin and David Lehn Jr.

2. Sophia Lynn and David Frederick

3. Amanda McCormick and Matthew Bacal

More about these couples, after the jump.

We've been so focused on nationwide associate pay raises that we've been neglecting New York City -- where lawyers have always earned top dollar. And where they enjoy real estate spoils reflecting their high compensation, which we regularly profile for Lawyerly Lairs.

One of our favorite sources of real estate porn in the deliciously gossipy New York Observer. Here are a few recent "Manhattan Transfers" items, all of which involve lawyers:

1. Crusading Lawyer Inks Sweet $2.4 M. Deal for Harlem Townhouse

The Erin Brockovich of big-sugar class-action lawsuits has bought a stately 108-year-old townhouse on West 137th Street (at right), a leafy block near Harlem’s Strivers Row.

Lawyer Edward Tuddenham and his wife, Sarah Cleveland, a University of Texas law professor, paid $2.4 million for the five-level townhouse.

Moral of the story: If you're a law professor with dreams of a million-dollar home, you need to marry well. Or be Feldsuk.

In addition to having a million-dollar home, Professor Cleveland is also highly attractive, a former Rhodes Scholar, and a former Supreme Court clerk (for Justice Blackmun). Could a life be any more charmed? (Although that Manhattan-Austin commute is probably a real pain...)

Update: Per this comment, and as confirmed by this press release, Professor Cleveland -- who is "a fantastic teacher," we're told -- has been snapped up by Columbia. Very nice.

2. Saint David’s Buys Headmaster Two Philip Johnson Condos for $2.99 M

The Saint David's School, an all-boys prep school, just purchased two adjacent condos for a total of almost $3 million. These apartments will be the home of their headmaster. Who says schoolteachers can't live well?

One of the principals in this deal is a lawyer: Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner Xavier Dieux is selling one of the two units. Presumably Mr. Dieux is trading up; he was probably living below his means in his condo at the Metropolitan.

3. Davis Polk Stays At Home

This item, reporting on Davis Polk & Wardwell's 650,000-square-foot renewal at 450 Lexington Avenue, concerns commercial rather than residential real estate. So it may lie slightly beyond the jurisdiction of Lawyerly Lairs.

But it is interesting to see how Davis Polk is perceived by the outside world. The Observer refers to DPW as "cultivat[ing] its reputation as the Cravath, Swaine & Moore for happy people."

Is that view of DPW accurate? Feel free to debate in the comments.