Is suing a former client for unpaid bills a wise idea? Maybe not. As John Marquess, president of Legal Cost Control, told the New York Law Journal, “If I were advising any law firm, I would tell them suing a client over fees is a no-win situation. It’s going to get you adverse publicity you may or may not recover from. And if it went before a jury, juries hate lawyers.”

And what if your ex-client is, say, a green company devoted to the cause of sustainable forestry? Going after that client seems like an even worse idea from a PR perspective. Al Gore would not approve.

But Debevoise & Plimpton decided to move forward anyway with its $6 million lawsuit for unpaid fees (see last item). Now the firm is on the receiving end of some unpleasant counterclaims. From Am Law Litigation Daily:

On Wednesday morning, Debevoise’s erstwhile client, Candlewood Timber Group, filed an answer and counterclaims against Debevoise, seeking damages of $55 million. And some of Candlewood’s allegations about its former law firm aren’t very flattering….

Candlewood now asserts that Debevoise made critical errors, missed major points, and billed excessively for the work of inexperienced lawyers. The firm’s deficiencies, according to Candlewood, forced the company to accept less in a settlement than it should have. The company’s counterclaim contrasts Debevoise with Candlewood’s Delaware counsel—Bouchard, Margules & Friedlander—-which successfully represented the company for two-and-half years at a total cost of $450,000. “Over a 10-month pretrial and trial period—during which time D&P had the assistance of BM&F and later Susman—D&P managed to bill for more than 15,000 hours, the equivalent of 10 lawyers working full-time for the ten-month period,” Candlewood’s counterclaim alleges.

Fifteen thousand hours? Not bad. It may not be a Siemens, but this is still the kind of matter that should throw off millions in fees (too bad for Debevoise that they weren’t paid, at least not in full).

More about Candlewood’s claims — plus highlights from the retainer letter, including D&P billing rates — after the jump.

* Facebook rules for judges in Florida. They can be on Facebook but they can’t friend the lawyers who appear before them. It’s not clear whether the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee approves of poking. [Legal Profession Blog]

* Surprise! It was a bad year for law firms. [Bloomberg]

* Michigan attorney Murdoch Hertzog, 83, has been suspended for offering clients the option to pay their bills via “the couch of restitution.” He still denies the allegation. His defense is that he’s too old — at this age, he prefers money to sex. [Detroit News]

* Was prominent L.A. attorney Jeffrey Tidus murdered or did he commit suicide? [Associated Press]

* San Diego Charger linebacker Shawne Merriman wants to make a line of t-shirts with Wal-Mart, but his brand has been tainted by former girlfriend Tila Tequila. He’s suing her for falsely accusing him of attacking her, drugging and sleeping with minors and making illegal drugs. But his suit is not about defamation; it’s about “copyright and trademark infringement and dilution, intentional interference with contract and unfair competition.” [Courthouse News Service]

* Timber! That’s the sound of a $6 million lawsuit filed by Debevoise falling on a client who doesn’t want to pay its bill. [ABA Journal]

Is announcing associate bonuses on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a trend in the making? Will we get a few more announcements this afternoon, to match those by Davis Polk and now Debevoise & Plimpton?

Debevoise has had a relatively busy year, from what we understand. But is there life after Siemens? Being conservative with bonuses may be a wise move, unless the firm has lined up another mega-matter to ride out the storm.

So Debevoise has decided to match the Cravath-level bonuses. The full Debevoise memo appears after jump.

Even though we are moving out of the Vault top ten, we are still firmly in the land of law firms that everybody recognizes.

To refresh your memory, here is the next batch of firms on the Vault list:

11. Williams & Connolly
12. Debevoise & Plimpton
13. Paul Weiss
14. Gibson Dunn
15. Sidley Austin

Williams & Connolly was crowned the safest firm by Above the Law readers in March. And so far, the firm has worn its crown with grace and style. No layoffs to report at this small dynamo. It’s something to consider during this recruiting season.

After the jump, the Paul Weiss / Gibson Dunn troll fight starts in 3 … 2 … 1 …

Based on a Washington Post article profiling the Five O’Clock Club, an outplacement and career coaching company, we constructed a Biglaw blind item:

Which New York law firm, having already completed two rounds of layoffs, has hired the Five O’Clock Club to help it carry out additional layoffs (in August, October, and November)?

After we ran the item, several firms came forward to declare they’re not the firm in question. And now they’re joined by one more: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

A spokesperson for Morgan Lewis contacted ATL to say that it isn’t the firm with layoffs in the works. In fact, Morgan Lewis claims that it shouldn’t even be on the shortlist of contenders.

Read why — and check out the list of the Five O’Clock Club’s clients, including some very prestigious law firms that haven’t publicly admitted to layoffs — after the jump.

The current online front page of the NYT weddings section is worth a click. The head blurb leads with “Despite their differences in age … ” underneath a picture of a 20-something bride embracing a “groom” who appears to be about nine years old. “Differences in age,” indeed. Somebody alert Morality in Media! (Of course, when you click on the link, you learn that the real groom is 40-something. Still yucky, but not illegal.)

Our spotlighted weddings this week feature couples who are well-matched not only in age, but in accomplishments. Here they are:

1. Robyn Maslynsky and Paul Goldschmid

2. Stacy Humes-Schulz and Matthew Frazier

3. Courtney Dankworth and Russell Capone Jr.

Read more about these couples, after the jump.

A partner at a top New York law firm — we have more partner readers (and tipsters) than you might think — sent us an email with this subject line: “Stimulus Money for Law Firms?” The email directed us to two links on Recovery.gov, the disturbingly expensive website devoted to tracking where the federal economic stimulus money is going.

Almost $900,000 in stimulus money — i.e., your taxpayer dollars hard at work — is going to two top law firms: Debevoise & Plimpton and Paul Weiss. Debevoise is getting $432,680 and Paul Weiss is getting $462,528, both from the U.S. Department of Energy. Links are here and here.

Needless to say, this got us hugely excited. Have things gotten so bad that law firms — even firms as prestigious and profitable as Debevoise & Paul Weiss — need government funds?

Economists sometimes talk about the hypothetical stimulus of the government paying people to dig ditches and then refill them. Is the federal government now trying to jump start the legal economy, by paying law firms to draft merger agreements or summary judgment motions, then send them through the shredder? Has the phenomenon of fake work spread beyond the summer associate class, into the ranks of associates and partners, to be paid for by U.S. taxpayer dollars?

Not quite (although that would have been a juicier story). Find out the somewhat boring reality, after the jump.

We 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.

Yesterday, we mentioned a NALP “glitch” that allowed users to get a sneak peak at the organization’s 2009 statistics about law firms. The problem, whatever it was, was fixed soon after we alerted NALP to the problem. Here’s the quick statement we obtained from NALP:

Legal employers provide this data to NALP each winter. NALP is pleased to be able to publish this free online searchable database each spring once the data submissions are finalized.

Excellent. It’s a great resource.

As promised, today we take a look at some of the overall summer program numbers from the firms that are ranked 11 through 20, according to Vault (check out firms 1 - 10 here).

The moderately surprising fact is that this next batch of firms didn’t decrease their overall summer associate offers as much as the Vault top ten. Looking at the firm’s New York offices, there was a 14% decrease in offers to 2Ls, compared with a nearly 20% decrease in the V10.

But, one firm really does skew those numbers. More details after the jump.

Incoming first years all over the country continue to find out that they won’t be able to start when they had hoped.

Dewey & LeBoeuf officially pushed back start dates for its new associates until January, 2010. The email went out last night:

After careful consideration, the firm’s Executive Committee has decided to delay the start of the first year associate class from fall 2009 to January 11, 2010. Our hope is that by postponing the start date for your class, workflows will have increased across our practices and we will be able to give you challenging assignments from day one.

Dewey emphasizes that just because you can’t start working at Dewey this fall, it doesn’t mean that you can’t start working as soon as you want:

For those of you who would like to start your career in the fall, you may wish to apply for a Community Service Fellowship. You recently received details on the firm’s fellowship program from [Redacted]. Those selected for a fellowship will be able to start with the firm, on secondment to a public service organization, as early as September 2009.

Above the Law has also received the details of the Dewey’s fellowship program. For those accepted into the program, the firm will pay up to $80,000 for associates to not work at Dewey for a whole year. But while the firm says that associates taking a fellowship are still “start[ing] with the firm,” it is not at all clear that associates will advance a class year upon completing the fellowship.

Those taking a fellowship will receive an extra $5,000 from Dewey to tide them over until January.

After the jump, take a look at what Debevoise is doing.

Debevoise & Plimpton released its 2008 profit numbers today. AmLaw Daily reports that while overall revenue was up in 2008, profits per partner were down:

Debevoise & Plimpton said Monday that its 2008 gross revenue climbed 7.2 percent, while profits per partner fell nearly 3 percent.

Revenue at the New York-based firm grew to $760.8 million on the heels of significant litigation and white-collar investigation work for the likes of Siemens AG. But in a sign that the firm is not immune from the financial crisis, profits per partner dropped to $2.23 million.

The hit to PPP at Debevoise is not as steep as some other NYC based firms. One of the reason for that might be that Debevoise has been aggressively moving towards white collar defense. Former U.S. attorney Mary Jo White has been building that practice since she came to the firm, and AmLaw points out that big name hires have bolstered the practice:

In February, Debevoise hired former U.S. attorney general Michael Mukasey, who was widely expected to return to Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.

Mukasey followed the September 2007 hiring of former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmith QC. The firm boosted its European litigation practice in September 2008 by hiring Bird & Bird partner Sophie Lamb. This month, the firm announced the formation of an international corporate investigations and defense practice in recognition of its growing presence in the field.

The positive news didn’t trickle down to associates come bonus time. But so far, the firm is on that list of firms that include Cravath, Cleary, Weil, and a host of others that have not conducted massive layoffs, and not frozen associate salaries.

But does the firm have another Siemens lined up to weather the 2009 storm like it did in 2008?

Debevoise Revenue Up 7 Percent as Per Partner Profits Fall 3 percent [AmLaw Daily]

Earlier: Musical Chairs: Michael Mukasey to Debevoise
Debevoise’s Santa: Siemens? (Alas, the case is winding down.)
Associate Bonus Watch: Debevoise Announces Bonuses at 6:54 p.m. (Did they think nobody would notice?)

The revolving door between government and private practice is in full swing. This morning brought the news that Judith Kaye, former chief judge of New York State, has joined Skadden Arps as counsel.

And this afternoon brings more news: Michael Mukasey, fresh off his stint as U.S. Attorney General, will be joining the partnership of Debevoise & Plimpton. Before his service as AG, Mukasey was a partner at Patterson Belknap (and was a Patterson associate before becoming a federal judge in the S.D.N.Y.).

Why didn’t Mukasey return to Patterson? Perhaps Debevoise offered more dough. Fueled by a series of large internal investigations, including the international Siemens matter, the firm has seen its partner profits skyrocket in recent years. In 2007, profits per partner at Debevoise hit $2.3 million.

Says a Debevoise tipster: “Now I get to find out if waterboarding is torture.”

Update (3:05 PM): The Debevoise press release is now available here.

Update (4 PM): Mukasey gave a short interview to the WSJ Law Blog, in which he explained his decision to join Debevoise: “It’s particularly strong in litigation and in conducting major corporate investigations and preparing reports to boards. Also, it has many former government lawyers, including Mary Jo [White].”

Update (5:30 PM): More praise from Mukasey for Debevoise, over at Am Law Daily.

Michael B. Mukasey to Join Debevoise & Plimpton (press release)
A Law Blog Q&A With Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey [WSJ Law Blog]
Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye Joins Skadden, Arps (press release)
Former NYS Chief Judge Judith Kaye Joins Skadden [Am Law Daily]

As law firms scale back, our nationwide perk watch has shifted to a reversed perk watch. The firm giveth, and the firm may taketh away.

Debevoise & Plimpton is ramping up for its annual firm dinner on February 24. Or should we say ramping down? This was last year’s announcement for the big event:

This year, there will be no Pierre. In fact, there will be no dinner. Here’s the invitation to the cocktail reception, in lieu of the firm dinner, to be held on the firm’s very own 33rd floor:
In the words… or word… of our tipster: “Classy.”

On the Debevoise & Plimpton bonus post, one irate associate wrote:

Debevoise associates broke their backs this year on the Siemens case and covering for those who were on Siemens. Even though there was a slowdown in the 4th quarter, profits before then were “record-breaking” — i.e. MORE than the 25% boost Deb had last year. Last year PEP went from $1.81 million to a new high of $2.29 million. Partners are going to be bringing home this much or more this year. Understandably, next year’s bonus will decrease with the recession, but not sharing more equitably with associates now during the flush year when we flew around the globe at a moment’s notice, didn’t see our families for weeks, and worked all nighters in corners of the globe, is a huge slap in the face.

We wonder how this Debevoise drone felt after reading the long article on the Siemens bribery case published over the weekend in the New York Times (based on a joint report by ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative journalism organization; “Frontline,” the PBS program; and the NYT):

Officials in the United States began investigating the [Siemens] case shortly after the raids became public. Knowing that it faced steep fines unless it cooperated, Siemens hired an American law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, to conduct an internal investigation and to work with federal investigators.

As German and American investigators worked together to develop leads, Debevoise and its partners dedicated more than 300 lawyers, forensic analysts and staff members to untangle thousands of payments across the globe, according to the court records. American investigators and the Debevoise lawyers conducted more than 1,700 interviews in 34 countries. They collected more than 100 million documents, creating special facilities in China and Germany to house records from that single investigation. Debevoise and an outside auditor racked up 1.5 million billable hours, according to court documents. Siemens has said that the internal inquiry and related restructurings have cost it more than $1 billion.

Readers, let’s treat this like a management consulting case study. How much will Debevoise’s profits per partner in 2008 be boosted by those 1.5 million billable hours and $1 billion in spending by Siemens? Your conjecture is welcome in the comments.

At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item [New York Times]

Debevoise & Plimpton has been very busy and very profitable. They recently sent around a positive internal email about the firm’s business during the downturn. And we know that the Siemens case has treated them well.

But in 2008, public protestations of solid business mean nothing when it comes to associate compensation. Debevoise announced that they were paying half of what Skadden is offering:

2008: $17,500 (pro-rated)
2007: $17,500

2006: $20,000

2005: $22,500

2004: $25,000

2003: $27,500

2002: $30,000

2001 (and senior): $32,500

The numbers — while annoying — are not really that surprising. Schulte Roth, housed in the same building, earlier today announced the same scale (although subject to an hours requirement). Even our Debevoise sources anticipated that, with Siemens winding down, the firm would be more forward-looking with this round of bonuses.

What is surprising is the timing of this bonus announcement. The email went out from managing partner Rick Evans at 6:54 p.m. WTF (“Sacré bleu” in Debevoise-speak)? Was management hoping to dodge the news cycle with an after-hours announcement? Somebody should let them know that the internets are on 24/7.

Our hearts go out to the Debevoise associates that were still working when this announcement crashed into their inboxes. Professionalism is its own reward. All Skadden associates are getting this Christmas is twice the money.

Read the full memo after the jump.

[Ed Note: Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the tragedies in Mumbai yesterday. The events are just another reason to be thankful for what you have this holiday season.]

If you’re working today — I’m so sorry. But ATL is with you, even though I’m still reeling from being RickRolled by Santa Claus and Macy’s.

If there are Half-Skadden or Skadden-Mart associates working hard over Thanksgiving weekend, I admire your professional commitment. For the rest of Biglaw associates spending Thanksgiving chained to a BlackBerry, I hope your work is rewarded.

But while we wait for additional firms to announce bonuses, we’ve gotten some additional information about another Biglaw “perk,” holiday parties.

We’ve covered firms like Orrick that are scaling back on holiday festivities, and firms like Kaye Scholer that are going full speed ahead. Are holiday parties an early indication of which firms will be in the spirit of giving come bonus time? We don’t have good information about the holiday plans at Cravath or STB.

But we do at Skadden. A Skadden tipster gleefully reports:

[W]e were just told that the annual Holiday Party is on December 11. Aren’t most firms canceling parties?

I can only imagine that the tipster sent us the email and then took a gold-plated bath.

Another holiday announcement, after the jump.

We’re back with our second installment of the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch in as many days. Enjoy, and have a happy, happy Friday.

Behold, the most outstanding legal lovebirds from the past three weeks:

1. Brenda Zelin and Kyle Williams

2. Alyssa Greenwald and Edward Wittenstein

3. Erik Hyman and Max Mutchnick

4. Jamie Bartholomew and Steven Aller

Evaluate the worthiness of these couples, after the jump.

Remember the Davis Polk “internal memo” from last week, touting the firm’s success at navigating the perilous waters of Wall Street? Other firms are following DPW’s lead, taking the opportunity to toot their own horns about how well they’re doing despite — or perhaps because of — the financial system meltdown.

From a firm-wide email that was sent around this morning at Debevoise & Plimpton, by corporate department chair Michael Blair:

[W]hile the turmoil in the marketplace has caused dislocation and real pain for many with whom we have worked over the years, it has also given rise to opportunities for us to provide advice and counsel to existing and new clients as they chart their way at this challenging juncture….

In addition to the work of the last two weeks, much of which is ongoing, we are seeing a surge in related work, involving M&A transactions that grow out of likely restructurings of these companies as well as Lehman-related bankruptcy work and financings and restructurings occasioned by the recent changes in the financial institutions landscape.

We have also been engaged in a wide range of litigation work relating to the credit crisis in the past year….

Moral of the story: 2Ls, Debevoise is the place to be. They’ll have more than enough work to keep you busy.

Read the full memo, after the jump.

In honor of the new Vault rankings, we’re doing a series of open threads on the 100 most prominent law firms. We invite you to compare and contrast the firms in the comments. In the last open thread on Vault firms 6-10, there was an animated discussion about litigation at Cleary and which Kirkland office is best to work for.

Moving on down the Vault 100 list, here’s the next bunch up for discussion, with prestige scores in parentheses:

11. Covington & Burling LLP (7.428)
12. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (7.417)
13. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (7.290)
14. Williams & Connolly LLP (7.238)
15. Sidley Austin LLP (7.201)

The oddest language in the “notable perks” in this bunch is at Williams & Connolly: “Fancy bunch of smarties.” Well-dressed intelligent lawyers, or a big basket of the tart candy?

Please discuss the work, perks, and lifestyle at these firms in the comments. More threads to come.

Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads- 2009

We recently reported on Winston & Strawn making iPhones available for its attorneys. Will other firms follow suit?

Some already have. This morning, Sheppard Mullin announced that it will be “adding the iPhone as a selection in our mobile device program,” as of mid-September. Full memo, after the jump.

One firm that’s not phalling for the iPhone: Latham & Watkins.”Latham isn’t going for the new version or the new software,” a tipster tells us, “because of a lack of ‘whole-device encryption.’ They posted [a message] on the Latham [intranet].” That message, also after the jump.

Earlier today, we noted that Debevoise & Plimpton just slipped from the top spot in the American Lawyer’s A-List rankings. One Debevoise associate has a solution, proposed in this open letter:

Dear Rick [Evans, Presiding Partner],

By now you have no doubt seen the AmLaw rankings. You will have been as horrified as I to see Debevoise drop from #1, a position it has held for four years now, to #5. More dramatic, though, is the drop in the Associate Satisfaction score — we shed 90 points out of 200. Luckily, I have an effective, easily implemented solution to offer: iPhones. That’s right - iPhones. For just $200/associate, you can infinitely increase our satisfaction, as well as get some great press on Abovethelaw.com.

Think about it, Rick. iPhones. Debevoise can be “that” firm — you know, the hip, modern, generous, lifestyle-caring-about firm that law students buzz about and want to work for.

Let’s reclaim our destiny. With iPhones.

Best,
[redacted]

In other iPhone news, John Carney asks over at our sister site, Dealbreaker: “Has Apple Sold So Many iPhones It Crashed Its System?”

The Sheppard Mullin and Latham iPhone announcements, after the jump.