Dechert

Morning Docket: 01.24.12

By Staci Zaretsky

* First the Jones verdict, then the Fourth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of Jose Padilla’s torture lawsuit. It’s enough to make ACLUers develop bipolar disorder. [Washington Post]

* Release the Kagan! The Supreme Court rejected Freedom Watch’s motion for time to argue that Justice Elena Kagan should recuse herself from the Obamacare case. [CNN]

* Biglaw problems: here’s a great round-up of 2012′s law firm lawsuits, starring Akin Gump, Crowell & Moring, Dechert, and Greenberg Traurig, to name a few. [Am Law Daily]

* After dropping a lawsuit challenging their forcible eviction from Zuccotti Park, supporters of Occupy Wall Street will go back to occupying the couches in their parents’ basements. [Bloomberg]

* Not interested in being a lawyer? Check out these suggestions for “unique” career paths (i.e., ones that you could have pursued after college, with half the debt load). [U.S. News]

* Not such a great alternative fee arrangement. A prosecutor turned solo practitioner is going to jail after accepting oxycodone pills as payment from a police informant. [Tampa Bay Times]

Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert’s Bonus Is Contingent On Something That Sure Sounds Like Billable Hours

By Elie Mystal

We’re still catching up on bonus news that broke over the holidays. Remember, if we missed your firm, please let us know at tips@abovethelaw.com.

Just after Christmas, Dechert announced its 2011 end-of-year bonuses. I guess you’d call it a “match” of the Cleary Gottlieb scale. Dechert is paying a pro-rated bonus to first-year associates and has a top payment of $42,500 for very senior associates.

But Dechert isn’t a lockstep firm. You have to meet a requirement in order to get the bonus. That requirement looks very much like an hours requirement, but Dechert doesn’t want you (or its clients) to think that they have an hours requirement — so they have some kind of nebulous performance requirement that can most easily be defined with reference to hours.

Oh, and they’ll dock you if you didn’t input your time, on time, throughout the year….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert’s Bonus Is Contingent On Something That Sure Sounds Like Billable Hours”

Morning Docket: 11.30.11

By Staci Zaretsky

* Facebook settled with the FTC over its privacy violations. Mark Zuckerberg will be adding a “dislike” button to the site so he has an appropriate way to deal with this. [National Law Journal]

* The lawsuit seeking to overturn gay marriage in New York will proceed. Eric Schneiderman just got disinvited from more holiday parties than he can even count. [New York Times]

* On appeal, Dechert will get to walk away from the Dreier drama without losing a single dime, but not if Marc Kasowitz has anything to do with it. [New York Law Journal]

* Herman Cain’s defamation lawyer, Lin Wood, is apparently living on a very nice planet where “guilt by accusation” isn’t already the norm in the realm of politics. [Washington Post]

* What’s with all of the child predator attorneys flocking to New Jersey? Solo practitioner Tobin Nilsen got 12 years for trying to have sex with a 7-year-old girl. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert Announces Spring Bonuses

By David Lat

There’s lots of good news these days over at Dechert. For example, as we mentioned last week, the firm is launching a new Los Angeles office, built around a group of lateral partners lured over from Orrick.

This morning brings good news for Dechert associates and counsel as well. The firm just announced Cravath-level spring bonuses, to be paid to qualifying associates. We discuss the qualifications and reprint the full memo below.

Although Dechert is now a major international firm, it’s still associated in many people’s minds with Philadelphia, where it got its start. Does Dechert’s spring bonus announcement place pressure on firms that are headquarted in Philly or have significant presences in the City of Brotherly Love?

By the way, it appears that we never reported on Dechert’s 2010 year-end bonuses, which were announced in early February 2011. We discuss them as well, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert Announces Spring Bonuses”

Tropical Depression: The Latest in ‘Clerkship Lit’

By David Lat

Move over, chick lit. Make way for “clerk lit”!

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a number of novels focused on the clerkship, a professional rite of passage for many a prestige-obsessed young lawyer. In these books, plucky law-clerk protagonists have tried to do justice while also holding on to their jobs (and their sanity, and even their lives).

One of the first was The Tenth Justice (1998), a thriller by Brad Meltzer that went on to become a bestseller. More recent examples of “clerk lit” include The Law Clerk (2007), by Scott Douglas Gerber, and Chambermaid (2007), by Saira Rao. (Rao’s buzz-generating book, which generated controversy because it was seen as based heavily on her clerkship for the notoriously difficult Judge Dolores Sloviter (3d Cir.), was discussed extensively in Above the Law’s pages.)

Today we bring you news of a new novel featuring a law clerk protagonist: Tropical Depression, by Arin Greenwood. It tells the story of Nina Barker, a neurotic young lawyer toiling away at a large New York law firm, who decides — after losing her job and her boyfriend — to leave it all behind, by accepting a clerkship with the chief justice of a faraway tropical island.

Let’s learn more about Tropical Depression and its author, Arin Greenwood — who, like her protagonist, graduated from a top law school and worked at a leading law firm, before accepting a clerkship on a remote Pacific island….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Tropical Depression: The Latest in ‘Clerkship Lit’”

Non-Sequiturs: 12.21.10

By David Lat

Hal Turner: This blogger must go to prison.

* Professor Paul Caron has taken the data gathered by Princeton Review and come up with new law school rankings. Which school comes out on top? (Stanford is #2.) [TaxProf Blog]

* Are business students better than law students at making clever musical parody videos? Check out “Those CBS Girls” (Columbia Business School girls), set to the tune of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” (sic). [Dealbreaker]

* Hal Turner, the New Jersey right-wing blogger / shock jock who blogged “these judges must die,” has been sentenced. How much time did he get? [Huffington Post]

* Congratulations to the fabulous Judge Leslie Kobayashi, who was recently confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii (along with other Obama judicial nominees confirmed to various courts around the country). [angry asian man; Associated Press]

* When non-whites play golf, bad things happen. [ESPN]

* The juicy lawsuit filed by Ariel Ayanna against Dechert got lost in the bonus news shuffle around here. But here are some thoughts from Jane Genova. [Law and More]

Inside Straight: Business Development (Part 3)

By Mark Herrmann

Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Inside Straight, Above the Law’s new column for in-house counsel, written by Mark Herrmann.

Is blogging a useful business development tool?

The folks who sell blogging platforms to lawyers say that blogging is the route to riches. But bloggers themselves are far less certain whether blogging actually generates business. What’s the truth?

Let me start with my personal experience; I’ll conclude with a thesis. The personal experience is just the facts — what I did as a blogger, how successful the blog was, and how, if at all, I profited from the experience. (I’ve previously recited parts of this story in both the print media and elsewhere. I’ll try to add a few new thoughts here.)

What did I do as a blogger? For three years — from October 2006 through December 2009 — while I was a partner at Jones Day, I co-hosted the Drug and Device Law Blog with Jim Beck, of Dechert. We wrote almost exclusively about the defense of pharmaceutical and medical device product liability cases. We affirmatively chose to have the blog co-hosted by partners at two different firms, for two reasons….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Inside Straight: Business Development (Part 3)”

Quote of the Day: Happy Thanksgiving, Counselors

By David Lat

I realize some readers may be unemployed and other lawyers are not happy in their jobs. You still have plenty of reasons to give thanks for what you do have.

Not everyone has the opportunities to go to college and law school, and not everyone possesses the abilities to read, to argue, to counsel and to negotiate. While not all of us are millionaires, most of us are comfortable, and we should not take our comforts, or our health and welfare, for granted.

– Molly Peckman, director of associate development at Dechert, in an article for The Legal Intelligencer (gavel bang: ABA Journal).

The Estate of Ms. Smith Goes to Washington (Again)

By David Lat

Anna Nicole Smith: her candle burned out long before her legend ever did. And the great beauty’s legend continues to grow, over three years after her untimely death in February 2007, as litigation involving her estate contributes to the development of a rich body of law regarding bankruptcy and probate law — in a tribunal no less distinguished than the Supreme Court of the United States.

Over at USA Today, Joan Biskupic has this report:

The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear an appeal from the estate of Anna Nicole Smith, the late Playboy model and TV reality-show star, in the decades-old dispute over an inheritance from her tycoon husband.

The action, involving a sensational set of characters in an otherwise dry case at the intersection of probate and bankruptcy law, came on a day of varied court business that included acceptance of 14 new cases for the 2010-2011 term that officially begins Monday.

Sounds scintillating. Let’s get all up in Anna Nicole’s business, shall we?

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “The Estate of Ms. Smith Goes to Washington (Again)”

Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 41 – 60 (2011)

By Kashmir Hill

We’re doing our annual march through the Vault prestige rankings, to give ATL readers the opportunity to have their say about perks and pitfalls at these firms. If your firm actually let you swap your Blackberry for your iPhone, brag here. Or if your firm has such a strong stench that it makes you nauseous, vent here.

We’ve been doing open threads in batches of ten, but now we’re going to pick up the pace. Here are the Vault #41 – 60. This is when the prestige list gets a little more geographically diverse, with firms based in Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Palo Alto and even Pittsburgh:

41. Winston & Strawn
42. Baker Botts
43. Jenner & Block
44. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
45. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
46. Proskauer Rose
47 (tie). Dewey & LeBoeuf
47 (tie). King & Spalding
48. Goodwin Procter
49. Baker & McKenzie
50. Fulbright & Jaworski
51. Vinson & Elkins
52. McDermott Will & Emery
53. DLA Piper
54. Morgan Lewis & Bockius
55. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
56. Bingham McCutchen LLP
57. Dechert LLP
58. Cooley LLP
59. K&L Gates LLP
60. Alston & Bird LLP

We took a spin through their Vault rankings and awarded superlatives, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 41 – 60 (2011)”

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Best of Spring

By Laurie Lin

champagne glasses small.jpgYes, we’ve been gone. Where we’ve been — poetry workshop, rehab, hiking the Appalachian Trail? — doesn’t matter. What matters is that we’re back, and our team of interns has diligently kept track of the nuptial triumphs and travesties that have occurred in our absence. We’ve identified the very best of the best couples from this spring, and hereby present the top five pairings for your edification and enrichment:

1. Monica Youn and Whitney Armstrong
2. Jennifer Ku and Peter Rubin
3. Vikeena Bonett and Matthew Wolfe
4. Brian Distelberg and Ryan McAuliffe
5. Naomi Seiler and Eric Columbus

Feast your eyes on these prestigious couples’ pictures and bios, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Best of Spring”

New Managing Partners Bringing New Blood to Biglaw
Leadership changes at Baker & McKenzie, Dechert.

By Elie Mystal

Over the last 24 hours, there have been some managing partner shake-ups at some notable large law firms. Let’s tackle the news in Vault order. First up: Baker & McKenzie.

The firm has gone international to find its next managing partner. The WSJ Law Blog reports:

[I]f anyone had any doubts about the firm’s commitment to its international presence, consider this: It recently elected São Paulo partner Eduardo Leite as the next chairman of the firm’s eight-person executive committee…

Leite represents the firm’s first Latin American chair. And we can’t think of any other U.S.-based law firm that’s picked someone based in Latin America to lead it.

Am Law has a great quote about Leite…

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “New Managing Partners Bringing New Blood to Biglaw
Leadership changes at Baker & McKenzie, Dechert.“

Breaking: Ninth Circuit Stiffs Anna Nicole Smith’s Estate

By Kashmir Hill

anna nicole smith.jpgDespite her death back in February 2007, Anna Nicole Smith (aka Vickie Lynn Marshall) continues to make headlines. From the Ninth Circuit comes bad news for her former lawyer (and lover) Howard K. Stern, and her daughter, Daniellynn. From E! Online:

[A court] said today that the estate of Anna Nicole Smith is not entitled to the $300 million-plus judgment previously awarded from her late oil tycoon hubby’s billion-dollar estate.

The court battle over Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall II’s millions has been ongoing since 1995.

You can download the opinion from the Ninth Circuit here [PDF]. You’ll see a familiar name on the list of counsel.

Kathleen Sullivan, new name partner at Quinn Emanuel, filed an amicus brief in the case for the Washington Legal Foundation, arguing in support of the decision by the Texas probate court that originally denied Smith’s claim to Marshall’s $1.6 billion fortune.

This could make for an appropriate last act in the forthcoming Anna Nicole Smith opera.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Dechert partner G. Eric Brunstad, the veteran Supreme Court litigator who represented the victorious estate of Pierce Marshall in this case. (Brunstad was also Lat’s bankruptcy law professor at Yale.)

Remember All Those Millions? Anna Nicole’s Estate Can Kiss ‘Em Bye-Bye [E! Online]
SF Appeals Court Denies Anna Nicole Smith Estate’s Claim To Millions [KTVU]
In re: VICKIE LYNN MARSHALL, Debtor. ELAINE T. MARSHALL v. HOWARD K. STERN
[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]

Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert Matches, Cuts Salaries in the Boondocks

By Elie Mystal

2009 Associate bonus watch above the law.JPGOn Monday, Dechert made its 2009 bonus announcement. It’s a match of the Cravath scale. The Legal Intelligencer reports:

Dechert’s bonuses for 2009, though lower than those paid out for 2008, are in line with what market-setting Cravath Swaine & Moore announced in November.
In a memo obtained by The Legal Intelligencer, Chairman Barton J. Winokur told associates the class of 2008 would receive $7,500, the class of 2007 would get $10,000, the class of 2006 would receive $15,000, the class of 2005 would be paid $20,000, the class of 2004 would get $25,000 and the class of 2003 and more senior associates would receive $30,000.

And just for good measure, Dechert will pay for a super bonus to a few lucky associates:

According to the memo, associates with “exceptional performance” will receive bonuses up to $25,000 above the outlined grid “and in a couple of truly extraordinary circumstances even more.”

These may not be Wachtell Lipton bonuses, but I’m sure whoever receives Dechert’s largesse will not complain.
The firm also announced that it would make raises — for the most part.
However, a couple of Dechert offices will be taking a huge salary cut.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert Matches, Cuts Salaries in the Boondocks”

Morning Docket 12.22.09

By Kashmir Hill

the 2000s decade.jpg* The decade’s 25 biggest legal stories. [National Law Journal]
* A former Fried Frank litigation associate, Julie Kamps, who previously filed a employment discrimination claim, is now filing a lawsuit against the firm, alleging sexual harassment by a female partner and discrimination because she is gay. She’s suing for $50 million and partnership. If granted the latter, that could be awkward. [AmLaw Daily]
* Hedge fund Fortress Investment Group sues Dechert. And it’s Marc Dreier’s fault. [Wall Street Journal via ABA Journal]
* A benchslap for California AG Jerry Brown’s office from the Ninth Circuit. [San Francisco Chronicle]
* An interview with Mark Herrmann, formerly of Drug and Device Law, about lawyerly blogging. [Chicago Tribune]
* Being forced to remain male is cruel and unusual punishment? [Associated Press]

Nationwide No Offer Watch: McGuireWoods Does the Wave

By David Lat

McGuire Woods logo.jpgAlthough November is just around the corner, some 2009 summer associates are still learning about their fates. As one might expect given how late it is in the recruiting season, the news that comes around now isn’t always the happiest.
Above the Law has received reports that summer associates from McGuireWoods are now hearing back about offers. The interesting part is that the firm has apparently decided to make offers in waves, i.e., on a rolling basis.
One tipster tells us that approximately 11 out of 48 summers have received offers of full-time employment — thus far. The rest haven’t been rejected; rather, they’ve been placed on what amounts to a waitlist. Depending on how things unfold over the coming weeks and months, they might get offers — or they might not.
This “hiring in waves” approach is effectively what Dechert did. The firm made offers to about half of its summer class, but told the other half that they’d hear about offers in January 2010.
Comment from a source at the firm, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Nationwide No Offer Watch: McGuireWoods Does the Wave”

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 51 – 60 (2010)

By Elie Mystal

comparing.jpgWe’re now into the back half of the brand new Vault law firm rankings. Just like last year, we worry about a proliferation of “TTT” accusations in the comment threads. But such terms of art can miss the positives of many of the firms in this section of the Vault rankings. Here’s the list:

51. Fulbright & Jaworski
52. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
53. Morgan Lewis & Bockius
54. McDermott Will & Emery
55. Alston & Bird
56. Bingham McCutchen
57. Fish & Richardson
58. Dechert
59. Greenberg Traurig
60. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft

We have already extensively talked about the Morgan Lewis situation. Let’s move on to other firms after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 51 – 60 (2010)”

Nationwide No Offer Watch: Is Dechert Trying to ‘Trade-Up’ Its Summer Class?

By Elie Mystal

Dechert logo.JPGLet’s say you leased a $25,000 car with an option to buy it a few months later. But when your option matured, you realized that automobiles previously priced at $50,000 were available for what you would have to pay for your $25,000 car. Wouldn’t you at least go back to the showroom and take a look around?
According to some Dechert summer associates, that is essentially what Dechert is doing to its summer class. As we understand it, Dechert has made offers to half of its summer class. But it told the other half of the class that they’ll have to wait until January 2010 before the firm even decides if it will give them offers. January!
In the meantime, Dechert is one of the few firms we know of that is going full speed ahead with 3L recruiting. So Dechert looks to be interested in hiring some 3Ls for its next class of incoming associates, before it even tells all of its 2009 summer associates where they stand with the firm.
I know, nobody is “entitled” to a job. But is it reasonable for a firm to treat its summers like fungible commodities? To quote the late Charlton Heston: “It’s people! Soylent Green is made out of people.”
Tipsters who summered at Dechert reported that the firm’s reason for delaying their offer decision until January was “purely economic.” But if that is the case, then why is the firm looking to hire additional people for the same incoming class?
Dechert summer associates weigh in after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Nationwide No Offer Watch: Is Dechert Trying to ‘Trade-Up’ Its Summer Class?”

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Layoffs Weeks in the Making Finally Come to Dechert

By Elie Mystal

Dechert logo.JPGDechert’s stealthiness when it comes to layoffs have been well documented in these pages. But it has been an open secret around the firm that another round of layoffs were coming. Above the Law has spoken to sources that have been talking about Dechert’s impending layoffs for nearly a month.
Today, the ax is finally falling. We don’t have official numbers (Dechert has ignored our numerous requests for comment), but we have information suggesting that around 25 associates are being let go today. In addition to the associates, other tipsters report that “a bunch” of paralegals have been laid off, as well as some staff attorneys and legal secretaries.
Sources report that the pain is being spread between Dechert’s Mass Torts and Product Liability group (about a dozen attorneys) and its general litigation practice (another dozen or so attorneys).
We also understand that the vast majority of cuts affected 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year lawyers.
Today’s moves are the culmination of weeks of planning at Dechert.
More details after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Layoffs Weeks in the Making Finally Come to Dechert”

Partner of the Day: Barton Winokur Takes a $1 Million Pay Cut

By Kashmir Hill

Barton_J_Winokur above the law.jpgAs we’ve been reporting on layoffs, salary freezes and salary cuts, some disgruntled associates have suggested in the comments that partners should share more in the pain. Well, they are. In addition to PPP taking a hit due to revenue declining, de-equitizing partners now seems to be an option (and is rumored to have already happened at Jenner & Block, for example).
Barton J. Winokur, chairman and CEO of Dechert, is stepping up to the pain plate voluntarily. The firm has laid off attorneys and staff in the past few months, but firm leaders have taken a hit too. Winokur, for example, is taking a $1 million pay cut, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Winokur disclosed the self-imposed pay cut, actually a reduction in his draw from firm profits, at a super-secret gathering of big-firm leaders organized by Thomson Reuters in Pebble Beach, Calif., in late April.
Typically, there is no press at this yearly conclave. An absence of publicity ensures its near-invisibility – and the candor of law-firm leaders, which Winokur apparently supplied in abundance.
In addition to his salary cut, Winokur emphasized that other Dechert leaders had taken similar hits.

The Inquirer points out though that Winokur took home $8 million the year before. But, hey, a 12 percent pay cut is still pretty substantial. And $1 million will probably be a larger percentage of his total take home this year as it’s not likely to be as good as last year. The first fiscal quarter was an ugly one.
Law Review: A law-firm CEO cuts his own pay [Philadelphia Inquirer]