Dewey Ballantine

Non-Sequiturs: 09.26.07

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* Crazy pro se lawsuit against Google, seeking $5 billion in damages, touches upon the war on terror and a Burton snowboard. And no, it wasn’t filed by Jonathan Lee Riches. [TechDirt]
* A misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals? Guess he wasn’t that good. [Denver Channel]
* Law professors get their academic gowns in a wad over the gender divide in faculty hiring. [TaxProf Blog]
* Dewey LeBoeuf? Already done it. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Debevoise & Plimpton lords it over the competition. [Times of London]

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Dewey & LeBoeuf: More on the Merger

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Please accept our apologies. After breaking the story on Friday afternoon, we kinda dropped the ball on the merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb.
We’ll write more about this transaction later. Sadly, we have to head offline for a bit. But in the meantime, here’s an open thread for people to discuss the merger.
We’ll get the ball rolling with a press-release-type statement that was sent to DB interviewees:

After receiving a callback from Dewey, the recruiting department sent me and all similarly-situated recruits the heads up: The new firm, to be dubbed “Dewey & LeBoeuf,” is set to roll out, “subject to approval by the partners in both firms.”

Below is the email that I was sent. I apologize if you’ve already been notified.

The email, from Dewey Ballantine partner Henry Ricardo, appears after the jump.

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Law Firm Merger Mania: Dewey LeBoeuf? (You Heard It Here First)

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People in the offices of both Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb have been gossiping about a possible merger between their firms.
Here’s some circumstantial evidence in support of the rumors. If you go to Whois.Net and enter the domain name DeweyLeBoeuf.com, you get this info:
Dewey Ballantine 2 LeBoeuf Lamb Greene MacRae Above the Law blog.jpg
We have a call and an email in to Michael Groll. We’ll let you know if and when we hear back from him.
Update: Might this be a practical joke, as one commenter suggests? Quite possibly. That’s why we’ve reached out to Mr. Groll for comment.
Further Update (4:45 PM): No, this is the real deal. About an hour after our post went up, the WSJ Law Blog chimed in with this write-up: “LeBoeuf Lamb and Dewey Ballantine are in merger talks, with an announcement of a deal expected as early as Monday, according to people familiar with the situation.”
Further Further Update (8/25/07): The New York Times has an article on the merger talks here.
More discussion, plus links, after the jump.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 31-35

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Paul Hastings Tower 2 Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.JPGWe’ve now covered over a third of the Vault 100 law firms in open threads. But that means we still have two-thirds to go (assuming we follow through to the end).
The next five firms are colorful. They include one firm that was featured in the Transformers movie, and another that used to employ a high-priced escort.
For your consideration (in Vault 100 order, prestige scores in parentheses):

31. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (6.545)
32. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (6.352)
33. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (6.343)
34. Winston & Strawn LLP (6.316)
35. Dewey Ballantine LLP (6.313)

Please gossip away in the comments. Thanks.
The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Earlier: Vault 1-5; Vault 6-10; Vault 11-15; Vault 16-20; Vault 21-25; Vault 26-30

Clerkship Bonus Watch: Dewey Ballantine

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Dewey Ballantine LLP Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgPlease welcome a new member to the $50K Club:

“Dewey Ballantine just raised its clerkship bonus. $50K for a federal clerkship or the highest court of any state.”

If you’re aware of any judicial clerkship bonus news that hasn’t previously appeared here, please email us (subject line: “Clerkship Bonus”).
In addition, if you’re planning to apply for a clerkship next month, we reiterate our earlier plug for the Clerkship Notification Blog.

One Summer Associate You Definitely Want To Take To Lunch

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In the next few weeks, summer associates will be arriving at large law firms around the country. And they’ll get treated to lavish, three-hour lunches, paid for by Biglaw shops that want to win them back on a permanent basis.
But the summer lunches may be a trifle rushed over at Dewey Ballantine. Here’s a rumor (unconfirmed) that’s making the rounds:

The word on the street is that Dewey Ballantine announced today that summer activities/lunches/etc. won’t count towards the billable hours minimum of 2000 for a bonus (cliff effect: 1999 you get nothing, 2000 you get market).

This sounds like a recipe for recruiting suicide. Do most firms with minimums exclude summer associate activities from the total? I like lunch at Nobu57and karaoke as much as the next guy, but I’m not giving up $40,000 for it.

We see our tipster’s point. But we think that many (if not most) firms don’t count such activities towards billable minimums. Did Dewey count them in previous years, as this rumor implies?
Update: We are getting some vague rumblings from sources that the Dewey rumor above is incorrect (although they won’t spell out how). We warned you to take this gossip as unconfirmed. Anyway, the real point of this post is what appears below…
In any event, our correspondent isn’t actually at Dewey, whose Los Angeles office will be hosting this comely young law student (as profiled in Stuff Magazine):
Dewey Ballantine Stuff Magazine hottie 2.jpg
A quasi-racy picture, after the jump.

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Skaddenfreude: Root Canal Open Thread

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100 dollar bill Above the Law Above the Law law firm salary legal blog legal tabloid Above the Law.JPGWe have to step away from the computer for a while for a dental appointment. We’d rather be covering associate pay raise developments than undergoing a root canal, but we sadly don’t have much choice in the matter.
Please mention the latest associate base salary news in the comments to this post. We’ll check them out when we get back. Thanks.
P.S. Here’s the Dewey memo from yesterday:
Dewey Ballantine base salary pay raise memo.jpg
Earlier: Previous announcements of law firm associate salary increases (scroll down through “Skaddenfreude” archives)

Skaddenfreude: Dewey Ballantine and Fried Frank, Confirmed

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100 dollar bill Above the Law Above the Law law firm salary legal blog legal tabloid Above the Law.JPGConsider the rumors about Dewey Ballantine and Fried Frank joining in the associate pay raise fun to be confirmed. We’ve been in touch with multiple sources at both shops.
We’re working on getting a copy of the DB memo. Here is the text of the Fried Frank announcement (which reportedly went out by email at 2:11 PM today):
FRIED FRANK
To: All DC and New York Associates and Special Counsel
cc: All Partners
From: Valerie Jacob, Justin Spendlove
We are pleased to announce an increase to the associate base salary scale as follows:
Class Year Adjusted Base Salary
2006 $160,000
2005 $170,000
2004 $185,000
2003 $210,000
2002 $230,000
2001 $250,000
2000 $265,000
1999 $280,000
1998 $290,000
This increase is retroactive to January 1, 2007, and will be reflected in the February 9, 2007 payroll. Bonuses for 2007 will be determined at year-end, as usual.
Base salaries and bonuses for Special Counsel will be determined on an individual basis in the Spring, as usual.
The Firm’s continued success depends upon the support and contribution of all our associates. We are very appreciative of the efforts and hard work of all our attorneys during this fiscal year and we look forward to continued success next year.
******************************
As several of you noted in the comments, news of a pay raise sounds even sweeter when it comes from a man named “Justin Spendlove.”
Earlier: Previous announcements of law firm associate salary increases (scroll down through “Skaddenfreude” archives)

ATL Week in Review: January 15 – 19

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Aaron Charney headshot Aaron B Charney Aaron Brett Charney Above the Law Above the Law Above the Law ATL.JPG* Last Tuesday, a civil action captioned Aaron Brett Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP was filed in New York Supreme Court — and the world of Biglaw has never been the same ever since. Click here to access the complete archives of our Aaron Charney coverage.
* Of course, Sullivan & Cromwell partners aren’t the only bosses who are jerks challenging (allegedly).
* Don’t forget the Divine Miss C, Shanetta Cutlar, whose delicious reign continues over at the Justice Department’s Special Litigation Section.
Compared to Aaron Charney and Shanetta Cutlar, other topics pale by comparison. But here are other highlights from the past week in legal news:
* Charles “Cully” Stimson apologizes for ranking on Gitmo lawyers.
* In New Orleans, trials get rescheduled for football.
* Barry Ostrager of Simpson Thacher, the renowned business litigator, has poor bathroom manners (or aim).
* The justices of the Michigan Supreme Court just can’t stop squabbling.
* Now we know the real reason — or rather, the 25 million reasons — that the Dewey Ballantine / Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe merger was scuttled.
* Third Circuit Judge Marjorie Rendell, who also serves as the First Lady of Pennsylvania, sings a duet with Jon Bon Jovi. We don’t know whether to be delighted or frightened.

Non-Sequiturs: 1.19.07

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* Too soon, Daily Princetonian, too soon. And what’s more, you budding SNL-writers are so completely unfunny that you might consider law school instead. Dewey Ballantine would probably hire you. [IvyGate Blog]
* Retiree sick of junk mail claims that (literal) poo-slinging is constitutionally protected. [AP via Forbes]
* If only Jason were just a tad younger, they’d be just another couple of happy, teenage parents. [Sheboygan Press]
* But we’ll always have YouTube. [ValleyWag]
* Want to do more than just blog? Ernie is looking for a freelance legal researcher. Sounds like a great gig if you like that kind of thing. (I obviously don’t, or I wouldn’t be putting this out for all of you to see.) [Ernie the Attorney]

Musical Chairs: 01.17.07

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musical chairs 2 Above the Law legal blog above the law legal tabloid above the law legal gossip site.GIFOn the Way Out:
* The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California (San Francisco), Kevin Ryan, is stepping down. He cited “personal and professional reasons” for his departure.

(Does this mean that ATL favorite Eumi Choi might be placed in charge of the office for a while, even if only in an acting capacity? We hope so.)

Judicial Promotion:
* In New York, Brooklyn Civil Term Administrative Justice Theodore T. Jones Jr. has been nominated by Attorney General Governor Eliot Spitzer to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

Lateral Moves:
* Over in London, Camille Abousleiman and Louise Roman Bernstein, described by the WSJ Law Blog as “capital-markets stars,” are leaving the troubled Dewey Ballantine for LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae.
* Litigator Kristan Peters, to Dorsey & Whitney, from Fulbright & Jaworski.

New Partners:
* Akin Gump: Eighteen new partners. Names here.
* Dow Lohnes: M&A and corporate lawyer Matthew Block (described to us as “a hard worker” and “a great guy”).

Spitzer Names Jones to Court of Appeals [New York Law Journal via Law.com]
NY Lawyers Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Dow Lohnes Announces New Partner Matthew Block [Dow Lohnes]
Ryan Will Leave His Job In San Francisco [WSJ Law Blog]
Dewey Defections Across the Pond [WSJ Law Blog]

The Dewy Orifice: A Post-Mortem

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When Harry Met Sally 3 Above the Law Orgasm.JPGAfter the much ballyhooed merger between Dewey Ballantine and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe fell apart, many theories were bandied about as to why the deal disintegrated. See, e.g., here.
Now, from a British legal publication, The Lawyer, we get this fascinating report:

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe chairman Ralph Baxter demanded a guaranteed $25m (£12.92m) payout over five years, had the proposed merger with Dewey Ballantine gone through, The Lawyer can reveal.

Orrick’s management drafted an employment agreement for Baxter and Dewey chairman Mort Pierce to sign, which would have committed both partners to the newly merged firm for five years.

Pierce is understood to have refused to sign, prompted by the dissatisfaction of a number of Dewey partners with the terms of the agreement.

The significant remuneration for a non-fee-earning chairman is thought to have contributed to Dewey’s decision to walk away from the merger with Orrick.

Pierce is known to be the highest earner at Dewey, earning an extra $3m (£1.54m) in one year in bonuses alone. But he is also the highest biller, averaging more than 3,000 chargeable hours a year.

Balking at Ralph Baxter’s rich demand is understandable. But in hindsight, one can’t help wonder whether Dewey shouldn’t have just bent over and grabbed its proverbial socks. The DB partners who have walked out the door in the past few weeks probably took with them books of business totalling well over Baxter’s concededly greedy demand.
But the $25 million wasn’t the end of it. Check this out:

For Dewey, the combination of Baxter’s personal demands, which also included unlimited first-class air travel for himself and at least one family member, and the perceived imbalance in terms of post-merger management were the final straw in scuppering a deal that could have produced a $1bn (£514.5m)-turnover firm, which could have been in the global top 10.

Quips an amused tipster: “I laughed when I saw Baxter’s personal demand of unlimited first class travel for him + 1.
Seriously, does he think he’s Gnarls Barkley or what?”
Revealed: Baxter killed Dewey-Orrick merger [TheLawyer.com]