Dewey & LeBoeuf

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Dewey & LeBoeuf Starts Making Cuts

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Dewey LeBoeuf LLP logo D&L DL Above the Law blog.jpgDewey & LeBoeuf has been slowly shedding people over the past few months. The firm closed down its offices and relocated attorneys from Charlotte and San Francisco. There was some forced attrition in November. The firm announced structured finance layoffs in December. And the firm laid off a significant portion of its Los Angeles associates in January.

Today, cuts have come to NYC and D.C.

The firm is not calling these cuts “layoffs.” Instead, the firm is finishing up semi-annual performance reviews and making cuts along those lines. The firm provided ATL with this statement:

Dewey & LeBoeuf maintains a semi-annual performance review process and we are currently in our year-end cycle. We do not comment on the specific outcomes of our performance review process or individual review conversations.

Some explanation about the Dewey & LeBoeuf review system, plus thoughts from tipsters, after the jump.

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Dewey & LeBoeuf Leaves San Francisco

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Dewey logo.JPGSan Francisco is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Neither would Dewey & LeBoeuf. The firm just consolidated its San Francisco office into its Palo Alto office. A firm statement went out this morning:

Dewey & LeBoeuf has decided to centralize its Bay Area presence by relocating the lawyers and staff in its San Francisco office to its Silicon Valley office.

If you had to choose between the still thriving tech sector or the whatever the hell is left in San Francisco, it would be a pretty easy decision.

A tipster reported last week that this move isn’t a huge upheaval for the firm:

The office has been in steady decline for several years, and has shrunk from more than 40 attorneys to less than 20.

All attorneys and staff in the San Francisco office will be able to move over to Palo Alto. For most people, “commuting” is not going to be a big deal given the general job market.

Read the full Dewey statement after the jump.

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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Dewey & LeBoeuf Parts Ways With L.A. Associates

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Dewey logo.JPGMore bad news coming out of California this evening, this time from Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Multiple tipsters tell us that the firm laid off 8 associates from its Los Angeles office. As one tipster puts it:

The attrition at Dewey & LeBoeuf continued yesterday as the firm laid off almost 30% of the associate corps in its Los Angeles office. Eight attorneys were let go, ranging from newly minted second years to more senior associates.

Our figures suggest that 30% is a little bit high, but eight associates does represent a significant chunk of Dewey’s L.A. associate presence.

A firm spokesperson confirmed that eight associates were no longer with the firm.

While our Dewey sources in New York are worried that their office might be next, it’s worth noting that Dewey already let go of 11 New York associates at the beginning of December. The worst might be over.

Dewey has not frozen salaries for the associates that remain.

These are the kinds of choices that Biglaw is facing right now, freeze salaries, fire associates, or come up with other ways of spreading the economic pain around.

Good luck to the recently unemployed.

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Dewey & LeBoeuf Lays Off 12 Associates

Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

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GM Hires Weil (and Ex-Weil Partner) for Possible Bankruptcy Case

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Weil.gifSo should Weil Gotshal associates be rooting against a government bailout of GM and the other big automakers?

GM bankruptcy –> more fees for Weil –> bigger bonuses (which WGM has not yet announced)?

UPDATE (1:00 AM): As of now, it looks like the auto industry bailout talks have failed. This makes a GM bankruptcy even more likely.

But even if GM does file for Chapter 11 (or even Chapter 7), thereby generating thousands of billable hours for Weil associates, it’s unlikely that Weil will pay out Skadden-sized bonuses (although the speculation sure is fun). As noted in the comments, Weil generally follows the market, and the market has settled around Cravath.

Paying above market could create problems for Weil. As one reader previously noted, “Weil will never be a bonus leader because there is concern at the firm that it would seem unsightly by the firm’s bankruptcy clients to lead the market with bonuses.”

That concern seems warranted. As GM director George Fisher told Bloomberg last week, “We are fearful, very fearful, of a prolonged [bankruptcy] proceeding that would just destroy our brand in the marketplace and therefore that is not considered a viable option…. These Wall Street geniuses and law firms are coming up with all these solutions that make them a lot of money.”

FURTHER UPDATE: As noted in the comments, as well as the original WSJ article, GM has also retained former Weil partner Martin Bienenstock, now at Dewey & LeBoeuf, to help it become a “futuristic” automaker for the 21st century. Good luck with that.

GM Hires Advisers to Weigh a Bankruptcy Filing [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]
GM Hires Lawyer Bienenstock to Reconfigure Automaker [Bloomberg]

Earlier: If the Big Three Fall, Which Law Firms Rise?
Jones Day’s Chrysler Bankruptcy Coup
Chrysler Hires Jones Day As Bankruptcy Counsel [Dealbreaker]

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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Dewey & LeBoeuf Lays Off 12 Associates

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Dewey logo.JPGThe bad news continues to roll in, this time from Dewey & LeBoeuf. The firm has confirmed that 12 associates were let go today:

For many of the associates in our Structured Finance Practice, we have already been able to identify other opportunities elsewhere within the firm. Unfortunately, we cannot find work for everyone. Therefore, today we will eliminate 12 positions – 11 in New York and one in Los Angeles. This decision is based solely on the poor conditions in the structured finance market and is not in any way related to the performance of these associates.

Maybe firms are starting to get the message that being upfront with layoff news is preferable to stealth layoffs under the guise of performance reviews. Reed Smith stepped up to the plate yesterday, and Proskauer and now Dewey are hopefully starting the new trend towards honesty when it comes to attorney reductions.

Things are going to get better in 2009, right? I mean, at some point this has to stop.

Read Dewey’s full statement after the jump. You can see that the firm is at least doing everything they can to respect work and efforts of the 12 people they let go today.

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Associate Bonus Watch: Dewey & LeBoeuf Pulls a Half-Skadden Too

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law firm associate bonus watch 2008 biglaw bonuses.jpgAt this point, why would you pay market rate? Half-Skadden opened the door, and now other firms are crashing through like there’s a sale at Wal-Mart.

The latest predictable news comes from Dewey & LeBoeuf:

Class of 2008 — $17,500 (pro-rated)

Class of 2007 — $17,500

Class of 2006 — $20,000

Class of 2005 — $22,500

Class of 2004 — $25,000

Class of 2003 — $27,500

Class of 2002 — $30,000

Class of 2001 — $32,500

Dewey also announced bonuses for their London office. See the full U.K. scale, plus read the full U.S. bonus memo, after the jump.

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Career Alternatives for Law Firms: Film Sets?

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damages dewey leboeuf.jpgIf things are a little slow in New York law firms, perhaps they should consider starring roles in the pictures. We’ve covered movie shootings at firms before, because it seems somewhat glamorous to host the Hollywood types and to see your firm later on the big screen.

But now we’re getting news that Dewey & LeBoeuf has deigned to be a set for the little screen. From a Dewey tipster last week:

[T]hought you might be interested to hear that yesterday and today we have production crews from the tv series “Damages” in our building at 1301 Ave of the Americas filming scenes for their upcoming season. It’s quite amusing actually. Crews are on our 23rd and 43rd floors, so people are tip-toeing around and there are signs all over the place that read “Filming in Progress … please avoid the Area.”

This is the second time D&L has been used as a set. Scenes from Michael Clayton were also filmed here. Needless to say there were many star-struck associates who got a chance to see George Clooney walking the halls.

In case you don’t know about it, Damages is a legal series on FX that starts Glenn Close (aka, bunny boiler from Fatal Attraction), William Hurt and Ted Danson.

Oscar-winning film Michael Clayton and mega-wattage star George Clooney meet the standards of Biglaw prestige. Film away. But a legal series on FX?

Oh, Dewey, like Glenn Close, your acting career is on the decline.

Before Thanksgiving, we were hearing rumors of layoffs in Dewey’s New York office. Like an aging Hollywood star, going to the small screen may be an act of desperation. Filming revenues must pay the salaries of a couple of first year associates.

Earlier: Davis Polk: It Ought To Be in Pictures?

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Performance Review Attrition at Dewey & LeBoeuf

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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Performance Review Attrition at Dewey & LeBoeuf

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Dewey logo.JPGYesterday, we received a number of reports that 11 Dewey & LeBoeuf associates were fired from Dewey’s NYC office.

This is lower than the casualty rate that some have mentioned in the comments.

In fact, as we’ve mentioned before and saw earlier today, 11 associates in a firm of 1400 worldwide attorneys probably wouldn’t be termed as “layoffs” during normal times.

Of course, these are not normal times.

Dewey’s response after the jump.

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Dewey & LeBoeuf Closes Charlotte Office

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Dewey logo.JPGToday Dewey & LeBoeuf announced that they would be closing their Charlotte, North Carolina office as of December 31st.

Dewey appears to be in full contraction mode, having already announced the closing of offices in Hartford, CT; Jacksonville, FL; and Austin, TX.

According to a firm spokesperson:

As part of its continuing review of global office locations, Dewey & LeBoeuf will be closing its office in Charlotte, North Carolina. The decision has been made in part due to the economic conditions in the market, which has seen the consolidation of several major banking institutions and a challenging structured finance market. The Charlotte office, which has eight attorneys, will close on December 31, 2008.

The Charlotte market, a burgeoning center of the U.S. banking industry, continues to take hits to its legal market. Last week, Moore & Van Allen laid off around 20 staff members.

According to one tipster, the 8 Charlotte attorneys will receive a 12-week severance package.

Update (5:19): A Dewey spokesperson now confirms that there are 11 lawyers in the Charlotte office. The associates will be laid-off while the firm evaluates relocation options for the partners.

Earlier: Dewey Stay or Dewey Go? D&L Decamps from Hartford, Austin, Jacksonville

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Law Firm Olympics

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olympics beijing flag law firms.jpgJingoistic competition is fun, but why should handing out medals be the sole province of the IOC? Athletes and David Rivkin should not be the only ones getting a taste of Olympic glory.
Here at ATL, we’ve put law firms on the (imaginary) field of competition and are now ready to reveal the gold medal winners in a number of sports.
After the jump, see the winners, and weigh in on which firms would be champions in sports we did not pick for prime time.

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