As we finish off the Vault top 50, we look at some firms went through some tough layoffs.

Here’s the list:

41. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
42. Baker & McKenzie
43. Goodwin Procter
44. DLA Piper
45. King & Spalding
46. Jenner & Block
47. Dewey & LeBoeuf
48. Proskauer Rose
49. Vinson & Elkins
50. Irell & Manella

It might not look like it, but there is a lot of carnage on this list. Orrick is down four spots. Proskauer is down four spots. King & Spalding is down 3 spots.

And many of the firms here that are marginally up or holding steady still went through significant layoffs.

After the jump, Law Shucks offers some stats.

On Monday, we tossed out a blind item about future layoffs at a Manhattan law firm, mentioned in the Washington Post as a client of the Five O’Clock Club, an outplacement firm. On Tuesday, with the help of Law Shucks, we narrowed down the list of suspects.

We’re happy to report that we can advance the ball on this. Three firms should be cleared of suspicion:

1. Dewey & LeBoeuf: A spokesperson from D&L stated that it is not the firm in question and has no layoff plans.

2. Schulte Roth & Zabel: A spokesperson from SRZ stated that it is not the firm in question and has not hired a layoff consultant or outplacement consultant.

3. White & Case: A reader pointed out to us that White & Case is listed as a Five O’Clock Club client (PDF). [Update: Looks like the client list has been removed, but we downloaded it; check it out here.]

This caused us to wonder if White & Case might be the firm at issue. But White & Case denies it.

* Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally found a job! He’s going to terrorize the students at Texas Tech. [Houston Chronicle]

* Dewey & LeBoeuf snags three top tech lawyers from Cooley Godward. The three dealmakers wanted to make a splash with their switch, giving the Times DealBook juicy quotes like, “[W]e’re M.&A. lawyers, and we know how to do due diligence. And we believe Dewey offered a great opportunity.” [New York Times]

* The cold, dead hand of Heller Ehrman may rise from the grave to serve papers to Covington & Burling. [The Recorder]

* Lindsay Lohan’s fake tanning spray may not be an original creation. [Courthouse News Service]

* The lawsuits are crashing in after last month’s D.C. Metro accident. [DCist]

* Sarah Palin’s personal lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, responds! [WSJ Washington Wire]

Associates at Dewey & LeBoeuf just left a firm wide meeting. Sources report that firm management was very frank with associates about the firm’s financial numbers and future health of the firm.

But the headline news is that Dewey & LeBoeuf has decided to join Skadden (and Shearman & Sterling) in offering a year-long deferral to all of its associates. The program (which is called DL Pursuits) is more similar to Skadden’s Sidebar than the initiative announced by S&S this morning.

Here are the basic facts: one year deferral to do whatever you want, 1/3rd of your D&L salary, full medical benefits, $1,000 in student loan repayment, and bar fees. And if you can get a paying job while you are taking time off from the firm, you still get the 1/3rd salary stipend.

The reasons for the program are made clear in the Dewey’s firm wide memo:

After an encouraging first quarter, the Firm is optimistic about its long-term prospects, despite the challenges that continue to confront the legal community, our clients and the global economy. Nevertheless, the Firm and its peers have seen reduced demand for legal services in recent months and experienced excess capacity for their short-term needs, particularly in the junior classes. To address these issues, the Firm is pleased to introduce a new program, entitled “DL Pursuits,” for its US counsel and associates. With DL Pursuits, attorneys in good standing will have the opportunity to leave the Firm for an extended period to pursue other interests, with the option to return to the Firm at the end of that time.

The demand for junior associates just isn’t there right now. While Pursuits is open to all associates, current first years at Dewey are eligible to take 18 months off, instead of just 12. This first year class is the last class that was recruited the Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb independently, before the merger. Going forward, class sizes should be more tailored to the single entity.

We have some additional details and the full memo after the jump.

* Starwood Hotels sued Hilton Hotels yesterday, accusing its rival of using “stolen confidential Starwood documents” to develop a new chain of lux hotels. Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal reports that Hilton’s in-house legal team unknowingly came across the boxes of stolen documents while preparing for a different case. Since the documents were unrelated to the case, the lawyers sent them back to Starwood in an “abundance of caution,” not realizing they were part of a devious corporate espionage plot. Whoops. [Wall Street Journal (subscription) and USA Today]

* Nationwide Same Sex Marriage Watch: New York Governor David Paterson wants New York to join the list of states with wedding bell rights for all. [New York Times]

* The Pirate Bay crew were found guilty in Sweden of violating copyright law for the file-sharing services their site provides. [New York Times]

* WilmerHale sends yet another attorney from its ranks over into the open arms of Obama. Partner Stephen Preston, who spent the Clinton years at the Pentagon and the DOJ, will be nominated to be the CIA’s general counsel. [BLT/Legal Times]

* Nationwide Bankruptcy Deal Watch: Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is pressuring the MGM Mirage to fold its hand and file for bankruptcy. Earlier reports suggested Dewey & LeBoeuf would be the firm to help reshuffle those cards. [Wall Street Journal (subscription) and Associated Press]

* In other bankruptcy news, Weil and Kirkland are teaming up to help General Growth become General Restructuring. [Bankruptcy Beat/Wall Street Journal]

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.

The American Lawyer reports that Dewey & LeBoeuf is taking money out of the pockets of under performing partners:

Dewey & LeBoeuf has confirmed that 66 partners — about one in five of the firm’s 350 partners — have seen their compensation reduced by as much as 80 percent over the past 15 months. The reductions are meant to weed out less-productive partners, firm Chairman Steven Davis tells The Am Law Daily.

According to the report, some Dewey partners are now taking draws as little as $10,000 a month. That’s good money for a lot of people, but for a partner in a major American law firm? There are Dewey partners that are making less money than first year associates.

Both Davis and executive director Stephen DiCarmine characterize the recent actions as an intensification of the firm’s long-term strategy of replacing poor performers with higher-producing laterals.

AmLaw has more bad news for D&L partners, after the jump.

Dewey & LeBoeufOn Friday, we told you that Dewey & LeBoeuf was conducting performance review layoffs throughout its U.S. offices. That process is still on-going. While the firm continues to cut attorneys for performance, Dewey is acknowledging that it is cutting staff because of the economy.

An announcement went out today about significant staff layoffs at the firm:

The state of the global economy has created unprecedented challenges for law firms and their clients. We do not believe that a major improvement in the economy is likely in the near term. In order to maintain a strong, dynamic and competitive business, we cannot refrain from responding to these challenges. To this end, the firm has been reviewing its operations and we have already taken a number of steps to manage our expenses across the firm. We are now taking additional measures to ensure that the firm is well positioned to weather the economic downturn.

The firm has carried out a detailed assessment of its administrative staffing needs. The firm’s management has come to the difficult but necessary conclusion that we need to eliminate a significant number of administrative staff positions in offices around the world. While reductions in force are regrettable, we are committed to taking the steps necessary to address the challenges of the current business climate and to ensure our continued success.

We understand that 100 staffers will be let go.

After the jump, we check out the U.K. situation.

Dewey & 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.

San 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.

More 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

So 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]

The 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.

At 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.

If 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

Yesterday, 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.

Today 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

Jingoistic 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.

We’re back with another installment in our series of open threads on the Vault 100. This is an opportunity for insiders to sound off on their firms for the benefit of wannabe potential first-year and lateral associates.

Here are the next ten on the Vault list, with prestige scores in parentheses:

41. Baker Botts LLP (6.096)
42. King & Spalding LLP (6.066)
43. DLA Piper (6.039)
44. Baker & McKenzie (5.982)
45. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (5.976)
46. Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP (5.974)
47. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (5.941)
48. Dewey & LeBoeuf (5.924)
49. Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (5.906)
50. McDermott, Will & Emery (5.892)

The most interesting set of “notable perks” in this bunch can be found at Boies Schiller. On the upside, there is an annual trip to Jamaica for attorneys and their families — in December, no less — but on the downside, it’s a “sweatshop run by a genius.” This makes us think of David Boies as the legal profession’s Santa Claus — who likes to take the elves to Montego Bay.

We invite the curious to ask questions about these firms, and for those in-the-know to take pity.

Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads - 2009

The law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf has gotten a number of positive shout-outs in ATL. We’ve praised them for everything from their charitable contributions to their sports law practice to Denim Day (which was recently reenacted, last Friday).

But not everything at Dewey & LeBoeuf is peachy keen, it seems. Back in May, in the comments to our post about Dewey’s commendable response to humanitarian crises in China and Myanmar, there was talk of layoffs. We also heard such rumblings around that time by email:

Things aren’t looking so good here at D&L — rumors of layoffs, scaling back the summer associate program, pinching pennies every which way (no reimbursement for ABA dues, etc.).

I’ve heard about some layoffs at Dewey LeBeouf. One of my good friends was just laid off…. They’re trying to spin it as a result of the merger, but he thinks it’s that they’re overextended.

Now, a few months later — that was May, and now we’re almost to August — the rumors are surfacing again. From more recent messages we’ve received:

I heard that Dewey and Leboeuf had laid off several paralegals and staff attorneys. Have you heard anything about this?

I heard there have been multiple “outplacements” (their term) [at Dewey] in the last week… like at least five within the last week and maybe more in the corporate department (more than ten in the last couple months?). Apparently, they are getting four months’ severance.

We contacted the firm, which denied the layoff rumors and issued this statement, through a spokesperson:

[W]e conduct formal bi-annual performance evaluations for our associates to ensure that we maintain the highest quality of client service. Indeed, we are part way through a performance evaluation cycle now. In addition, throughout the year, we regularly review associate performance informally.

As you know, attrition is a feature of life for large law firms. Any departures you may have heard about are not layoffs. In fact, our associate numbers are up from last year.

Read more, after the jump.