DLA Piper

Law Firm Facebook Pages Reveal How Associates Really Feel

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Earlier this year, in one of its many format changes, Facebook forced users to make their profile info more public via Community Pages. Facebook created pages based on users’ lists of interests, jobs, and favorite things to help people find others “who share similar interests and experiences.”

So if you, for example, listed “document review” as something you like, you’d be a member of this page. And maybe this page too.

One issue discussed in some circles was the potential trademark violation in Facebook’s automatically creating and populating Community pages for businesses and brands. Another issue picked up by the National Law Journal was that some of the Community Pages created aren’t very flattering to law firms.

If you listed your employment as “Slave” at Skadden Arps, for example, you’re responsible for this page:

What are some of the other interesting law firm-affiliated Community Pages on Facebook?

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Law Firm Wikipedia Wars

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On Sex and the City, Samantha was never seen scrolling through comments on news blogs to make sure her clients’ reputations weren’t being maligned. Instead, she attended fancy New York parties and talked up her roster of good-looking clients.

But SATC is dated. The work of public relations professionals has been made harder (and less glamorous) by the explosion of online news sources. We know that law firm PR folks spend a healthy amount of time monitoring the legal blogosphere to do damage control for their firms. Another place they need to watch is Wikipedia.

The crowd-source encyclopedia has become the go-to reference site for most Internetters. Society’s sages often warn people not to take everything they find in Wikipedia at face value — since the information does not necessarily come from experts and is not systematically vetted — but that advice often goes unheeded.

Because Wikipedia is such an important source of information, and so easily edited, some try to manipulate entries to give them a positive or negative spin. Lawyers at certain firms have been found guilty of this before (e.g., Wachtell). Sometimes dueling manipulation of an entry reaches the level of what Wikipedia calls an edit war — when two or more editors are continually overriding one another’s changes.

The Wikipedia gods ordered an end to the war on the page of Latham & Watkins. BLY1 noticed that the page was put on lockdown. A note from the Wikipedia war god says:

NOTE: IF YOU HAVE COME HERE TO EDIT ABOUT LAYOFFS, THINK TWICE. EDITS MUST BE FACTUALLY VERIFIABLE, AND NEUTRAL. IF YOU ARE CONNECTED TO THIS COMPANY IN ANY WAY WE ADVISE YOU *NOT* TO TOUCH IT.

Someone kept inserting references to Latham’s layoffs and how hard hit first-year associates were. That info has now been scrubbed from the page.

We decided to take a stroll though the revision history of other law firm pages to see who needs to do clean up, and who has done clean up. Cravath, for example, had a very interesting description for a short time…

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DLA Piper Ends Experiment With Low Salaries

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Back in December, DLA Piper decided to move to a merit based compensation system. Attendant to that move, the firms instituted a 10% pay cut, dropping starting salaries to $145,000. Despite widespread outrage among DLA associates, the firm repeatedly defended the move.

Other Biglaw firms that moved away from lockstep would not follow DLA down the salary rabbit hole.

Now, DLA Piper has given it up its quest to drive down associate salaries. The National Law Journal reports:

DLA Piper is raising associate pay by 10 percent, in a move that will return compensation to their levels before the economic downturn.

A memo released to attorneys on Thursday by firm leaders announced midyear pay increases in offices outside New York. DLA Piper raised salaries in New York in January to pre-recession levels of $160,000 for first-year associates.

Welcome back to the pack, DLA? Tipsters report that the firm is not quite there yet…

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Morning Docket 03.04.10

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the-hurt-locker.jpg* Good news: There’s going to be lots of in-house hiring. Bad news: It’ll probably lead to Biglaw firing. [Corporate Counsel]
* Sounds like this guy was thinking with his cock instead of his noggin. [Courthouse News Service]
* Liz Cheney attacks Eric Holder’s “Department of Jihad” for harboring terrorist sympathizers, i.e., attorneys who argued on behalf of Guantanamo detainees before the Supreme Court. [True/Slant]
* I like old people. Elie doesn’t. After we debated law firms’ mandatory retirement policies, we polled you; Elie’s position is winning with a narrow lead. Ashby Jones is on my side when it comes to law firm partners, but thinks federal judges should get booted at 85. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Early birds get the worm. Late birds get jail time? [Royal Oak Daily Tribune]
* Beware the overeager paralegal. [Boston Globe]
* Former AIG general counsel Anastasia Kelly quit after the U.S. pay czar insisted on pay limits for the financial giant. Now, she’s going to check out the merit-based model at DLA Piper. [Business Week]
* Hurt, indeed. The staff seargeant who inspired the Playboy article that inspired Hurt Locker’s screenplay has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit for misappropriation of name and likeness; invasion of privacy; breach of contract; infliction of emotional distress; fraud; and negligent misrepresentation. [The Wrap]

DLA Piper: Revenue and Profits Per Partner Down

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DLA Piper logo.jpgWe have thoroughly examined DLA Piper’s new associate compensation system. While the firm has argued that its move to merit-based compensation is something more than a paycut, many associates disagree.
But unlike some firms that have seemingly used pay cuts and associate layoffs as a way to protect partner profits, it appears that DLA partners shared the pain felt by their employees. Or at least the firm didn’t cut deep enough to generate an increase in PPP despite declining revenue. Am Law Daily reports:

DLA Piper U.S.* reports that gross revenue declined nearly 14 percent in 2009, to just over a billion dollars. Revenue per lawyer (RPL) and profits per equity partner (PPP) fell only about 5 percent, due to cuts in the firm’s lawyer ranks.
*DLA Piper is structured as a set of alliances. These results reflect only the U.S. operation.

While the numbers add more circumstantial evidence that DLA’s compensation structure represents an attempt to cut expenses, at least the firm isn’t crowing about record profits while their employees suffer.
Don’t get me wrong, the firm is still happy with itself given a difficult 2009. Statements of success after the jump.

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Update: More Law Firms Help Out Haiti

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Haiti earthquake January 2010.jpgOn Wednesday, we commended the firm of Paul Hastings for moving so quickly to support Haiti earthquake relief efforts. Since then, a number of other top law firms have pledged their support to this worthy cause.
(Okay, Rush Limbaugh questions the worthiness of the cause. But we suspect that Limbaugh’s position — like that of Pat Robertson, who blames the earthquake on Haiti’s supposed pact with the devil — is a minority view.)
The WSJ Law Blog and Am Law Daily have gathered information about what various law firms are doing to help Haiti. We’ve combined their reports with information we’ve received from our own sources, to create a more comprehensive list.
Check it out, after the jump.

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Departing DLA Piper Partners: High Rates (Not Associate Compensation) Responsible for Client’s Concerns

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DLA Piper logo.jpgWe’ve spent a lot of time discussing DLA Piper’s new compensation structure for its associates. I’ve assumed that DLA Piper’s changes have the support of DLA partners. I mean, we’ve received leaked memos from DLA partners defending the plan. But it’s wrong for me to think of partnerships as monolithic groups, especially at a firm as big as DLA. Partners don’t uniformly support every single move that leads to increased profits per partner — even when the decision is merely about keeping partner billing rates high. The ABA Journal reports:

Labor and employment partner Richard Hafets worked at DLA Piper for 34 years, but he has some gripes about the firm that is spurring him to jump to Jackson Lewis along with three other partners and four associates.
At DLA, Hafets told the Maryland Daily Record, the firm’s billing rates were so high that the employment lawyers were being priced out of the market.
“It was either stay here and see our practice stagnate at best and wither at worst, or try to find a way to revitalize our practice by reducing our rates,” Hafets told the Daily Record. He said he will be able to drop his billing rates by more than $100 an hour at the new firm.

From time to time, we hear that this kind of situation is one of the most underreported aspects of the legal recession. Some Biglaw partners feel that the rates they are forced to charge make it difficult to develop or grow business with cash strapped clients.
In this situation, Hafets blames the entire DLA model for crowding out his business. Details after the jump.

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DLA Piper: Taking the Merit Based Model Out for a Spin

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DLA Piper logo.jpgThere has been a lot of talk about DLA Piper’s new merit based compensation structure, and a lot of that talk has not been pleasant. Associates are pretty bummed that they’ll be starting at $145,000 with 15% of that salary deferred until the end of the year if they hit their performance marks. We noted those concerns earlier this month.
But there is a memo going around the offices of DLA Piper. It appears to be unsigned, but tipsters report that the memo is something that DLA management put together. It offers a very different viewpoint on the new DLA structure.
Whoever made the memo, it’s a full-throated defense of the firm’s decisions. Let’s take a look after the jump.

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DLA Piper: Killing Lockstep Follow-Up

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DLA Piper logo.jpgYesterday we reported that DLA Piper will be moving away from a lockstep system. The firm will implement a three-tiered seniority and compensation structure, in which 15% of associate salary will be withheld until the end of the year — pending a performance review that will be graded on a curve.
We promised you further analysis and reaction — but first, a correction. Yesterday I said that the “freeze is still on,” referring to the fact that DLA froze salaries at 2008 levels and will be carrying that scale forward to 2010. That’s not entirely accurate. Multiple tipsters and commenters pointed out that after freezing salaries in 2008, DLA cut salaries in 2009.
That’s correct. We reported on DLA’s 10% salary cut back in May. The National Law Journal puts DLA’s new three-tiered system into the proper perspective:

Salaries for associates in Level 1 will start at $145,000 in major markets. Level 2 salaries will range from $170,000 to about $200,000. Level 3 salaries will be around $250,000. Associates generally will remain at a certain level for two to four years. The new pay plan will affect approximately 500 associates.

Compare those numbers to the Orrick structure we reported on last week. Orrick is still starting at $160,000. And their “managing associates,” the Orrick equivalent of DLA’s Level 2 associates, start in the range of $185,000 – $205,000. Only at the top levels do the salaries start to match-up.
But that is not taking into account DLA’s 15% salary withholding, which is what most of our readers and commenters want to talk about. Let’s take a closer look at the withholding after the jump.

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DLA Piper: Bringing the Curve to Biglaw

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DLA Piper logo.jpgIf you thought you left the curve behind when you graduated law school, think again. DLA Piper has decided to throw its hat into the killing lockstep arena. In a long memo released to associates this morning, DLA outlines its intention to withhold a greater percentage of associate compensation until the end of the year. Associates will have an opportunity to get this money back, if they perform well on their performance reviews.
But the performance reviews will be curved, bringing a sense of the grading competition and bitterness from law school and adding it to firm life.
Let’s jump into the details, after the jump.

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DLA Piper Previews the 2009 Bonus Season

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DLA Piper logo.jpgIt’s the first Monday in October. There is a chill in the air, the Yankees and Red Sox are gearing up for the post-season (while the Mets mercifully go away), and the hearts and minds of Biglaw associates turn to their year-end bonuses.
Some have predicted a “no bonus” season, courtesy of the Great Recession. But DLA Piper has given Above the Law the first concrete bonus information of the season, and bonuses will be paid.
Associates at DLA Piper were informed on Friday that while this year’s bonus won’t meet last year’s half-Skadden levels, the firm will be paying bonuses this year. Sources report that DLA’s bonus will come in between $5,000 and $50,000. A tipster reported the news this way:

I’m just finishing up my first full calendar year at DLA. I’ve got a job, I’ve got a bonus. I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give. I WILL SURVIVE.

Congratulations.
DLA won’t make a final decision until January. But as of now, we have a market floor for bonuses, and it is greater than zero! That is pretty awesome.
Other good news from DLA Piper after the jump.

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Musical Chairs: Former Florida Senator Mel Martinez to DLA Piper

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melmartinez.jpgLast month, DLA Piper lost a prominent former lawmaker from its ranks when Dick Armey had to step down due to controversy over his remarks about healthcare reform. This week, DLA has a new Republican to tout: former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez.
Martinez, who hails from the Sunshine State, announced last month that he was ending his senatorial term early. From the BLT:

A Florida Republican and the first Cuban-American elected to the Senate, Martinez announced in August that he would resign with more than a year remaining on his first term, saying that “it’s time I return to Florida and my family.”

The BLT says Martinez will be a partner in DLA’s offices in both Washington and Tampa, though in DLA’s press release Martinez emphasizes the time he’ll be spending in Florida: “Working in DLA Piper’s offices in Florida, I look forward to helping the firm grow its practice in Latin America and collaborating with a team of distinguished lawyers and professionals with the highest level of legislative knowledge and diplomatic skill.”
Specifically, Martinez might want to help DLA Piper grow its practice in Cuba. When Martinez resigned from Congress, he told the Washington Post:

“Even though I will no longer hold public office, my passion to work to see the day when people in Cuba will live in freedom will continue,” he said.

Over at Politico, Kenneth Vogel discusses the quick jump from the Hill to the Piper.

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