Here's an update to last week's post about how various law firms fared in recruiting summer associates for this year. That post, including the comments, featured oodles of info about the expected summer class sizes at different Biglaw shops.

Now we bring you a few more data points. First, just a few short hours after our post went up, this email went around the New York office of Latham & Watkins:

As we move forward into 2008, the Recruiting Committee and the Recruiting Department would like to thank each of you for your support and participation in last year’s recruiting efforts. Your involvement in the summer program and our fall recruiting efforts was “priceless”. Thanks to your efforts, our summer program and fall hiring results were incredibly successful. The recruiting efforts resulted in 61 first years (not including judicial clerks, which we are currently in the midst of recruiting) starting next fall and a summer class of 80 summer associates (our largest to date!). Thank you all again and a very happy and healthy 2008 to each of you.

It's nice when firms are so responsive to our inquiries.

In addition, a few tipsters emailed us unofficial information about how their firms did in the recruiting process. Check it out, after the jump.

The holiday season is pretty much over, and bonus season kinda is, too. But it's not completely over, so we'll still bring you occasional updates on news that comes across our desk. If you have information to share, please email us (subject line: "Associate Bonus Watch").

While placing info in the comments is helpful, comments aren't subject to verification and follow-up in the same way as emails. Also, due to sheer volume, we can't (and don't) read every last comment. So email is still the best way to send us bonus info (or request that we cover a given topic).

Here are some associate bonus odds and ends:

1. Quinn Emanuel: Lots of unhappy campers. The upshot is that they employed a very bright-line 2100 hours cutoff to get the full bonus. More details, after the jump.

2. Fish & Richardson: They announced a new compensation plan back in November. It didn't go over so well. To their credit, they seem to be reversing themselves (for the most part; look out for a higher hours requirement). More details, after the jump.

3. Covington & Burling (New York): We previously reported on their special bonuses, which matched market. In case you were wondering, they're also paying the standard year-end bonuses (in New York).

4. Bracewell & Giuliani (New York): We haven't written much about them before. But since name partner Rudy Giuliani is in the news a lot lately, thanks to his presidential bid, and some folks were kind enough to send their memo our way, we provide their bonus announcement after the jump.

5. Kasowitz Benson: We also haven't written much about Kasowitz Benson before. It's a very profitable shop, and a bit on the secretive side. Since several people passed along their bonus memo, though, we're happy to post it after the jump.

People who practice intellectual property law tend to be really, really smart. This is a good thing, since you'd have to be a genius to understand the new associate pay plan just announced by Fish & Richardson.

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. But we just couldn't bother reading a document as long and complex as the Fish & Richardson memo, at least this early in the day; the caffeine from our morning coffee is still working its way through our system.

Fortunately, our sources offered some explanation:

"Attached is the new Fish & Richardson compensation plan. The basically cut salraries by taking around 20k of salary away from each year and then giving it back when you make 2000 hours. Pretty sh**ty for patent prosecutors. Everyone is pretty pissed off about this."

"I am pissed. Not only are they effectively taking 10k from my pocket because I always bill over 2000 hours, but we don't get the target bonus or the special bonus. In short, someone from my year will make at least $80,000 more at another firm for hitting 2000 hours."

To see what's causing such bitterness, check out the memo, after the jump.

We're rather late on this, but better late than never. Some time ago, one of you sent us this tip:

Fish & Richardson has asserted ownership over patents secured by a former principal who, in addition to being an attorney, also is a prolific inventor (and alleged "patent troll").

Interestingly enough, Fish appears to have made its claims only after Google, one of its clients, was sued under a patent claiming a technology that Harris invented while at Fish. See Patently O, which has a copy of the Complaint.

What a mess. Anyway, we were reminded of the case yesterday, when it was picked up by Overlawyered:

Annals of creative patent lawyering: Highly placed attorney with intellectual-property specialists Fish & Richardson accumulates his own portfolio of patents, quits the firm, begins suing Fish & Richardson clients, things get messy fast (Patent Troll Tracker, Oct. 21).

We expect to be following this case for a while. If you have some inside info to share, please email us. Thanks.

Annals of creative patent lawyering [Overlawyered]
A Tangled Web of Patent Rights [Patently O: Patent Law Blog]
Fish & Richardson Strikes Back at Scott Harris [Patent Troll Tracker]
Patent Troll Sues Fish & Richardson [Patent Troll Tracker]

Andrew Bruck takes a question at Wednesday's press conference.

Every now and then, we leave our apartment. We did so on Wednesday, to attend the press conference of Law Students Building a Better Legal Profession, where the organization unveiled its law firm diversity rankings (accessible here; Los Angles Times article here).

It was quite informative. For those of you who might be interested -- and we're guessing there are a number of you, judging from the robust commentary on our earlier post -- read more, after the jump.

Law firm mergers have transformed the Biglaw landscape over the past decade. Several of the five firms in our latest open thread on Vault 100 firms have been involved in merger mania.

Here are the firms to talk about this morning:

56. Fish & Richardson P.C. (5.868)
57. Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (5.863)
58. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (5.825)
59. Goodwin Procter LLP (5.807)
60. Cooley Godward LLP (5.794)

Pillsbury Winthrop is the product of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (San Francisco), Winthrop Stimson Putnam & Roberts (New York), and Shaw Pittman (Washington). Goodwin Procter swallowed up Shea & Gardner, just as Cooley gobbled up Kronish Lieb.

Please exchange information and opinion about these five firms 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; Vault 31-35; Vault 36-40; Vault 41-45; Vault 46-50; Vault 51-55

Now some of you might be saying, "Delaware -- WTF???" But if that's your reaction, you don't know very much about corporate law.

Delaware is, after all, our nation's capital of corporate law. Numerous top corporations are chartered in Delaware, and the state's Chancery Court hears some of the biggest-ticket corporate cases around.

So what do law firm associates in Delaware earn these days? We received some helpful information from a tipster:

"Skadden and Fish & Richardson pay NYC market. At Skadden, at least, that includes an NYC market bonus."

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Detailed salary charts for local firms, plus your comments, appear after the jump.

The day that many of you have been waiting for has arrived. Today ATL goes to ATL: the fair city of Atlanta!

Based on NALP forms and prior news articles, it seems that starting salaries in the Big Peach generally range from $130,000 and $145,000 (similar to Philadelphia).

At $130K: Alston & Bird; Arnall Golden Gregory; King & Spalding; Kilpatrick Stockton; McKenna Long & Aldridge; Morris, Manning & Martin; Paul Hastings; Powell Goldstein; Smith Gambrell & Russell; Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; Troutman Sanders; Womble Carlyle.

At $135K: Jones Day

At $145K.: Dow Lohnes; Hunton & Williams; McGuireWoods; Schiff Hardin.

At $160K: Fish & Richardson (IP work).

Feel free to discuss associate compensation, or any other hot issues in Hotlanta, in the comments. Thanks.

New lawyers' pay puts public sector to shame [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Alston & Bird Raises First-Year Pay Yet Again [Fulton County Daily Report]
Hunton raises first-year salaries to $145,000 [Fulton County Daily Report]

Related: Open threads focused on Denver, Hartford, Philadelphia, Seattle, New Jersey, Phoenix, Charlotte.

At the White House:

* On the heels of Christopher Oprison and Cheryl Stanton, former Wilmer Hale partner Paul Eckert joins the White House Counsel's Office.

Lateral Moves:

* Nicholas H. Politan, to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher (NY), from Bingham McCutchen, where he served as co-head of the project and structured finance group.

(Wild guess: He's the son of former federal judge Nicholas H. Politan (D.N.J.).)

* IP litigator Duane David-Hough, to Fish & Richardson, from Ropes & Gray (NY).

A few more moves, plus links, after the jump.

* Are lawyers really this superstitious? Or is a trial just an excuse to go on a sugar binge and get all liquored up? [WSJ Law Blog]

* Heh, looks like there's another "backdating scandal" happening out on the West Coast. [The Recorder]

* Extreme Makeover: Federal Courthouse Edition. [Washington Post]

* It's not just meant for movie theaters. That Nokia ring tone may be coming to a courtroom near you. [New York Law Journal]

* Oh Claude, why didn't you try the whole "insanity" thing? If it worked for Andrea Yates, it might have worked for you. [Associated Press]

* We're impressed by The Recorder's ability to cram bad puns on Fish & Richardson into its title and lede. We count two and a half, since "sticks" sorta conjures up images of Mrs. Paul's. [The Recorder]

* "Baker & McKenzie, be on alert: henceforth, Boing Boing will be actively monitoring your website to identify dumbass activity and will, if necessary, take appropriate action to point out instances of wasting clients' money by sending out unnecessary and obnoxious warning letters." [The American Lawyer; Boing Boing]