Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 31 – 40 (2011)

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We’ve gotten away from plowing through the latest Vault Rankings, but fear not. Your firm is coming up soon.

We’ve been through the top 30 firms. But now we’re getting into a group of firms that really utilized the cost-cutting measures of salary cuts and layoffs to weather the recession of 2009. Did these guys take a big prestige hit? Not really. Here’s the next batch of firms:

31. Mayer Brown
32. Milbank
33. Paul Hastings
34. Akin Gump
35. Allen & Overy
36. Fried Frank
37. Irell & Manella
38. Freshfields
39. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
40. Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Just off the top of my head, does anybody else think that Irell is coming in a little low?

Anyway, let’s get into these firms…

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Morning Docket 12.14.09

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Facebook facestalking face stalking jurors jury.jpg* Jurors friending each other on Facebook and doing Wikipedia research cause mistrials in Maryland. [ABA Journal]
* A candid conversation with Elie Mystal. Bonus: a slideshow! [Legal Broadcast Network]
* University of Massachusetts board ignores Elie’s warning and approves first public law school. [Telegram]
* Blago’s defense attorney gets his stolen laptops back. [Chicagoist]
* “How can we help a 47-year-old female lawyer who is still living with her parents and cannot go anywhere without her mother?” [Boston Globe]
* Freshfields warns that hedge funds will flee Europe. [Financial Times]

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This Week in Layoffs: 11.14.09

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pink slip layoff notice Above the Law blog.jpgEd. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.

This week, economists missed on the good side — initial jobless claims fell by more than expected. The 502,000 applicants are the fewest since January 3, and the four-month rolling average is at the lowest level since November 2008.

It’s tough to grasp half a million people filing for first-time benefits as good news, but these are troubled times, so we have to cheer where we can. Don’t get too excited, though. Even news that looks good at first glance probably isn’t. The 139,000 people who came off the continuing-claims roster more likely did so as a result of benefits running out or giving up the search than actually finding work.

But don’t be surprised if that number starts creeping back up. A bill was passed last week that will extend benefits by 14 weeks in all states, and six additional weeks in states where the unemployment rate is greater than 8.5%.

All in all, it was a relatively good week in BigLaw, with no layoffs reported. Nonetheless, firms continue to flail about trying to fix their economic models, and we document the efforts after the jump.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 31 – 40 (2010)

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comparing.jpgAs we roll through the next segment of the 2010 Vault rankings, we get into some firms that have been caught testing the stealth layoff waters. To refresh your memory, here is the next list of firms:

31. Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy
32. Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker
33. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
34. Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
35. Winston & Strawn
36. Allen & Overy
37. Willkie Farr & Gallagher
38. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
39. Baker Botts
40. Munger Tolles & Olson

Check out the big move by Munger. It’s up 11 spots on this year’s list. And let’s not forget about the firm’s #1 A-List ranking by Am Law earlier this year. Munger’s managed to do all of this without laying off a massive number of associates. Hopefully other Biglaw firms (and current 2Ls) will take note.
We know people have strong opinions about some of the firms on this list. Let’s get into them after the jump.

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Freshfields’s Affiliated Counsel in Saudi Arabia Makes a Recruitment Mistake

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Freshfields logo.JPGAs you know, many international law firms are affiliated with local counsel based around the world. The magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has an affiliation with a Saudi firm named, The Law Firm of Salah Al Hejailan, or LFSH.
LFSH is hiring a new attorney. The firm sent out an email to the recruiting agencies it works with. But the firm was looking for someone with very specific qualifications. Some might argue that the qualifications were too specific. Here is the email that LFSH sent to recruiters:

We are interested in recruiting one senior Anglo-Saxon lawyer (with 7+ PQE), preferably with Saudi, but at the very least with GCC work experience to play a corporate/commercial role in our Jeddah office. By Anglo-Saxon we mean of Caucasian ethnicity as opposed to lawyers from the MENA or Asian Sub-Continent who happen to have UK or US nationality/qualifications. Please bear in mind that, as a general legal practice, we expect the successful candidate to have sufficient maturity/acumen to handle a broad range of legal work rather being specialised in one particular field.
We are also keen to recruit one junior Anglo-Saxon lawyer (with 3 – 5 years PQE) for the Riyadh office to support our general corporate/commercial practice. [Emphasis in the original]

I’m a big fan of affirmative action, but it seems like something got lost in translation.
After the jump, both Freshfields, The Law Firm of Salah Al Hejailan, and Salah Al-Hejailan himself, responds and apologizes for the poorly worded email.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 31-40 (2009)

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comparing.jpgWelcome to another post in the 2009 Vault 100 open thread series. You all seem to like having the law firms listed in groups of ten, so we’ll keep it up. Here are the thirty-something firms from the Vault 100, with prestige scores in parentheses:

31. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (6.461)
32. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (6.327)
33. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (6.313)
34. Winston & Strawn LLP (6.275)
35. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges LLP (6.235)
36. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (6.174)
37. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (6.173)
38. Allen & Overy LLP (6.147)
39. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (6.131)
40. Proskauer Rose LLP (6.102)

Fried Frank and Cadwalader have been on the ATL radar of late. We broke news of staff layoffs at Fried Frank earlier this week, and news of the attorney bloodletting at Cadwalader last month. As noted in Cadwalader’s notable perks: “ouch, layoffs.” (Speaking of, in going through the Vault 100 list, we’ve discovered that Vault’s definition of “perk” is very different from ours.)
In the comments, the curious can pose questions, and the insiders can share insights. More threads to come.
Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads – 2009

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Associate Bonus Watch: Freshfields Matches

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associate bonus watch 2007 law firm Above the Law blog.jpgFrom the London Times:

Lawyer aims for KO

A City solicitor who swapped the boardroom for the boxing ring is to make her professional debut. Laura Saperstein, 36, from Tottenham, North London, was a mergers and acquisitions lawyer with Freshfields, earning £75,000 a year. Three years ago she left to train full-time and won the British lightweight amateur title. Her bout, against a Swedish opponent at Tooting Leisure Centre, will be on November 18.

We’re guessing that Ms. Saperstein is enjoying her new career, in which she’s already encountered significant success. But perhaps she misses her old job, or at least the paycheck of her old job, this time of year.
Her former employer, the Magic Circle firm of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, just announced bonuses for its New York and D.C. “fee earners.” The memo appears after the jump.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 36-40

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Orrick Building 405 Howard Street San Francisco Above the Law blog.jpgHere are this morning’s firms (in Vault 100 order, prestige scores in parentheses):

36. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (6.308)
37. Linklaters (6.301)
38. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe (6.244)
39. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (6.204)
40. Proskauer Rose LLP (6.195)

You’ll note that one of these firms is Linklaters, which we recently wrote about. We reprint two emails from Linklaters sources, taking issue with our prior coverage, after the jump.
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

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