We interrupt the spirited smackdown of ATL Idol to bring you a couple of LEWW-related announcements. First, as expected, Team Ho-Glover scored a decisive win in June's Couple of the Month voting. LEWW salutes this glorious SCOTUS - WGWAG - Friend-of-Lat juggernaut!

In other news, two notable grooms didn't make our list of finalists this week. The first is Lee Bollinger, son of current Columbia University president (and former University of Michigan president) Lee Bollinger. And the second is Paul Lieberstein, who looks a lot like that guy who plays Toby in The Office. Because he is that guy.

On to this week's contestants:

1. Sue-Yun Ahn and Charles Kitcher

2. Jennifer Hare and Jaron Shipp

3. Gena Hatcher and David Lenzi

4. Athena Theodoro and Daniel Adamson

Click on the link below to read more about these impressive legal matches.

Writes Bess Levin over at our sibling site, Dealbreaker:

Sam Israel III, the convicted former hedge fund manager who no one believed committed suicide after he failed to show up to start serving a 20-year sentence for defrauding clients of a bunch o' money, has been taken into custody in Southwick, Massachusetts. The industry's biggest M*A*S*H fan apparently surrendered himself to authorities at 9:30 this morning.

As you may recall, on the day that Israel was supposed to report to prison, his abandoned SUV was found on a bridge, with the words "suicide is painless" written in dust on the vehicle's hood.

Back to Dealbreaker:

Finally, we're going to find out if the unknown tattoo on the Bayou Group founder's hip is:

(a) two egrets having sex;

(b) two egrets having a type of sex that is illegal in 38 states; or

(c) a depiction of interspecies sex between a human and a bird (participants: Sam Israel and egret).

For discussion free of references to avian sex, see the New York Times and the WSJ Law Blog.

Sam Israel Surrenders [Dealbreaker]
Fugitive Hedge Fund Manager Surrenders [New York Times]
A Fugitive No Longer: Samuel Israel Surrenders in Massachusetts [WSJ Law Blog]

The idea of pitying people taking home seven figures sounds dubious. But check out this great article, by the American Lawyer's Vivia Chen (who's not doing too badly herself, at least based on her magnificent mink coat). Here's the fantastic, rather literary lede:

The prize was a home-cooked dinner for eight, prepared by a parent-one of New York's most celebrated chefs and a perennial on the Food Network. The bidding started at $3,000-a fabulous bargain. Nearly two dozen paddles shot up in the air. The bidders were the usual suspects-Wall Streeters, big-firm lawyers, a sprinkling of doctors, a few people with money but no visible means of support.

Nursed by a steady stream of champagne cocktails, the bidders were a competitive lot. At $7,000, the doctors dropped out of the game; at $10,000, most of the other professionals were gone; at $15,000, the lawyers and the trust fund babies bit the dust. With only the financial titans in the game, the bidding got intense: $20,000, $25,000, $30,000. Sold for $40,000! The winner: the wife of a 30-something hedge fund manager.

There's nothing like a fund-raiser at a private school in Manhattan to define your social station. Time was, lawyers were near the top of the heap. Investment bankers and other finance types have long eclipsed them, but the difference used to be one of degree. Then came private equity investors and hedge-funders, and lawyers nose-dived on the socioeconomic ladder.

"Face it, we have no status," says an Am Law 100 partner of the pecking order at his sons' private school. "We go to these school functions, and this well-heeled group looks right through you. They won't give you the time of day. You're just one step ahead of the doorman."

Biglaw partners, "one step ahead of the doorman"? Killer quote. Fabulous work, Vivia.

More after the jump.

As some of you have noticed, we have an article in today's New York Times, in the DealBook Special Section. It's about fee arrangements in the (highly lucrative) context of mergers-and-acquisitions work. Here's a teaser:

For some firms, billable hours are just the beginning. As the boom rolled on, law firms specializing in mergers and acquisitions increasingly engaged in premium billing, charging fees in excess of their total hourly billings. Think of it as a tip for good work. Whether a client pays a premium depends upon its satisfaction with the result, the size and complexity of the transaction, and the nature and length of the attorney-client relationship.

But since the credit market began to tighten this summer, an event that brought new deals to a crawl and has upset several old ones, many lawyers have been wondering whether the premium party is over...

And here's one of the more juicy portions:

One firm, though, has moved beyond billable hours to the flat fee preferred by bankers: Wachtell, Lipton. A former Wachtell lawyer described a typical bill as follows: “There’s a paragraph stating something like, ‘For legal services rendered in connection with Transaction X,’ then a dot leader, then a number followed by six zeros.” He said he worked on some deals where Wachtell was paid more than the bankers.

Wachtell charged a flat fee when it advised the Bancroft family, which controlled Dow Jones & Company, during the $5 billion bid by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation For its work on the deal, Wachtell first submitted a bill for $10 million.

You can read the full piece here (or here). Feel free to email it liberally to friends and family. Thanks!

When $1,000 an Hour Is Not Enough [Dealbook / NYT]

That seems to be the theme of this very interesting article, by Ben Hallman and Aruna Viswanatha, in the current issue of the American Lawyer. It echoes the problems we discussed back in this post, concerning the $70 million malpractice suit filed against Cadwalader, in connection with the firm's mortgage-backed securities practice.

Here's an excerpt from the American Lawyer piece:

Even scarier for Debevoise, and for all firms with big private equity practices, was the fact that no new deals were popping up to take the place of those that were stuck. Those fears are shared by lawyers who work on mortgage-backed securities, a market that has completely shut down.

The fears are well justified for both groups, and for any lawyer whose business is linked to the availability of easy credit. In June there were nearly $100 billion worth of private-label mortgage securitization issuances. The next month, they were half that. "There's always an element of cyclicality," says Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison structured finance partner Jordan Yarett, "but the implosion of credit is somewhat shocking."

Indeed. More depressing discussion, after the jump.

Each week we highlight an exciting job opportunity available through Lateral Link, ATL's career partner.

Here's the latest listing. No word on whether or not they have a theme song. But for two-fifty large, we think you can live without one.

Position: Counsel

Employer: Multi-Billion Dollar Hedge Fund

Description: Large, prominent hedge fund based in Manhattan seeks a lawyer with 3-5 years of experience to work closely with a senior attorney and new General Counsel. Ideal candidate will have excellent academic credentials and come from a large law firm. Responsibilities include working on private equity deals, PIPE transactions, bond offerings, drafting and negotiating various agreements including subscription documents, organizational documents, vendor contracts, etc. Will interface extensively with senior management and outside counsel. Extremely collegial environment and varied and interesting work.

Compensation: Pay is $250,000 - $300,000 with bonus.

To apply for this position, please visit laterallink.com.

* Barry Ostrager of Simpson Thacher bills out at $1,000 an hour? Well, just keep him away from your bathroom. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Eager to soak the rich (hedge fund kings)? Good luck with that. [DealBreaker]

* Remember the wacky Stephen Dunne, who blames the gays for his bar failure? Not being admitted may be the least of his problems. [Keeping Up With Jonas]

* A funny parody? Or a disturbingly accurate account of how the law review submission process works? [Concurring Opinions]

* Truth in advertising? This was probably well-intentioned, but ultimately unwise. [copyranter]

* Voting irregularities: not limited to "coolest law school" contests. [Machinist]