Earlier this month, we mentioned that Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells were in “early stages of merger talks.”

Today brings the news that the firms are in “advanced talks to merge,” according to Nathan Koppel of the Wall Street Journal. But it’s not a done deal yet:

One of the biggest challenges to a Hogan/Lovells deal, lawyers say, will be marrying the firm’s contrasting styles. Hogan is considered relatively hard charging, paying partners based on how much business they bring in. Lovells take a more genteel approach, compensating partners based largely on their seniority.

UPDATE: Bruce MacEwen, who thinks that “this deal makes superb sense,” has a detailed analysis over at Adam Smith, Esq. (gavel bang: commenter).

A memo from Hogan head Warren Gorrell, plus selected comments from our prior post — we read the comments, so you don’t have to! — after the jump.

Back at the beginning of the legal recession, when Heller and Thelen were collapsing, there was talk that a number of firms would either have to fold or engage in mega-mergers.

For the most part, that hasn’t happened. But today, Legal Week is reporting that Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells are at least talking about merging:

Lovells and Hogan & Hartson are in the early stages of merger talks, Legal Week can reveal, with the firms’ management teams currently assessing the case for a transformative union.

Lovells is to discuss the proposed tie-up with the top 25 US law firm at a meeting of its international executive on 28 October. A deal would create a top 10 global practice in revenue terms.

With firms of this size, one imagines that merger talks will be complicated. And there is a lot that will have to happen for these firms to go from talking to combining. But if all the pitfalls are avoided, how big of a firm could we be looking at?

Details after the jump.

Sources at Skadden report that Robert S. Bennett, the legendary litigator, will be leaving Skadden for Hogan & Hartson. Skadden partners were informed yesterday; Skadden associates are being told right now.

Bob Bennett is one of the most famous trial lawyers in the world. His client list reads like a CNN promo: Enron, Bill Clinton, Judith Miller, Caspar Weinberger! That’s right, I kicked that list with the Cold War winning, Contra-loving SecDef.

Carl Rauh will also join Bennett at Hogan. Rauh has worked with Bennett on many of his high-profile cases, so that’s of little surprise.

But tipsters report that the two will not be taking any other Skadden - D.C. personnel with them.

Bennett started his private practice at Hogan & Hartson. So the move is a bit of a homecoming.

The associates’ meeting is about to kick off. We hope to have official confirmation from the firm and more news after the associates are informed.

The top brass at Hogan are surely excited about the Bennett acquisition — but might he be to blame for their missing out on the opportunity to meet Sex and the City stars?

You can still call yourself prestigious if you work at the firms that make up today’s fall recruiting open thread. But once you are outside of the Vault top 20, people start talking about “firm culture” at least as much as they talk about prestige.

Here’s the next batch:

21. Shearman & Sterling
22. O’Melveny & Myers
23. Quinn Emanuel
24. Ropes & Gray
25. Hogan & Hartson
26. Clifford Chance
27. Morrison & Foerster
28. Mayer Brown
29. Linklaters
30. Boies Schiller & Flexner

The slide continues for Shearman & Sterling. The firm was ranked #19 last year, and is down two spots this year. Is there any specific reason for the fall?

After the jump, let’s look at the firms rising up through the rankings.

Over at AmLaw Daily, Zach Lowe has revealed that Hogan & Hartson will be playing the part of Mr. Big’s office in Sex and the City 2, due out next year:

The atrium on the 25th floor of Hogan’s offices at 875 Third Ave. will be transformed into Mr. Big’s on-screen office, according to an internal memo that found its way to our in-box. (We have no idea what Mr. Big does for a living, but we know he’s played by the dreamy Chris Noth.)

Lowe, we’re flattered you’ve adopted the royal ATL “we.” We’re not sure what Big does for a living either, but we know he’s not a lawyer, which is perhaps why he has an atrium-sized office.

The Sex and the City crew will be at Hogan’s office on Sept. 2, but an internal memo — which we invite tipsters to send for posting — indicates that friends, family, and random Chris Noth-stalkers shouldn’t try to drop in. We wonder if they would make an exception for Justice Scalia, who may or may not be a SATC fan.

The internal memo says that Hogan employees might get to meet the stars and might get autographs, but it’s not guaranteed. And the memo reminds partners that on the day of the filming, their star wattage will be dimmed:

A few partners will also have to clean up their offices “so your boxes are not in the movie!” the memo says.

We talked to Hogan managing partner Warren Gorrell. He says he works on the 24th floor. “I’m not one of the partners with a messy office,” he told us. Gorrell’s take on Hogan’s Sex and the City 2 star turn, after the jump.

Hogan & Hartson has already pushed back start dates for its incoming first year associates. The firm has laid off staff and laid off associates. And the firm has lowered associate salaries.

With all that writing on the wall, current Hogan summer associates couldn’t have been terribly surprised by today’s news. Here’s part of an internal email announcing the push back of class of 2010 start dates to 2011 for the D.C. and Northern Virginia offices:

We accordingly have decided that the offers we give this year’s summer class in D.C. and Northern Virginia will be for 2011. Deferring this class’s arrival for one year allows us the opportunity to make more offers to this year’s class than we otherwise could. U.S. offices other than D.C. and Northern Virginia similarly have assessed their needs for 2010 and 2011 and have made, or will be making, deferral decisions particular to those offices’ requirements.

The specifics of the deferral program have not yet been decided — only that the start date will be in 2011, not 2010.. The summers learned this news this morning; we hope you will make yourselves available to them to discuss the issue if, or when, they come to you for advice about their deferral year.

The firm declined to comment further on this matter.

In case they weren’t already, I hope that Hogan summers have been saving their money. It might have to last them for a while.

Earlier: Nationwide Start Date Watch: Hogan & Hartson Is Moving On Back
Staff Layoff Watch: Hogan & Hartson Lays Off 93 Staff
Hogan & Hartson Lets Go of 30 Senior Associates
Hogan & Hartson: ‘1800 Hours’ Track Follow Up

One of the reasons why law firms try to treat their alumni well is that you never know when they will come back and throw a little business your way. The current governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter, put in a year at Hogan & Hartson — after 12 years as a district attorney, before running for Governor.

When Governor Ritter had some legal work to do concerning the dispersal of federal stimulus funds, he threw it Hogan & Hartson’s way.

This happens all of the time, right? Not so fast my friends, Am Law Daily reports that there is more going on in Denver:

Now halfway through his first term, Ritter is under fire for allegedly turning down a $75-per-hour offer from his state’s attorney general’s office to handle legal matters related to the disbursement of federal stimulus package funds. Instead, he allegedly granted a no-bid contract to his former firm at six times the cost.

The Denver Post reports that lawyers for Ritter told the state AG’s office in February they would hire outside counsel to help Colorado with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Fair use of executive prerogative, or should he have sought out the lowest legal fees available for the state?

More details after the jump.

Firm management and rank-and-file associates at Hogan & Hartson continue to disagree about whether layoffs are taking place at the firm. Of course, as we’ve said countless times in these pages, what constitutes a “layoff” is a bit in the eye of the beholder. The overall point is that, with normal attrition down, firms sometimes have to create forced attrition, leading to involuntary departures.

Multiple sources report that Hogan just informed about 30 senior associates that they need to seek new employment. The firm’s chairman, J. Warren Gorrell, Jr., referencing the firm’s previously discussed performance evaluation system, confirmed this to ATL by email:

[W]hen senior associates are meeting our basic performance standards but are not progressing toward advancement to partnership, they are counseled to pursue other opportunities (with the firm’s help to the extent we can) if there isn’t a demonstrated need for them to continue. This conclusion was reached as to about 30 of our 140 sixth year and more senior US associates through this round of our evaluation process (this was the result of the process and not a “target” number), and they are being given four months to find new opportunities instead of our normal three month policy. None of this is a new policy, and all of it has been discussed fully with our associates.

It may be firm policy, it may be sensible, and it may not be new — but some sources aren’t happy about it. More after the jump.

[Ed. Note: Those with cat like reflexes will remember that this post appeared briefly last night. We pulled it back to give the King of Pop his due.]

Given the times, any change to the parameters of a firm’s performance reviews are met with great trepidation by associates at the firm. The least firms can do is clearly explain that process by which attorneys will be evaluated for promotion — or termination.

Hogan & Hartson’s chairman, Warren Gorrell Jr., has been making the rounds and talking to associates about the firm’s new associate evaluation process. The plan was implemented back in April, right around the time Hogan put a number of associates on a lower billing-lower compensation track.

Gorrell told us that the meetings coincide with his communication to the Hogan associate’s committee about the firm’s quarterly partner meetings. Gorrell was able to provide us with some additional information about how associates at Hogan would be evaluated, going forward. Here is what Gorrell explained to his associates, yesterday:

That is the overview. Let’s get to what could cause a person to take an alternate “direction” in their career, after the jump.

Earlier today, we reported that Hogan & Hartson would be bumping a number of associates down to the 1800 hours track. We’ve collected some additional information on exactly what that means.

Hogan Chairman J. Warren Gorrell explained that Hogan associates would be bumped down to the lower track based on their hours over the past five months. He also confirmed what the 1800 hour salary scale looks like:

We are using the 5-month period beginning November 2008 and ending March 2009. The 1800 compensation level for the first year class is $145,000. And, associates who work above the 1,800 level will receive a pro-rated additional payment.

By including November and December, it looks like Hogan is getting a broader look at who has been utilized during the financial meltdown, and which associates simply don’t have any work.

It’s most likely not anybody’s “fault” if they don’t have work, and you have to think that a salary cut is better than a layoff. It’s also better than a “performance review” where the firm looks at your hours, tells you that you suck, and then says “Nothing to see folks. No global financial crisis here. Keep moving please.”

We fill out the scale after the jump.

Remember back in February when Hogan & Hartson offered a “voluntary” buyout of a number of staffers? Yeah, well, apparently that didn’t work so well. After a tepid response to the buyout plan (Hogan chairman Warren Gorrell explains that only 28 staffers accepted the plan out of the 250 people that were offered the buyout), Hogan is bringing the hammer down on its staff. From an internal memo that employees at Hogan just received:

Over the past several months and in connection with other actions to control expenses in all areas, the Firm has engaged in an exhaustive analysis of the impact of current economic conditions upon our personnel needs and structure and the steps appropriate to address the challenges we face as a result of those conditions. Based on that analysis, we reluctantly have concluded that two steps are required at this time: (1) a layoff of 93 non-legal staff members in our U.S. offices;

But that’s not all. Hogan is also essentially cutting salaries on a whole bunch of people:

(2) temporary implementation of our established 1,800 hour associate compensation track in all U.S. offices for U.S. associates whom we cannot currently project will meet their 2009 billable hours expectation.

According to the memo, associates who are not on track to bill at least 1850 hours for 2009 will have their compensation bumped down to the 1800 hour level. In New York and Los Angeles offices (where there was no previous 1800 hours track) low billing associates there will be put on an 1800 hour track commensurate with the firm’s DC compensation scale.

And, just for good measure I suppose, the firm is also indicating that these cuts might not be enough, and attorney layoffs would be the next step:

We are hopeful that we will not need to continue this arrangement in 2010. Nevertheless, there can be no assurance that will be the case or that we might not have to take other measures to address staffing/work levels for associates in the future.

Finally, Hogan is also letting its overseas brothers and sisters know that layoffs probably will not be limited to U.S. offices:

The Firm is undertaking a detailed review of our associate and staff personnel requirements in our offices outside the U.S. Unlike our offices in the U.S., where personnel needs and rules typically follow a common pattern, the management of personnel needs in our offices outside the U.S. is influenced by local market requirements and other considerations. We are conducting an office-by-office review to ascertain whether staffing in those offices is at appropriate levels.

Good luck to all the staff laid off today. Take heart Hogan associates who didn’t average 155 hours over the first quarter, at least you still have a job.

Read the full memo after the jump.

When firms catch a case of the economy, their illnesses often follow similar courses. They may freeze salaries. They may conduct layoffs. And the latest trendy symptom: they may push back associate start dates, the idea being that saving a couple months’ worth of associate pay will somehow shore up the firms’ balance sheets, steel them against the battering winds of the economy, and position them to be the greatest and most billingest places known to mankind, now or in the future.

Last week, Hogan & Hartson succumbed to push-back fever and joined Sonnenschein, WolfBlock, Nixon Peabody and others in the start date infirmary. Reports a tipster:

Hogan & Hartson announced on Friday that it was delaying the start date of all incoming associates to November 30. In the past, incoming associates could choose any Monday on which to start.

The firm has not yet responded to our request for comment on the start date change, but if they do, we’ll let you know.

Details of Hogan’s war against the economy and a concluding rhetorical question, after the jump.

Multiple sources told ATL on Friday that Hogan & Hartson would offer a buyout to 250-300 of its support staff. The firm has now had an opportunity to inform all of the personnel.

We spoke with Hogan & Hartson Chairman J. Warren Gorrell Jr. on Friday. He explained that the buyout is part of Hogan’s attempt to find solutions to the financial crisis in both a creative and sensitive manner.

Gorrell also explained the specifics of the offer. Staffers with more than five years of experience will be offered four weeks pay plus one week for every year they’ve been with the firm. For some senior people, that could end up at 20 or 30 weeks, which is considerably more than what other firms are offering displaced staff members as part of a severance package.

Tipsters weigh in after the jump.

As we noted in yesterday’s Morning Docket, even the New York Times has taken note of the salary freeze trend at law firms. The Times reached out to Above The Law’s own David Lat for the story:

Although many associates are angry about the freezes, others are relieved, said David Lat, founding editor of AboveTheLaw.com, a blog about law firms and the profession.

“There is this sense that firms didn’t act prudently during the boom and now they are getting religion, and that it’s better late than never,” Mr. Lat said. “Many associates we have spoken to think the freeze probably saved jobs.”

At the beginning of the month, we did a round-up of firms that have frozen 2009 salary rates at 2008 levels. That list was 16 firms long. Since then, quite a few other firms have announced freezes. Due to frequent requests, we’re updating the round-up list since the number of firms with freezes (that we know of) has more than doubled, to 33 32. Check out the as-comprehensive-as-we-can-make-it list, after the jump.

Recently announced salary freezes include “solid ice freezes” at Blank Rome and Townsend and Townsend and Crew; and “Slurpee freezes” at Bingham McCutchen, Fish & Richardson, and Texan firm Andrews Kurth.

Memorandums, as well as a new list of all firms with “solid ice” and “Slurpee” freezes, after the jump.

While many firms announced their decisions to freeze 2009 salaries at the end of 2008, a few waited until now to make up their minds.

Memos went out before the first paychecks of the year to associates at Atlanta-based Alston & Bird and Washington, D.C.-based Hogan & Hartson. Alston’s is a Slurpee freeze with the firm saying it may “revisit” the decision at an unspecified time this year. Hogan’s is a Solid Ice freeze; salaries are locked at 2008 levels throughout 2009.

The language of these memos has become fairly uniform— a jumble of “economic downturn,” “challenging,” “distress,” and “2009 may really suck for us.” Okay, maybe not the last phrase, but that’s the gist. Check out the memos, after the jump.

We’ve also received word that Schulte Roth & Zabel has frozen salaries until further notice, but the language leaves hope for a decision in the near future for a raise:

The firm has not yet made any decision with respect to associate salaries for 2009. We expect a decision will be made in the next few weeks, and any change will be retroactive to January 1.

Not all firms are bracing themselves for a difficult 2009 by freezing salaries. In response to our requests for salary raise information, we heard back from associates at Cleary; Stoel Rives; Perkins Coie‏; Fried Frank; Irell; and Schiff Hardin. A host of others are named in Firms that have not frozen, a post in the ATL Community section.

Memos from Alston, Hogan, and Schulte about frozen salaries, after the jump.

After spending some quality time with Stephen Hawking and an abacus, we are now ready to report the bonus associates at Hogan & Hartson will be receiving this year.

For the firm’s offices in D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Northern Virginia the scale is as follows:

2002 and above - $7,500 to $37,500
2003-2005 - $7,500 to $25,500
2006-2007 - $7,500 to $20,000

The difference between a $7,500 bonus and a $37,500 bonus is huge, so we delved a little deeper into how Hogan comes up with the cream of the bonus crop. As you might expect, hours play a significant role. A tipster with a firm grasp of multivariable calculus (and, you know, basic arithmetic) explains:

Hogan actually has a fairly unique compensation scheme. there are two different salary tracks - one for associates who intend to bill 1800 hours and another for those who bill 1950 (at which level you make the market salaries). I think the 1800 track salaries are somewhere in the neighborhood of 15K less and are designed so that the firm can pay our low-billing regulatory associates less money - and as it turns out this year, a bunch of corporate associates too.

We crunch more numbers after the jump, and there’s 2009 Hogan salary update as well.

It’s been a dark week on ATL. Layoff news has been pouring in: 21 attorneys cut at Katten, up to 60 at Sonnenschein, and 20 at Clifford Chance.

To prevent you from jumping out your windows, we’re revisiting a Wall Street Journal article from earlier this month on the silver lining for law firms during the economic crisis.

Firms with relatively strong balance sheets are hiring lawyers from competitors that are hurting from the dropoff in mergers, debt offerings and other staples of the legal business. Leaders of these firms figure that being bigger and more geographically diverse will help them weather downturns in particular market sectors and capitalize on complex business opportunities that require a variety of specialties. In most cases, they’re even giving the new hires raises.

Did you hear that, despondent ones? Raises!

Many firms have been feasting on the remains of Heller Ehrman (R.I.P.). Heller partners and attorneys have been snatched up by Hogan & Hartson; Orrick; Sheppard Mullin; Arnold & Porter; Covington & Burling; Jones Day; and Cooley Godward Kronish. Other firms have been poaching partners from struggling Thelen.

Some firms are buying on the cheap, while others are giving new attention to more resilient practice groups:

K&L Gates LLP has acquired medium-size firms in Texas and North Carolina this year and hired 45 partners from other firms. “We have no debt — no long-term debt, no short-term debt — and therefore have a balance sheet that allows us to grow aggressively into a downturn,” says Peter Kalis, chairman of the 1,700-lawyer firm…

But many law firms believe that they have no choice but to expand specialties, such as restructuring, intellectual property, securities litigation and antitrust, that are generally believed to remain steady — or even pick up — during down cycles. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP in New York laid off 131 lawyers — nearly 20% of its staff — earlier this year because of the implosion in the mortgage-backed securities market, a key practice area for the firm. But it has hired lawyers in other practice areas, including financial restructuring.

Chins up.

Some Law Firms Hire in Slump [Wall Street Journal]
As Heller is sliced and diced, many associates are out in the cold [National Law Journal]

Earlier: ATL Layoff Coverage

As we expected, celebrity professors Cass Sunstein and Samatha Power were the winners of last week’s July Couple of the Month voting, running away with over 60 percent of the vote. Congratulations to this nerdy-hot duo!

This week’s set of contestants might be the strongest we’ve seen this season. Their write-ups feature five Harvard degrees, a Rhodes, and one of Biglaw’s most exalted surnames. Here are the names of the newlyweds:

1. Geneviève Treuille and Daniel Wachtell

2. Melissa Langsam and Todd Braunstein

3. Amanda Schwoerke and Stephen Sachs

Read more about these couples — and see their pictures — after the jump.

In connection with on-campus interviewing season, we’re giving you a chance to assess the firms that made this year’s Vault 100 list of most prestigious law firms. The previous open threads listed firms in groups of five, but to up the pace, we’ll list them by ten from here on out. Here’s the next group, with prestige scores in parentheses:

21. O’Melveny & Myers LLP (6.815)
22. Clifford Chance LLP (6.772)
23. Jones Day (6.763)
24. Morrison & Foerster LLP (6.657)
25. Hogan & Hartson LLP (6.579)
26. Linklaters (6.574)
27. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (6.512)
28. Ropes & Gray LLP (6.501)
29. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP (6.494)
30. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (6.481)

We note Magic Circle firm Linklaters making a big leap from the high 30s in the 2008 list to #26 this year — perhaps because its “notable perks” include group retreats to Europe, a drinks trolley, and an on-site doctor and dentist.

Compare. Contrast. Discuss. Thanks.

Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads - 2009

A reader sends us this party invitation from Hogan & Hartson’s New York office. Perhaps they should move the happy hour to Atrium XXX.

For the clueless among you, see the Urban Dictionary.