File this under the category of “better late than never.” Holland & Knight never adopted spring bonuses like other Biglaw firms. Why? Who knows. The firm didn’t want to play ball. Whatever.
Now the firm wants to put a little extra money into the pockets of Holland & Knight associates. Today, sources tell us that Holland & Knight announced it would be paying out a “fall” bonus. I guess it was a good summer at the firm.
But don’t get confused, this is supplemental money to the 2010 bonus, not an advance on the 2011 bonus. As we’ve already mentioned, firms are using 2011 revenue to pay for 2010 performance, so you really can’t count it against the 2011 bonus pool.
And Holland & Knight acknowledges that….
Continue reading “Holland & Knight Gives Out Fall Bonuses — Mainly Because They Didn’t Get the Memo Last Spring”
Recently on my blog I have been posting different viewpoints as to whether the e-discovery industry should have its own specialized certification. In the past year there has been a push by several organizations to establish standards of testing in the industry. In fact, a few weeks ago, the newly formed Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists or ACEDS (prenounced “A-Saids”) held an inaugural conference in Hollywood, Florida. Although ACEDS was just founded last year by the Intriago Group, led by a former McDermott Will & Emery partner, Charles Intriago, the meeting had over 300 attendees — not bad for a first conference.
I had the chance to speak with two attorneys who spoke at the ACEDS meeting. They provided me with a better understanding of whether the movement toward certification is simply a passing trend or a sign of things to come…
Continue reading “Is E-Discovery Becoming Certifiable?”
On Tuesday we told you that McGuireWoods, Dewey & LeBoeuf, and Weil Gosthal were all contributing to the relief efforts under way in Japan. The response has been pretty great.
While some people seem to think Japan’s status as a rich nation means it doesn’t need any international aid, I don’t see how the country’s long-term ability to recover has anything to do with the immediate humanitarian crisis. Japan will undoubtedly be able to rebuild in the future, but its citizens need food and water today.
We’ve now received word that even more Biglaw firms are pitching in to do what they can. If you know of additional firms supporting relief efforts that we have not mentioned, please tell us in the comments to this post….
Continue reading “More Law Firms Contributing to Japanese Relief Efforts”
* Elie here: Remember yesterday when I said that it was a prick move by the cop to issue that ticket on the mother of that comatose 13-year-old girl, and then all those commenters said the cops had no choice because issuing the ticket was an important matter in terms of the civil liability of the driver? Yeah, well, I stand by my initial analysis that the cop was a jerkhat. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]
* We were unimpressed by Holland & Knight giving iPads to its associates — and we’re not alone. [South Florida Lawyers]
* The merger talks between Reed Smith and Thompson & Knight are apparently off (assuming this isn’t another case of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton). [Am Law Daily]
* How can lawyers dress to impress in 2011? [Lawyerist]
* So let me get this straight, it’s not okay for me to drink Four Loko and drive, but it’s okay for my car to do it? What’s up with that? [Alt Transport]
* Were passports biased against gays? Well, now they won’t be. [Huffington Post]
* If you’ve been following along with the most important news of today — which is obviously that the study showing that a crying woman is a total buzzkill — here’s an important counterpoint. Crying might be nature’s way of saying: “Stop beating on your wife you freaking a**hole. [Newsweek]
What in the hell is this used for?
When does the gift of a hot gadget feel like an insult? Apparently when you are an associate at Holland & Knight. This bonus season, the firm gave all of its associates free iPads. And…
Well, associates are still waiting to see if there will be anything other than iPads as a bonus present from the firm.
Can somebody explain to me how the iPad turned into a giant pacifier for white-collar employees? Has any kind of consumer protection agency checked to make sure “placation” is an approved use for the product? I mean, I don’t have an iPad, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But you can’t have sex with it, right? It doesn’t like cure AIDS or grow into a beanstalk or anything?
Maybe the iPad is the most wonderful gadget since the brassiere (the O.G. of gadgets), but at least some of the associates at Holland & Knight were hoping for something a little bit more. And the staff at Holland & Knight, well, I suppose they’re just happy they could help out with getting the associates the iPads…
Continue reading “Holland & Knight Has Common Courtesy to Give Associates Reach-Arounds iPads”
Anna Nicole Smith: her candle burned out long before her legend ever did. And the great beauty’s legend continues to grow, over three years after her untimely death in February 2007, as litigation involving her estate contributes to the development of a rich body of law regarding bankruptcy and probate law — in a tribunal no less distinguished than the Supreme Court of the United States.
Over at USA Today, Joan Biskupic has this report:
The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear an appeal from the estate of Anna Nicole Smith, the late Playboy model and TV reality-show star, in the decades-old dispute over an inheritance from her tycoon husband.
The action, involving a sensational set of characters in an otherwise dry case at the intersection of probate and bankruptcy law, came on a day of varied court business that included acceptance of 14 new cases for the 2010-2011 term that officially begins Monday.
Sounds scintillating. Let’s get all up in Anna Nicole’s business, shall we?
Continue reading “The Estate of Ms. Smith Goes to Washington (Again)”
From time to time, we “go live” with the Career Center resources, to give you access to firsthand advice from the hiring partners and in-house counsel at major law firms and companies. Our next opportunity for this type of professional development will be Wednesday, September 22, 2010 in Miami, Florida.
If you are in the Miami on the 22nd, need free MCLE credit, and would like some great advice on taking control of your career, read on for details….
Continue reading “Career Center: Taking Control of Your Career”
With fall recruiting gearing up, and the lateral market warming up, we continue our annual series of open threads about the law firms featured in the Vault prestige rankings. These threads provide ATL readers with a forum to discuss the different firms and their various strengths and weaknesses.
The end of the Vault 100 is in sight. We’re covering the firms in batches of 20 now. Here are the firms ranked #61 to #80, which will provide today’s discussion fodder:
61. Greenberg Traurig, LLP
62. Holland & Knight LLP
63. Fish & Richardson P.C.
64. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP
65. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
66. Foley & Lardner LLP
67. Perkins Coie LLP
68. Nixon Peabody LLP
69. Patton Boggs LLP
70. Kaye Scholer LLP
71. Hunton & Williams LLP
72. Reed Smith LLP
73. Steptoe & Johnson LLP
74. Chadbourne & Parke LLP
75. Howrey LLP
76. Bryan Cave LLP
77. Lovells (US) [now part of Hogan Lovells]
78. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
79. Crowell & Moring LLP
80. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
This is a very eclectic group, including a few New York-centric firms, some D.C.-dominated places, and a bunch of national and even international giants.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these shops….
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 61 – 80 (2011)”
Last decade — back in the aughts — a Holland & Knight real estate partner got up to some very bad things. While we have heard that coke can be an aid for sleep-deprived attorneys, it caused problems for Theodore Silva Jr.
Silva was formerly a partner in Holland & Knight’s D.C. office. According to the National Law Journal, in 2005, Silva forged signatures and created fictitious notaries for an easement agreement. Then he lied to his clients and bar counsel about that and about his cocaine use:
[Silva] attributed his conduct to stress, cocaine use and drinking. The incident cost the firm about $150,000 in expenses plus 50 hours’ work from another Holland & Knight partner who had to rectify the problems.
Silva, who had made partner in 1995, was fired by Holland & Knight in 2006. The District of Columbia Board of Professional Responsibility just issued its report [PDF] and its recommendation for discipline last week.
The Legal Blog Network is surprised that this conduct was not enough to get Silva disbarred. We’re surprised to learn that Silva had a coke use criminal charge in 2002 and that it passed the sniff test at Holland & Knight. As long as the snow helped Silva make it rain, it seems the firm didn’t mind what he did with his dollars.
Continue reading “This Is What Happens To A Biglaw Partner on Drugs”
Holland & Knight announced today that it would be moving away from lockstep associate compensation. But unlike the firms that have rushed to jump on the Orrick-style, three-tier “pure merit” model, Holland is adopting a hybrid approach. Here’s how Holland & Knight managing partner Steve Sonberg explained it to associates this morning:
The base salary of an associate will no longer depend solely on seniority and the number of hours billed by an associate during the preceding year. Instead, the firm will evaluate each associate on the basis of both objective and subjective factors.
The objective factors will continue to include the number of billable and creditable hours. The firm’s existing policy on creditable hours is not being changed. In addition to the number of billable and creditable hours, the firm will now also consider other factors that objectively measure an associate’s contribution to the firm and to our clients (e.g., collections, profitability, significant matter responsibility, and successful client development).
The subjective factors will include professional and career development (including client development skills), the quality of the legal services provided to our clients, and other contributions to our profession, our communities, and the firm. We are committed to providing an evaluation process that clearly communicates to associates what is expected of them.
Under the new model, this combination of subjective and objective factors will be used to determine what kind of raise associates receive from year to year.
Above the Law spoke with Adolfo Jimenez, the partner at Holland & Knight who oversees the firm’s associate program. H&K’s new compensation plan is very different from the ones we’ve been seeing lately, and we asked Jimenez why the firm decided to go in a different direction.
Continue reading “Holland & Knight Avoids Throwing Lockstep Baby Out with the Bathwater”
As we get back to the Vault rankings, we encounter more firms that have engaged in stealth layoffs. And a firm that conducts mass transit layoffs.
To refresh your memory, here’s the next group:
61. Cooley Godward
62. Pillsbury
63. Sonnenschein
64. Cahill
65. Holland & Knight
66. K&L Gates
67. Nixon Peabody
68. Foley & Lardner
69. Kaye Scholer
70. Steptoe & Johnson
The penalty for having a partner announce layoffs on a train was six spots according to Vault. There have been other Pillsbury cutbacks. But the Acela incident happened when associates had Vault surveys sitting on their desks.
After the jump, let’s take a look at some of the other firms in this group.
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 61 – 70 (2010)”
Last week, we brought you some salary cut news from the Sunshine State. Today we bring you more such news.
Holland & Knight, a large national law firm with a significant presence in Florida (the state it started in), announced pay cuts yesterday for associates, senior counsel, and senior professionals. The salary cut will be effective with the next paycheck (i.e., this Friday). The information was disseminated by voicemail — or, to be technical, a secure link to a Flash audio message — at approximately 7 p.m. Eastern time yesterday.
Our sources reported pay cuts averaging around 10 percent. But according to managing partner Steven Sonberg, the overall cuts are closer to 7 percent.
The explanation, including the firm’s full statement on the cuts, after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: Holland & Knight”
Former Thelen associates might still be scrambling to pick up the pieces of their aborted legal careers, but former Thelen partners continue to land on their feet. The latest partner refugee is an All-Star. Richard Raysman (of what used to be known as Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner) has ended up at Holland & Knight.
Raysman left Thelen in August for Otterbourg Steindler. He got out before Thelen collapsed. Not surprisingly, Holland & Knight’s announcement downplays Raysman’s connection to his defunct former firm:
After graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and receiving his J.D., from Brooklyn Law School while working at IBM as a systems engineer, Raysman founded the firm of Brown, Raysman, Millstein, Felder & Steiner which grew to 250 attorneys. The Brown Raysman firm was the first significant firm to focus on computer law. Raysman was among the first lawyers to recognize that the practice of law in the area of computers would be increasingly important as digital technology spread through commercial enterprises.
But ex-Thelen employees still remember My. Raysman. Remember, earlier this month former Thelen employees were granted class status to pursue claims against Thelen. Their lawyer has indicated a willingness to go after former partners of the firm.
But clients probably won’t care about Raysman’s connection with the unfortunate events surrounding Thelen. He’s a leading lawyer in an important field. We’re sure Holland & Knight will be thrilled by the extra rain.
Check out the full press release after the jump.
Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Holland & Knight Picks Up Richard Raysman”
As we mentioned in an update to our earlier post about Holland & Knight, the firm is now confirming layoffs. From the list of restructuring measures that the firm is undertaking:
• Reducing the total number of lawyers and staff, with approximately 70 lawyers and 173 support staff positions eliminated in the firm’s 21 offices.
The firm also notes that lawyers are being reassigned from slow practice areas.
AmLaw Daily notes that the firm saw a 3 percent decrease in profits per partner last year.
Check out the full statement after the jump.
Continue reading “Holland & Knight Confirms 243 Layoffs”
You know how a lot of buildings omit the “13th floor” out of superstition? I’ve noticed that really superstitious people think about the 14th floor as the danger zone, because counting is not a particularly hard thing to do.
I bring this up because tomorrow is Friday the 13th, and I’m just wondering if the invisible hand of market collapse decided that Thursday the 12th was a “better day” for everybody to get fired.
In any every, as many commenters have already noticed, there appear to be massive layoffs at Holland & Knight today. Some of our sources report that as many as 200 attorneys and staffers could be out of a job by the end of the day. Other sources place that number closer to 300.
Holland & Knight has declined to offer us a statement at this time.
Update: According to the WSJ Law Blog, the firm fired 70 lawyers and 173 staff. From a statement: “Today, we began restructuring our operations to better meet the needs of our clients and to take steps to fully respond to the adverse effects of the current economic downturn.”
After the jump, we have additional details from tipsters.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Holland & Knight”
Every year, the National Law Journal names individual people and firms that have done outstanding pro bono work. This year perhaps more than others, it is especially important to recognize those that gave their time to charity. With the economy crumbling, there is a huge need for free legal services.
The NLJ has recognized the work done by Proskauer Rose, Holland & Knight, and Mayer Brown towards resettling Iraqi refugees:
Eric Blinderman, international legal counsel to Proskauer Rose, had gone to Iraq in March 2004 as an associate general counsel for the Coalition Provisional Authority. Later, he served as chief legal counsel and associate deputy to the Regime Crimes Liaison. In 2007, Blinderman’s firm officially became a part of The List: Project to Resettle Iraqi Refugees, a nonprofit organization founded that year to help resettle Iraqis in danger because of their affiliation with the United States. Holland & Knight had already been collaborating with the project, and Mayer Brown signed on this year.
The other big firm winner was Pillsbury Winthrop for its efforts during the election:
Firms nationwide were inspired by the historic 2008 presidential election to devote pro bono time to protecting access to the voting booth. Lawyers went to court in several states on voter access issues, most frequently to prevent a voting reform law, the Help America Vote Act, from becoming a barrier to the ballot. The law required states to match voter rolls with another database, usually the registry of driver licenses, to create a more accurate list of voters.
Read the full list of winners here. And please share your stories about other great pro bono acts in the comments.
2008 NLJ PRO BONO AWARDS [National Law Journal]
Judging from our traffic, readers are enjoying this rundown of the Vault 100. We do aim to please here at ATL. We appreciate those who have offered insights about firms in the comments.
Moving on to the next group (with prestige scores in parentheses):
61. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP (5.608)
62. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (5.583)
63. Bingham McCutchen LLP (5.583)
64. Greenberg Traurig, LLP (5.478)
65. Holland & Knight LLP (5.416)
66. Heller Ehrman LLP (5.346)
67. Foley & Lardner LLP (5.266)
68. Steptoe & Johnson LLP (5.252)
69. K&L Gates LLP (5.242)
70. Kaye Scholer LLP (5.230)
As we move down the Vault list, “notable perks” are becoming less elaborate. This group is dominated by tales of free food, from endless soda at Greenberg Traurig to weekend doughnuts and muffins at Foley. And it appears that Pillsbury lacks a monopoly on cookie benefits; over at Cahill, lawyers are plied with “twice daily cookie trays.”
We note this food-related perk at Bingham: “If any lawyer takes out a more junior lawyer for drinks/dinner, he/she can submit the expense to the mentoring budget AND the senior person can get creditable hours.” Can you expense the roofies?
We invite you to compare and contrast these firms’ work, lifestyle, benefits… and cookies, in the comments.
Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads – 2009
The bad news continues to roll in. Becker & Poliakoff, which just announced across-the-board pay cuts for its lawyers, isn’t the only Florida firm that’s hurting.
From a report by Julie Kay, for the upcoming issue of the National Law Journal:
In another sign of the hard times facing the legal industry, particularly in real-estate heavy South Florida, two local law firms — Holland & Knight and Shutts & Bowen — have laid off non-lawyer staffers.
On a day that could be dubbed Black Friday in South Florida legal circles, Tampa-based Holland & Knight, one of Florida’s largest and most venerable firms with 1,150 lawyers, laid off 70 staffers Friday, including legal secretaries, IT and accounting staff. No lawyers were laid off.
The layoffs of about four employees in each of Holland’s 17 offices represented 5% of Holland’s non-lawyer workforce.
Shutts & Bowen, a 200-lawyer, Miami-based firm, Friday laid off nine people, all entry level file clerks or paralegal clerks. No lawyers or legal secretaries were affected.
Holland & Knight spokeswoman Susan Bass told the Daily Business Review that the firm “had some redundancies and inefficiencies.” Seventy staffers is a whole lot of redundancies.
Read more — about prior layoffs at H&K, and the situation over at Greenberg Traurig — below the fold.
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: More South Florida Suffering”
Our open threads on Vault 100 law firms seem to be drawing fewer comments. But we’ll finish what we’ve started. We don’t want to give you a case of these.
So here is this afternoon’s set of Biglaw shops (with Vault prestige scores in parentheses):
66. Greenberg Traurig, LLP (5.631)
67. Kaye Scholer LLP (5.591)
68. Holland & Knight LLP (5.498)
69. Steptoe & Johnson LLP (5.403)
70. Foley & Lardner LLP (5.360)
Among these firms, the special ATL shout-out goes to Greenberg Traurig. GT is the firm that incites the strongest passions in people.
Please discuss these five fine 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; Vault 56-60; Vault 61-65
* According to a lawsuit filed by fellow blogger David Oscar Markus, you have a First Amendment right to cocks on the internets. [Althouse; Volokh Conspiracy]
* In other odd legal news from Florida, Holland & Knight has discovered a new practice area: “suing Little League back to the Stone Age.” [St. Petersburg Times via Deadspin]
* Still more Florida weirdness. Avoid wearing black in this judge’s courtroom. [Daily Business Review]
* Speaking of fashion, should federal judges be provided with clip-on ties? Sadly, it might mark a style improvement for many. [Underbelly]
