It’s that time of the year again: American Lawyer magazine has just released its A-List for 2011. The Am Law rankings attempt to evaluate which law firms have got the right stuff to become elite:
The A-List was created in 2003 in an effort to assess (and rank) the nation’s largest and most prominent law firms in a holistic way. It takes into account financial performance, which is represented by the inclusion of firms’ revenue per lawyer, and other important measures of law firm performance, such as attorney diversity, pro bono work, and associate satisfaction. The latter is measured by a firm’s results on our Associates Survey. Pro bono and diversity scores are also a reflection of a firm’s showing on our annual Pro Bono Survey and Diversity Scorecard.
So, which firms made the grade this year? And which firms are the true elite of the elite?
Continue reading “The 2011 Am Law A-List”
Earlier this week, Hughes Hubbard & Reed finally got around to issuing spring bonuses. Oh, we can’t call them “spring” bonuses, because Hughes Hubbard is calling them “special” bonuses. But make no mistake, this is a spring bonus HHR has just taken a long time to get around to.
Unlike Cahill, which just gave their associates more money because they could, HHR is playing catch up to the 2010 bonus market. I can prove it: Hughes Hubbard’s special bonus is tied to 2010 performance and hours marks, not 2011.
I think if you are rewarding people for what they did in 2010, it’s pretty obvious that you are still trying to catch up to the 2010 compensation market…
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Hughes Hubbard Makes ‘Special Bonuses,’ As It Would Have Been Stupid To Call Them Spring Bonuses”
An old white male and his younger diverse peeps.
Law firm diversity matters. It matters to corporate clients, many of them public companies that want to demonstrate their commitment to diversity through their selection of vendors and service providers — which is what law firms are, at the end of the day. It matters to the law students and lawyers that firms are trying to recruit — which is the premise behind the data collection conducted by Building A Better Legal Profession.
So there should be keen interest in the latest edition of the American Lawyer’s Diversity Scorecard 2011, which the magazine just released. As Am Law explains, the Scorecard constitutes its annual ranking of large law firms by their percentage of minority attorneys and minority partners.
Let’s take a look at the top firms for diversity. Did your firm make the list?
Continue reading “Which Law Firms Are Most Diverse? Let’s Look at the Rankings”
Law firm layoffs might be down, but they’re not out. Today we bring news of staff layoffs in the Los Angeles office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed.
We heard reports that approximately 12 out of 18 support staff members have been or will be laid off. According to these reports, eleven were laid off earlier this month, and one will be leaving in a few weeks.
In response to an inquiry from Above the Law, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed the essential accuracy of these reports. No associates were affected by the reduction, she noted.
“This was a difficult move; we had to let go of some very good people,” said Gerard F. Cruse, the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, in a statement issued to ATL. “But, despite the fact we had another record year last year, the recession has impacted our L.A. office and we couldn’t continue to be overstaffed there. We are confident about its future and are planning the L.A. office’s expansion.”
Some additional information, after the jump.
Continue reading “Staff Layoff Watch: Hughes Hubbard & Reed (Los Angeles)”
I find it funny that firms that want to skimp on bonuses also expect associates to make sure they are helping the overall health and performance of the firm. At some level, why should associates care if the firm is up to date on its collections? It’s not like that money is going to trickle down to the time keepers once their hours are realized. Hell, we’ve got people in the comments claiming they are going to purposely underbill in order to hurt firms in 2011 for stinginess in 2010.
The firms aren’t wrong to be doing everything they can to get associates to enter in their hours in a timely fashion. Time keeping is more accurate when you do it every day (as opposed to trying to recreate your days at the end of the week or month). Firms are struggling to collect from their clients. And, for what it’s worth, billing hours is part of the job for attorneys. I just find it ironic that firms are trying to pressure their associates to produce more money for them even as they are sharing a smaller percentage of those profits with associates.
It’s pretty clear that being a part of a Biglaw firm isn’t a “team” proposition. Everybody for themselves; that’s how the partners act, and that’s how partners expect associates to act.
And so Hughes Hubbard is bringing a little personal punishment to associates who are late with their time…
Continue reading “Hughes Hubbard Is the Latest Firm to Crack the Time Keeping Whip”
It’s not that we’re snobs. It’s because we couldn’t trust it. The reason clients pay us what they pay us is because they know we’re 100 percent quality control.
– Hughes, Hubbard & Reed partner Kenneth A. Lefkowitz in a New York Times/City Room story about outsourcing.
Are we breaking the back of the recession? Today, we have news that Hughes Hubbard is making raises that put will put its associates back to pre-salary freeze levels. Here’s the salary information from the firm-wide memo:
ANNUAL SALARIES
In recognition of those efforts, we will be implementing raises in annual salaries in all offices retroactive to January 1, 2010. For all associates who perform up to expectations, the salaries in the New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. offices will be set at the levels listed below; salaries in our Los Angeles and Miami offices will be adjusted on a case-by-case basis.
Class Year Salary
2009 $160,000
2008 $170,000
2007 $185,000
2006 $210,000
2005 $230,000
2004 $240,000
2003 $250,000
2002 $265,000
2001 $275,000
2000 and above $280,000
If you check out our salary thaw chart, you’ll see that this is a true-up raise. Hughes Hubbard is back to paying associate salaries at the top of the market.
CORRECTION: HHR is at market for the first five years, but senior associates should be earning more, as noted by this commenter: “Market salaries should be: 2004 = $250K (not $240K); 2003 = $265K (not $250K); 2002 = $280K (not $265).”
After the jump, there’s good news — plus a CORRECTION — on bonuses.
Continue reading “Hughes Hubbard Issues True Up Raises, Above Market Bonuses (If You Hit Your Hours)”
On Wednesday, we commended the firm of Paul Hastings for moving so quickly to support Haiti earthquake relief efforts. Since then, a number of other top law firms have pledged their support to this worthy cause.
(Okay, Rush Limbaugh questions the worthiness of the cause. But we suspect that Limbaugh’s position — like that of Pat Robertson, who blames the earthquake on Haiti’s supposed pact with the devil — is a minority view.)
The WSJ Law Blog and Am Law Daily have gathered information about what various law firms are doing to help Haiti. We’ve combined their reports with information we’ve received from our own sources, to create a more comprehensive list.
Check it out, after the jump.
Continue reading “Update: More Law Firms Help Out Haiti”
We are so close to the end of the Vault open threads that I’m starting to get my second wind. I don’t know much about the firms on this part of the list, but you guys do. You know a lot. You’re so smart, you probably don’t even need this quick recap of the next group of firms. But I’ll go through it anyway:
81. Katten Muchin Rosenman
82. McGuireWoods
83. Baker & Hostetler
84. Dickstein Shapiro
85. Venable
86. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell
87. Bracewell & Giuliani
88. Dorsey & Whitney
89. Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner
90. Hughes Hubbard & Reed
Locke Lord is in the house. The firm moved up ten spots from last year.
Other movers and shakers after the jump.
Continue reading “Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 81 – 90 (2010)”
Rejoice, wedding fans! We have some compelling mid-summer material for you this week: Wachtell, SCOTUS, lesbians, French nobility — read on for the details on all of that and more, as reported in the New York Times and filtered by us.
Our finalist couples:
1. Rebecca Gutner and Rodman Forter Jr.
2. Laura Hammond and Christopher Hemphill
3. Laure de Vulpillières and Vanessa Dillen
Admire these couples’ achievements, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.12: French Kissing”
American Lawyer has released its A-List for 2009. The rankings try to measure the qualities that make an elite law firm:
This list, which we launched in 2003, aims to measure and quantify the qualities that define an elite law firm, making an effort to look beyond profits. We examine four factors: revenue per lawyer, commitment to pro bono, diversity among lawyers, and associate training and satisfaction. Our formula gives more weight to the first two factors; we double a firm’s scores for revenue per lawyer and pro bono, and then add scores for diversity and associate satisfaction.
This year’s A-List? The elite of the elite? The top three firms are:
1. Munger, Tolles & Olson
2. Hughes Hubbard & Reed
3. Latham & Watkins
I’ll pause to give laid off Latham associates an opportunity to finish screaming. Please return after the jump.
Continue reading “The Am Law A-List Isn’t Kind to Laid Off Associates”
When Hughes Hubbard released bonus information last year, a lot of associates were angry. Last year, Hughes Hubbard tied the “special bonus” to billable hours.
At the time, the firm promised that 2008 bonuses would be better.
Of course, that was before the great 2008 whatever the hell we’re living through. Few expected HHR to keep their bonus promise. But the structure that HHR released Sunday seems very generous and fair in light of market conditions:
Class of 2001 and above:
Tier 1: $32,500
Tier 2: $65,000
Tier 3: $85,000
Tier 4: $105,000
Class of 2002:
Tier 1: $30,000
Tier 2: $60,000
Tier 3: $80,000
Tier 4: $100,000
Class of 2003:
Tier 1: $27,500
Tier 2: $55,000
Tier 3: $75,000
Tier 4: $95,000
Class of 2004
Tier 1: $25,000
Tier 2: $50,000
Tier 3: $70,000
Tier 4: $90,000
Class of 2005:
Tier 1:$22,500
Tier 2: $45,000
Tier 3: $ $60,000
Tier 4: $75,000
Class of 2006:
Tier 1: $20,000
Tier 2: $40,000
Tier 3: $55,000
Tier 4: $ 70,000
Class of 2007:
Tier 1: $17,500
Tier 2: $35,000
Tier 3: $50,000
Tier 4: $65,000
Tipsters are happy:
That’s pretty sweet – everyone’s pretty happy for now (although 2009 bonuses and salaries are still “under consideration”). Tier 1 is 1950 hours, tier 2 is 2100, … tier 3 is 2300 and tier 4 is 2500. … Since HHR counts pro bono hours 1 for 1 as billable, and a number of associates have TONS of pro bono it’s not quite as hard to meet the “tiers” and rake in a pretty sweet bonus.
Good news for Hughes Hubbard people. Congratulations.
Read the full memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: ‘Mother (Hughes) Hubbard’ Does Better Than Last Year”
The latest bailout news is making Simpson Thacher’s $300,000 contract to advise the Treasury Department on the $700 billion bailout plan look even more like chump change.
We wrote before about firms that were offered bailout love. Well, Reuters reports that Hughes Hubbard and Squire Sanders are going to get mad bailout love, to the tune of $11 million:
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP and Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP have each been awarded a contract for roughly $5.5 million to help shepherd about 2,000 financial firms through the program that would see the government buy company shares, the Treasury Department said on Monday.
Looks like Hughes Hubbard’s strategizing with the acquisition of boutique bankruptcy firm Luskin, Stern & Eisler may have paid off.
Two law firms to help U.S. Treasury dole out aid [Reuters]
The End of Bailout Transparency Already? [BailoutSleuth via WSJ Law Blog]
Earlier: The Firms That Were Offered Bailout Love
Musical Chairs: Hughes Hubbard Is Ready For Some Action
We mentioned that litigation boutiques would likely be big winners from the market collapse. Some small firms are already cashing in. The bankruptcy boutique of Luskin, Stern & Eisler has merged with Hughes Hubbard & Reed.
There was enough room on the Hughes Hubbard bandwagon for everybody at Luskin. All eight lawyers will be joining Hughes Hubbard’s bankruptcy practice, with name partner Richard Stern becoming the co-chair of the group.
The merger makes perfect sense if Hughes Hubbard is trying to position itself to capitalize on creditor actions coming out of the Wall Street meltdown. Of course, that is not what Hughes Hubbard says they are doing:
Hughes Hubbard says it is merely a coincidence that the deal was finalized after a week of heavy financial turmoil.
“We had wanted to do this for a while,” James Modlin, co-chair of the firm’s lateral hiring committee, tells The Am Law Daily. “Starting last summer, we realized the time was right to bolster our bankruptcy practice. Bankruptcy goes in cycles, and we were thinking this might be a boom time.”
Maybe Hughes Hubbard does own the world’s best Magic 8 Ball. However they planned this acquisition, they got the execution exactly right.
Hughes Hubbard Makes Timely Acquisition of Bankruptcy Boutique [Law.com]
This marks the end of our review of the firms in the Vault 100. This is the final bunch up for discussion (with prestige scores in parentheses):
91. Lovells (4.494)
92. Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP (4.489)
93. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP (4.478)
94. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP (4.459)
95. Kilpatrick Stockton LLP (4.452)
96. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP (4.439)
97. Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP (4.421)
98. Seyfarth Shaw (4.399)
99. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC (4.394)
100. Fenwick & West LLP (4.373)
Discuss. Dissect. Compare. Contrast. Most of all, enjoy.
Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads – 2009
To respond to yesterday’s question: No, it’s not all over. There’s still some gas left in the associate bonus watch tank.
Last night brought an a bonus announcement from Hughes Hubbard and Reed. It’s a somewhat complicated bonus system, based on a system of “tiers.” A tipster identifies these highlights:
Tier 1 = 1950 hours
Tier 2 = 2100 hours
Not certain about tier 3 or 4
Class of 2004, 2005, and 2006 get $7500 for reaching 1950, plus half of special bonus
No pro-rated bonus for class of 2007
The associates we heard from are unhappy with the bone Old Mother Hubbard has thrown them:
“HHR has managed to make the ‘special bonus’ tied to billable hours. That kind of sucks. Glad to see that they are increasing them for next year though.”
“It is a disappointing day for Hughes Hubbard associates, as bonuses are far below market. Still a great place to work, though.”
You can check out the Hughes Hubbard bonus memo, which announces the firm’s 2007 bonuses as well as its “enhance[d]” bonus system for 2008, after the jump.
Update: In response to the commenters, here’s a note on our methodology. If a firm is on either the Am Law 100 or the Vault 100, we’ll run their bonus announcement. HHR is #85 on the Vault 100.
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Hughes Hubbard and Reed”
Welcome to this morning’s open thread for associate salary information and news about pay raises.
First, here are a few links to mainstream media coverage of associate compensation from the past few days. We’ve noted which firms are discussed in each article, so you can decide whether you wish to click through and read the whole piece.
1. Three More Firms Raise First-Year Associate Pay [Legal Times]
Firms discussed: WilmerHale, Steptoe & Johnson, and Patton Boggs.
2. Most Calif. Firms Still Not Matching N.Y. Associates’ Pay [The Recorder]
Firms discussed: O’Melveny & Myers; Morrison & Foerster; Sheppard Mullin; Paul Hastings; Quinn Emanuel.
3. Fish & Richardson, Covington & Burling Join Salary-Raise Parade [Legal Times]
Firms discussed: Fish & Richardson; Covington & Burling.
4. The First One Falls [Fulton County Daily Report]
Firms discussed: Troutman Sanders; Morris, Manning & Martin; Sutherland Asbill & Brennan; Kilpatrick Stockton.
Second, after the jump, a verified memo from Hughes Hubbard & Reed. If your firm has a memo or email announcement that hasn’t previously appeared on the main page of ATL, please email it to us. We will then add them as updates to this post, or publish them in a subsequent post. Thanks.
Continue reading “Skaddenfreude: The Morning Catch”
Law firm bonus season ended some time ago. Most Biglaw shops paid out bonuses to their associates weeks ago.
But a few firms are still in the process of announcing and distributing the dough. For example, we hear that the Chicago office of Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw might not announce until next month.
Hughes Hubbard & Reed just announced its bonuses yesterday. They appear to be a bit below market (although the firm employs a “tiering” system that’s different from the bonus structure at most other places).
For those of you interested in non-New York compensation information, the Hughes Hubbard memo addresses L.A. and D.C. bonuses as well. Check it out, after the jump.
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Better Late Than Never”
A number of big-ticket moves to report today. The most notable involve government lawyers:
Government to Private Sector:
* Debra Wong Yang, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (Los Angeles), has resigned from the USAO. She’s headed to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, as a partner (duh). Ka-ching!
Yang will work out of the firm’s L.A. office. She will co-chair its Crisis-Management Group, along with former Solictor General Theodore Olson and another former federal prosecutor, Randy Mastro.
At Main Justice:
* Jonathan Cohn (OT 2000/Thomas) is now the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Appellate. He was previously the DAAG overseeing the Office of Immigration Litigation (and will continue to discharge that duty until a successor is found).
At right: Jonathan Cohn and his wife, Rachel Brand (OT 2002/Kennedy), the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. Although his portfolio has changed (and we’d say for the better), he doesn’t have to get new business cards, since he’s still a DAAG.
Out the Door:
* Casualties of the stock options backdating scandal: Stuart Nichols, former general counsel of KLA-Tencor, and David Lubben, former general counsel of UnitedHealth.
Lateral Moves:
* Corporate lawyer Arthur Hull Hayes III, to Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, from Dewey Ballantine.
* Technology, media, and telecom lawyer Carole Aciman, to Greenberg Traurig, from Hughes Hubbard & Reed.
* King & Spalding: The intellectual property practice acquires five new lawyers: Kenneth Sonnenfeld (NY) and John Harbin, Tony Askew, Steve Schaetzel, and Jim Johnson (in Atlanta). They came from Morgan & Finnegan (Sonnenfeld), Powell Goldstein (Harbin), and Kilpatrick Stockton (Askew, Schaetzel and Johnson).
And Another One Gone, And Another One Gone… [WSJ Law Blog]
L.A. U.S. Attorney Debra Yang Resigns; Will Join Gibson Dunn [WSJ Law Blog]
NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
More NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
We have oodles and oodles of moves — some actual, and some rumored — to share with you today.
Lateral Moves:
* Antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Brennan and mass torts/products liability lawyer Kathleen O’Connor, to Dechert, from the FTC and Merck, respectively.
(Can O’Connor be the “Countess of Toxic Torts”? The title of “Queen of Toxic Torts” is already taken — by Skadden’s Sheila Birnbaum, with whom we are obsessed.)
* Leveraged finance lawyer Christina Ungeheuer, to Latham & Watkins (Frankfurt), from Milbank Tweed (Frankfurt).
* William Nordwind (legislative and government affairs) and Michael Volpe (labor), to Venable, from Capitol Hill (an interminable subcommittee name) and Clifton Budd, respectively.
* Financial restructuring lawyer Stephen Peppiatt, to Bingham McCutchen (London), from Shearman & Sterling.
* Trusts and estates lawyer Kenneth Page, to Hughes Hubbard & Reed, from Coudert Brothers (where he headed their T&E practice).
Also, here’s more detail about a move that we wrote about last week — the move of Dennis Orr and three colleagues from Mayer Brown (NY) to Morrison & Foerster (NY).
Shoes Waiting to Drop?
* Over at scandal-ridden computing giant HP, Ann Baskins “remains employed by the company as general counsel.” But her days may be numbered. (The commenters at the WSJ Law Blog are certainly calling for her head.) [WSJ Law Blog]
Think Tanks:
* William Gale has been named Vice President and Director, Economic Studies, at the Brookings Institution.
NY Lawyers Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
MoFo New York hires four-partner litigation team from Mayer Brown [Legal Week Student]
H-P Mess Casts Harsh Spotlight on Ann Baskins [WSJ Law Blog]
Gale Named VP & Director of Economic Studies at Brookings [TaxProf Blog]
