As we finish off the Vault top 50, we look at some firms went through some tough layoffs.

Here’s the list:

41. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
42. Baker & McKenzie
43. Goodwin Procter
44. DLA Piper
45. King & Spalding
46. Jenner & Block
47. Dewey & LeBoeuf
48. Proskauer Rose
49. Vinson & Elkins
50. Irell & Manella

It might not look like it, but there is a lot of carnage on this list. Orrick is down four spots. Proskauer is down four spots. King & Spalding is down 3 spots.

And many of the firms here that are marginally up or holding steady still went through significant layoffs.

After the jump, Law Shucks offers some stats.

* The NYCLU is suing the NYPD to protect Yankees fans’ right to hate America. [Gothamist and New York Law Journal]

* Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan is resigning this weekend. Among those gunning for his job are two Foley Hoag partners: Michael B. Keating and Martin Murphy. That’s a little awkward when it comes to intra-firm politics, no? [Boston Globe]

* Former ATL ‘Lawyer’ of the Day Howard Kieffer was back in the courtroom this week, being convicted of mail fraud and making false statements. [Associated Press]

* Easter’s celebration of resurrection has inspired Eliot Spitzer. He’s contemplating another run for Attorney General. [New York Post]

* Earlier this week, a judge ruled that law firms need to make it clear that they are representing the company and not individual employees during the course of their investigations— Irell & Manella was on the short end of that ruling. Stanford Group’s former CIO was likely following that case closely. She has filed a malpractice and conspiracy complaint against Proskauer Rose and others for the same practices. [Courthouse News Service]

* More on the monster $55.1 million Lehman bill submitted in Manhattan bankruptcy court by Weil Gotshal. In addition to over 100,000 billable hours over four months, the bill includes “$200,000 for business meals, $439,000 for computerized and “other” research, [and] $115,000 on local transportation and $287,000 on duplicating charges.” Sigh. Just when Americans were starting to hate bankers more than lawyers. [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]

* Morrison & Foerster can relate to its incoming associates desperately waiting for their bar stipends. MoFo has been stiffed by one of its clients, and now the client is suing the firm for overbilling and malpractice. [AmLaw]

* The New York Times extols the wonder of getting paid tens of thousands of dollars to take a year off, with a profile of a Skadden associate planning to travel the globe. [New York Times]

* Corporate lawyers are taking heed of the cautionary tale of Irell & Manella. The firm got into ethical hot water for not being explicit about its allegiances during an internal company investigation. U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney in Los Angeles rules that firms must make it clear that they are representing the company and not individual employees during the course of their investigations. [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]

* Duke Law Professor Paul Carrington wrote an op-ed for the New York Times suggesting ways to get rid of aging justices. [New York Times]

* Attorneys specializing in DNA evidence may soon be in demand in Texas. [Houston Chronicle]

* A profile of U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the Ted Stevens case. He’s feisty. [Washington Post]

* In our survey on youthful looks and job prospects, ATL readers were divided as to whether lookin’ young improves your Biglaw employability. If you voted “No. Looking old = being experienced,” you might change your mind after reading this article on out-of-work babyboomers. [New York Times]

Last week, we asked you to send us your stories about firms that are rescinding offers to 3Ls. Despite a lot of people calling us sensationalist while drenching themselves in a vat of Kool-Aid, hours after our report we learned that Lowenstein Sadler was rescinding 3L offers (and laying off associates).

But we received other tips as well.

Many people reported that they haven’t heard anything back about their summer program, despite pestering their firms for information. The consensus opinion was that firms had already priced in the market collapse when it came time to hire summer classes. Firms hired fewer people and many firms cut back on the length of the summer program.

But some people reported that their firms were rescinding offers.

We’ve now received reports that Baker Botts and Irell & Manella have both rescinded some 3L offers.

More details after the jump, including an update from Baker Botts.

Further Update: An internal communication from Irell, also after the jump.

We’re entering the second half of the Vault 100. This is part of a series of open threads to discuss the firms considered to be the profession’s most prestigious. Because we know you love prestige. And the opportunity for “TTT” accusations. [FN1]

Here’s the next bunch of firms, with prestige scores in parentheses:

51. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (5.851)
52. Dechert LLP (5.838)
53. Vinson & Elkins LLP (5.822)
54. Goodwin Procter LLP (5.815)
55. Jenner & Block LLP (5.778)
56. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (5.728)
57. Alston & Bird LLP (5.715)
58. Fish & Richardson P.C. (5.706)
59. Cooley Godward LLP (5.692)
60. Irell & Manella LLP (5.635)

Vault notes that attorneys at Pillsbury are treated to “freshly baked cookies.” But they also have to put up with being referred to as “Pillsburians” by Vault.

Compare, contrast, discuss… and if you’re at Pillsbury, have a chocolate chip cookie for us.

Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads - 2009

[FN1] We periodically get e-mails asking for the definition of “TTT,” which appears so often in comment threads. As the uninitiated have surely gathered, it’s a derogatory term. Likely originating on AutoAdmit, it stands for “third tier toilet.” For more, see Urban Dictionary.

We’re surprised that the firms in this latest group of Vault 100 law firms aren’t ranked more highly. Some of them are quite profitable (Dechert),* prestigious (Munger), or high-profile (Boies Schiller, home of legendary litigator David Boies).

But who are we to argue? For communal discussion, here is this morning’s batch of Biglaws:

46. Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP (6.026)
47. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (6.004)
48. Dechert LLP (5.973)
49. Irell & Manella LLP (5.952)
50. McDermott, Will & Emery (5.946)

Please trade thoughts on these firms in the comments. Thanks.

* Dechert’s 2006 profits per partner clocked in at just under $2 million. But it should be noted that the firm has multiple partnership tiers and only 169 equity partners (out of 898 lawyers).

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

The website of Irell & Manella touts the firm as “An Elite CA Law Firm.”

Immodest? Perhaps. But true, insofar as Irell pays its associates as “an elite CA law firm” should.

The Irell & Manella pay raise memo, after the jump.

A few weeks ago, we reported that Kirkland & Ellis’s Los Angeles office has raised the starting salary for its new associates to $145,000.

For those of you who don’t believe anything until it appears in the MSM, you can now rest easy. From today’s Recorder:

Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis confirmed to The Recorder last week that it has upped its California offices to start at $145,000.

The article also reports that Irell & Manella has joined the $145,000 club, paying its first-year associates in Los Angeles the standard going rate for New York.

The question now becomes whether (and when) the so-called “Big Three” of L.A. law firms — Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Latham & Watkins, and O’Melveny & Myers — will match. Rumor has it that Latham is “reconsidering” whether to raise to $145K (a movie it had previously ruled out doing in 2007).

If you hear anything on that front, please share what you know. Thanks.

Irell and Kirkland Hit $145K Mark [The Recorder via Law.com]
Re: Kirkland goes to $145k in LA/SF [Infirmation / Greedy LA]

Earlier: Skaddenfreude: Kirkland LA Ups the Ante

Oodles of juicy moves today, especially out of and into the federal government. As the leaves change, so do the lawyers.

Government to Private Sector:

* Federal prosecutor John Hueston, a leader of the team that prosecuted Enron execs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, is heading for the greener pastures of Irell & Manella.

All around the country, AUSAs with white-collar criminal experience are leaving U.S. Attorney’s Offices — including our former workplace — for the more lucrative precincts of private practice. The trend is especially pronounced in the legendary Southern District of New York, as noted by Anna Schneider-Mayerson.

Private Sector to Government:

* Corporate and securities lawyer Michael Halloran, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop, has been appointed to serve as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lateral Moves:

* Broker-dealer compliance specialist Steven Lofchie, to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, from Davis Polk & Wardwell. (In this day and age, compliance is a hot area. We’re guessing Lofchie got offered a nice deal.)

* Tax lawyer John Narducci, to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, from White & Case.

* IP lawyer Robert Wasnofski Jr., to Dorsey & Whitney, from Baker Botts.

* M&A lawyer Sandy Feldman, to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, from Torys.

Retirements:

* Plaintiffs’ lawyer Alan Schulman, of Bernstein, Litowitz — and formerly of the indicted Milberg Weiss — is retiring at the end of the year.

Not Going Anywhere — Yet:

* Apple CEO Steve Jobs and HP CEO Mark Hurd are sticking around — despite the problems that their companies face.

NY Practice Leader Leaves One Elite NY Firm for Another [NYLawyer.com]
More NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Milberg Weiss: Merger Talks Break Down; An Alum Retires [WSJ Law Blog]
Enron Prosecutor John Hueston to Join Irell & Manella [WSJ Law Blog]
The Gang That Shot Straight Is Disbanding, For a Profit [New York Observer]