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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 26-30

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Ropes Gray LLP One International Place Above the Law legal blog.jpgWe think this latest Vault 100 law firm thread will be a good one. Here are the five firms now on the table for discussion (in Vault 100 order, with prestige scores in parentheses):

26. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft (6.648)
27. Hogan & Hartson LLP (6.622)
28. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP (6.615)
29. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP (6.588)
30. Ropes & Gray LLP (6.566)

We expect (formerly bedbug-infested) Cadwalader to generate a fair amount of discussion, since we hear associate morale over there ain’t so hot. Consider this comment, from the morning’s open thread on happy hours:

At my anonymous law firm they pour water in a trough and hang a feed bag in a conference room daily, they then ring a bell and let us know we have 2 minutes to eat and drink before we must get back to work … Man, I love working at Cadwalader… Oops.

And we also expect interesting stuff about Mayer Brown. From a tipster:

Would you consider running a piece on the troubles at Mayer Brown? You’ve already reported on their partners being fired/leaving, the Refco mess, and their unhappy associates. I think some open speculation on where their firm is going would be very enjoyable at this point.

So have at ‘em, 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

144 Comments

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 21-25

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Morrison Foerster 425 Market Street San Francisco Above the Law blog.jpgOkay, folks, you know what to do. Here are the next five law firms up for discussion (in Vault 100 order, with prestige scores in parentheses):

21. Arnold & Porter LLP (7.012)
22. Jones Day (6.932)
23. Morrison & Foerster LLP (6.898)
24. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (6.752)
25. Clifford Chance LLP (6.747)

The virgin territory of the comments is yearning for your touch.
The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Earlier: Vault 1-5; Vault 6-10; Vault 11-15; Vault 16-20

116 Comments

What’s Up With Linklaters?

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Linklaters LLP Magic Circle Above the Law blog.jpgIt’s fall recruiting season, and rumors are flying about every law firm under the sun. Here’s something from the ATL mailbag about Linklaters:

I’m going through [the on-campus interview program at my law school] and each day I kept hearing the same thing. Apparently Linklaters’s summer associates had such a terrible time the last few months that many of them have not yet accepted their offers.

Despite the salary, they are going through EIW hoping to get hired by someone else, because they
hated being at Link. Can you confirm this?

We hadn’t heard about this. We do know that morale in the Stockholm office of Linklaters is pretty high (in an “I’ll have what he’s having” kind of way).
Anyway, we contacted the firm for comment. Josh Berick, Co-Hiring Partner in New York, had this to say:

In 2007, Linklaters had its largest and strongest summer associate class ever. The firm is thriving, and many of our summer associates have been able to work on some of the largest cross-border transactions of the year.

It is anticipated that all of our summer associates will receive offers to join us, once the program is concluded. Linklaters traditionally has had a very high acceptance rate, and we are confident that the vast majority of our 2007 summer associates will accept their offers.

As always, we welcome any tips by email (subject line: “Linklaters”). Thanks.

49 Comments

What’s Up With Bingham McCutchen?

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Bingham McCutchen Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgAs you may recall, earlier this year there were rumors about there not being enough work to go around in the San Francisco office of Bingham McCutchen. Some of these rumors were prompted by the firm offering buyouts to some associates.
The rumors of slowness are starting to resurface:

I am a 2L at [a top ten law school], and we are mid-EIP. Early this summer I bid for Bingham’s San Francisco office, only to receive an email after bidding closed that they would not be coming to EIP and my bid was cancelled.

I just spoke to a friend who bid for their DC office and received an interview. She got an email (last week I believe) saying Bingham DC would not be attending either, and her interview was cancelled.

What’s up? Sinking ship? Not enough work?

Not so, according to firm spokesperson Claire Papanastasiou:

We carefully assess our hiring needs and annually review our OCI approach to maintain a balance of entry-level attorneys in all of our offices. Class sizes change from year-to-year, and we adjust our on-campus schedules accordingly.

For example, in San Francisco and D.C., we had a higher-than-anticipated acceptance rate for this past summer. To maintain the appropriate balance of entry-level lawyers in those offices, we’ve adjusted next summer’s class size.

If you have more light to shed on the situation, please feel free to email us (subject line: “Bingham McCutchen”).
Update: Remember the Fried Frank policy on entering one’s billable time? Bingham is also anxious about time entry (even if their policy is more forgiving). Memo after the jump (or click here).
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Bingham McCutchen (scroll down)

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27 Comments

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 16-20

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Sidley Austin One South Dearborn Chicago Above the Law blog.jpgAlthough the pace seems to be slowing, our open threads on Vault 100 firms continue to generate a decent quantity (and quality) of comments. So we’ll press on, for the benefit of those of you who are now in the throes of the law firm application process.
Please pose questions about and share insights into these five law firms (in Vault 100 order, with prestige scores in parentheses):

16. Williams & Connolly LLP (7.234)
17. Sidley Austin LLP (7.232)
18. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (7.158)
19. O’Melveny & Myers LLP (7.105)
20. White & Case LLP (7.092)

You can discuss them in the comments. Thanks.
The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Earlier: Vault 1-5; Vault 6-10; Vault 11-15

137 Comments

What’s Up With Shanetta Cutlar?

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Shanetta Cutlar 2 Shanetta Y Cutlar Shanetta Brown Cutlar DOJ SPL Special Litigation Section Civil Rights Division.jpgSome of you have been asking for updates on Shanetta Cutlar, the high-powered Department of Justice lawyer who has generated some colorful stories in the past. If you’re not familiar with her, click here, and browse through the archives.
We don’t have anything terribly new to report on her. We hear that she has been on her “best behavior” ever since we started writing about her.
But since this is ATL Wayback Weekend, we’re happy to pass along something from back in June, which we never got around to writing up back then. A reader drew our attention to this Washington Post Career Track live web chat:

Washington, D.C.: I am a young attorney for the federal government. I loathe my current position because of a very moody and difficult supervisor (the situation is so horrible that half of my office is currently looking for new employment). I am desperate to leave this position, I am extremely stressed because of the work environment created by this supervisor. I have applied for 11 other federal positions.

While I wait to (hopefully) hear about one of those positions, can you recommend any other possible job search options? I really want to leave this position as soon as possible and I’ve only worked for the federal government (two years since law school).

Hmm… We wonder who this person’s boss might be. Any suggestions?
Discussion continues after the jump.

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15 Comments

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 11-15

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Paul Weiss 1285 Avenue of the Americas Above the Law blog.jpgSince our last two threads on Vault 100 law firms have generated healthy (and generally enlightening) discussion, we’ll continue to move on down the list.
Please pose questions about or share insights into these five law firms (in Vault 100 order, with prestige scores in parentheses):

11. Kirkland & Ellis LLP (7.492)
12. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (7.468)
13. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (7.444)
14. Shearman & Sterling LLP (7.240)
15. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (7.237)

Please discuss them in the comments. Thanks.
The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Earlier: Vault 1-5; Vault 6-10

113 Comments

Job of the Week

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Each week we highlight an exciting job opportunity available through Lateral Link, ATL’s career partner.
Company: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
Position: Counsel, Business & Legal Affairs
Responsibilities include:
(1) Review and analyze clearance issues/approvals , including music, for special features, including featurettes, DVD menus, audio commentaries, bloopers, etc.
(2) Negotiate and draft talent approval letters and releases.
(3) Negotiate and draft marketing and promotion agreements.
(4) Negotiate and draft clip licenses and other clearance documents.
(5) Coordinate with internal guild counsel regarding guild requirements/claims.
(6) Provide legal services and advice to creative, marketing, operations and sales clients.
(7) Attend internal department meetings.
(8) Review and advise on promotional materials.
(9) The lawyer will report to the Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs with status reports and on issues or questions.
Ideal candidate will have 3 to 6 years experience in corporate law.
To apply for this position, please visit laterallink.com.

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 6-10

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Simpson Thacher Bartlett LLP 425 Lexington Avenue Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgWe were pleasantly surprised by the robust and intelligent discussion in the comments to our earlier open thread, Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 1-5. There were over 100 comments, and many of them were quite informative. So we will press on.
The next five firms up for bids, in Vault 100 order (prestige scores in parentheses):

6. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (8.116)
7. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP (7.759)
8. Latham & Watkins LLP (7.712)
9. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (7.672)
10. Covington & Burling LLP (7.510)

Please compare and contrast these firms, and discuss what it’s like to work for them, in the comments. Thanks.
The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]

129 Comments

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 1-5

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Worldwide Plaza World Wide Plaza Cravath Swaine Moore Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpgHere’s an idea that we liked, from a thoughtful and helpful reader:

I was a big fan of your recruiting threads by city. Same goes for the firm benefits/perks threads. One problem, however, is that people often say what it’s like at their firm but fail to mention which firm those perks apply to. I understand the need for confidentiality, but it defeats the purpose of finding out what certain firms are like.

One possible way to remedy this is to do similar posts, but to list just a handful of firms to discuss for that day. Probably the best way would be to go down the Vault 100, since most people consider this gospel. For instance, the first day you could start a thread about the top 5 firms on Vault, to discuss perks, hours, recruiting, firm life, etc.

This way, if someone who posts does not want to discuss which firm they are at, people can still have a general idea [of what firms in that tier are like]. There aren’t too many differences between the top 1-5 firms, and same goes for the next five and the next five.

We like this idea, and we like Vault. They publish a great guide to law firms, they advertise on ATL, and they have a shout-out to us in their write-up of Wachtell Lipton (which you can see after the jump).
So we’ll give this a try. If the discussion is anemic and/or insipid, then we’ll just write it off as a failed experiment. But if the discussion is robust and informative, then we’ll keep on going. Here is today’s quintet of law firms (with Vault prestige scores indicated parenthetically):

1. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (8.780)
2. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (8.732)
3. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (8.224)
4. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (8.197)
5. Davis Polk & Wardwell (8.126)

Please discuss and compare these firms in the comments. Thanks.
The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms (2008 Edition) [Vault]

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144 Comments
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