* Bad news for the big three: the New York Times says Congress "is suffering from acute bailout fatigue." [NYT]

* There were 13 law firm mergers in the third quarter this year (not unusual). The largest number of combinations (5) were in the southeast. [The Birmingham News]

* O.J. Simpson is finally going to jail. He will be sentenced today in Nevada. This time, he stole back sports memorabilia from two people. Can you think of a more inelegant end to the Simpson saga? [The Associated Press]

* If you break the law in New York, at least you get free day care. Thanks to Judge Judith S. Kaye (New York State's cheif judge), there are 34 children's centers across the state in family, criminal, and civil courts. They provide a safe and happy place for children whose parents are involved in legal battles. [NYT]

* The shareholder lawsuit against the merger of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase was dismissed Thursday in the New York State Supreme Court. [Reuters]

* Singapore awarded Clifford Chance, White & Case, and Latham & Watkins licenses to practice law, as part of an attempt to compete with Hong Kong and other cities in China and the Middle East that have benefitted from having international law practices. [Bloomberg]

* Discover is mad at Morgan Stanley for secretly hanging-out with Visa and Mastercard behind Discover's back. Sounds a lot like middle school, only in the real world, you can sue. [Bloomberg]

Lawyer layoffs: they're not just an American phenomenon. Last month, for example, DLA Piper laid off lawyers in London. Here's more layoff news from that fair city, from TheLawyer.com:

More than half of the UK lawyers at US investment bank Bear Stearns have been axed since the ­collapsed bank was taken over by JPMorgan.

Out of 23 lawyers in ­London's legal department, only 10 were offered new positions by JPMorgan, with nine accepting.

Fortunately, Bear Stearns refugees are landing new jobs without too much apparent difficulty. The Lawyer reports that ex-Bear Stearns attorneys have landed at Bingham McCutchen and Brown Rudnick, in New York and London, respectively.

JPMorgan cuts Bear's headcount [The Lawyer]

We're not the only ones obsessed with layoffs these days. So is the New York Times, which has published two meaty articles on layoffs in the past few days -- one in the Business section, and one in Sunday Styles.

The upshot of the business piece: Wall Street firms are increasingly relying upon "stealth layoffs" (like their brethren in the law, as we've discussed). Louise Story and Eric Dash report:

[E]xactly how many jobs have been or will be eliminated [on Wall Street] is unclear. In the past, banks typically made sharp reductions all at once. After the 1987 stock market crash, for example, employees were herded into conference rooms and dismissed en masse.

This time, companies are making many small cuts over the course of weeks or even months. Some people who have lost jobs, and many more struggling to hold them, say banks are keeping employees in the dark about the size and timing of layoffs.

Sound familiar, law firm associates?

Read the rest, below the fold.

That's what our colleagues over at Dealbreaker are reporting. But we just checked in with them, and they don't know whether it was an in-house lawyer at JP Morgan Chase or someone at Wachtell Lipton, JPMorgan's outside counsel on the deal. If you have more details, please email us.

P.S. If you're not familiar with what's going on here, read this earlier ATL post and this earlier Dealbreaker post, which supply the necessary background.

Update: A source at our former firm reports that "everyone at WLRK who worked on JPM/BS is still very much 'with the firm.'" This is consistent with the chatter in the comments, to the effect that the lawyer in question works in-house at JPMorgan Chase.

People Moves: Anyone Need A Lawyer? [Dealbreaker]

Earlier: Wachtell Lipton: Fallible After All?