Kirkland & Ellis

Musical Chairs: High Profile Kirkland Hire Draws Criticism

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Michael Garcia new Kirkland Partner.jpgWhen you have a chance to hire a high profile U.S. attorney from the Southern District, it’s a move you almost have to make. Kirkland & Ellis snapped up U.S. attorney Michael Garcia, who is best known for his role in hounding “Client #9″ out of town.

Garcia could make between $3 million and $4 million at Kirkland (sure, it’s the associates who are “greedy”), but it appears that not all of the partners were aware that there would be a new guy feeding at the trough. The Daily Beast reports:

Garcia’s sudden move to Kirkland & Ellis was engineered by executive committee member Jay Lefkowitz–a high-powered neoconservative who authored President Bush’s stem cell research policy and was once considered to serve as White House chief of staff. It caught many senior partners there by surprise. “Normally it would certainly be a plum to pick up a U.S. attorney, but frankly it’s disappointing when you first hear about it reading the morning New York Times,” one senior partner in the New York office told me.

On the one hand new partner hiring is not like elementary school. Not everybody gets to play. However, if hiring Garcia had been talked about more widely at Kirkland, perhaps more of his critics would have tried to stop it.

And Garcia does have a lot of critics. More after the jump.

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Kirkland & Ellis Sends Holiday Party Reminder:
K&E Associates Send Bonus Reminder

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kirkland ellis logo.JPGKirkland & Ellis sent out one over-the-top holiday party reminder, yesterday. They made the planned festivities sound so great that I briefly missed the feeling bourgeois accomplishment that comes from working in Biglaw in Manhattan. Take a look at some of the highlights:

The Holiday Party is this Thursday, and we are expecting about 530 people to attend!

The Plaza

For the first time the party will be held at The Plaza, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. The Plaza has just gone through an historic restoration and the event spaces are more beautiful than ever. Our party occupies three of the most famous

rooms: The Palm Court, The Terrace Room, and the Terrace Room Foyer.

Unlike previous years, the entire party space will be open from start to finish. Drinks and passed hors d’oeuvres will be served at 6:00 p.m., the buffets will open at 7:00 p.m., with the skit, raffle and Employee Recognition Award being presented around 7:30 p.m.

Even a law student knows that a lawyer’s life is not glamorous. But occasionally, when you get your ticket punched by Biglaw, you get to act like you’re respected and important. Every now and again the yuppie dream becomes a physical reality.

More party details and a reality check after the jump.

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K&E Associates Send Bonus Reminder”

Kirkland & Ellis New Vacation Policy: Tastes Great, But Is It Less Filling?

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kirkland ellis logo.JPGThe associates who work at Kirkland & Ellis remain sublimely confident that their firm will pay elite bonuses as opposed to the discount payouts being offered elsewhere.

But in these uncertain economic times, any change in firm policy — even one that seems positive — has to be met with skepticism.

Yesterday, our inbox started buzzing as various Kirkland tipsters let us know that the firm has undertaken a massive change in associate vacation policy. At first blush, the revised policy seems … awesome:

Instead of providing attorneys with a fixed number of vacation days each year, our revised policy will permit attorneys to take time off with pay – for rest and relaxation, or to attend to personal matters – at their discretion, subject only to the Firm’s overall performance expectations. Those performance expectations include, most importantly, that our lawyers will provide the highest quality legal work and service to our clients, contribute to the Firm’s pro bono programs and participate in non-billable efforts on behalf of the Firm. The revised policy aligns our associate paid time-off protocol with our long-standing practice for partners. We also feel it is consonant with both our Firm’s entrepreneurial culture and our associates’ desire to manage their own careers and maintain a suitable work/life balance.

Some associates would undoubtedly prefer to have a fixed amount of vacation time to which they are “entitled.” But most people enjoy being treated like adults with the maturity to manage their responsibilities. People know how to manage their own time better than law firm managers (wow, I just made a federalist argument).

After the jump, Kirkland associates weigh in on the full memo.

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Morning Docket 12.01.08

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small paris.jpg* Paris isn’t the only Hilton getting in trouble for sex. The former manager of a restaurant in the Hilton Minneapolis is suing the Hilton for “undirected” sexual harrassment because he walked in on upper management having an orgy. [Courthouse News Service]

* GMAC LLC, the financing arm of General Motors, is not allowing holders of so-called SmartNotes to exchange thier notes for more secure bonds. The exchange, which the company is offering as a ploy to get some of the bail-out money, is “limited to institutional notes and does not include retail debt instruments.” This means that holders of SmartNotes may get nothing if the company goes bankrupt, which could lead to some serious law suits. [Bloomberg.com]

* Lawyers: 1, bankers: 0. Former bankruptcy lawyer James H.M. Sprayregen is returning to Kirkland & Ellis after a three-year stint in the restructuring group at Goldman Sachs. The decision represents a triumph for corporate lawyers in their long standing rivalry against financiers. [The New York Times]

* Protestors in Thailand have concentrated their efforts on the airports in anticipation of a court verdict Tuesday that will likely order the Somchai’s People Power Party to disband. [Reuters]

* A plea-deal has been offered to an 8-year-old boy in Arizona, who confessed to killing his father and another man. [ABC News]

* The Federal Trade Commission is stopping the merger of two software companies because of the potential loss of competition. Capitalism will prevail! [Courthouse News Service]

If the Big Three Fall, Which Law Firms Rise?

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Gleaming tower of cars.JPGAre we going to have a domestic auto manufacturing industry in 2009? Nobody knows. But just in case the government doesn’t bail out Detroit, law firms are jockeying to work on the bankruptcy.

AmLaw Daily reports that three firms are the early favorites to capture the bankruptcy work: Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Kirkland & Ellis, and Skadden.

Timothy Pohl, part of Skadden’s ruling class, sounds confident that his firm is in the running:

Pohl says Skadden has historically done work for former Chrylser owner Daimler, which sold 80 percent of Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in 2007 for $7.4 billion. Skadden also does work for Ford, says Pohl, adding that the firm has yet to be contacted by either automaker.

“I’m not convinced that any [of the Big Three] are hiring advisers yet,” Pohl says. “But between us, Kirkland, and Weil, I’d say that the three of us have the largest [bankruptcy and restructuring] groups with a big falloff after that.”

Obviously both Skadden and Kirkland have the chops to handle the work, but isn’t the real question “Why not Weil?”

It’s uncertain whether a potential Big Three bankruptcy might present a similar problem for Weil–and how the firm would manage to juggle its Lehman, Lenox, and other client obligations in the event of such a resource-draining retention. That’s especially true given that it’s unclear whether a potential Big Three filing would proceed on a liquidation track (a la Lehman) or as an infinitely more complicated corporate restructuring.

At some point, Weil has to run out of bankruptcy lawyers. Right?

On Kirkland, after the jump.

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Open Thread: Downsizing the Perks

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tightening the belt.jpgWhen we did our series of Vault 100 open threads in the summer, Biglaw insiders shared insights into office culture, with much touting of work perks at various firms. These days, attorneys can brag if their firms are not among those laying associates off.

Reuters reports on perk cutbacks in the finance world, such as the elimination of business-class travel and free sodas in the office fridge. On ATL, we reported in October that K&L Gates was eliminating ABA dues payments and switching to one-ply toilet paper. (This was followed by news this month of staff layoffs).

A tipster from Kirkland & Ellis tells us the New York office is downsizing breakfast:

i know this is a little obnoxious because lots of other firms don’t have breakfast at all, but we at kirkland ny are pretty proud of our breakfast spreads: tropicana if you get in early enough, bagels, fruit, yogurt, and fancy nature’s path cereals with flax and berries and stuff. so imagine our shock and horror when we saw this hidden away in the weekly memo:

NEW BREAKFAST MENU

Beginning November 17, the breakfast menu will be changed to fresh fruit and bagels. In order to make sure there is enough for all, additional numbers of each item will be provided. We may find that the ratio of bagels to fruit needs to be adjusted to best meet preferences. Please let Pam Grazia at extension 3179 know if that is the case in the pantry on your floor.

its not the loss of the yogurt and cereal, although that does hurt. its more the sneaky way it was hidden in the memo that nobody reads!

While firms are unlikely to cut back on big perks like parental leave, this is a time for tightening the belt in other areas. We say: Better the loss of the granola than the loss of the librarian.

Are you seeing perk erosion at your firm? What is being cut back? What should be cut back? (Our Kirkland tipster tells us NY associates still get the $350 office art budget.)

Unsold Ferraris, no free drinks as crisis spikes [Reuters]

Those aren’t my Herpes… Then whose Herpes are they?

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Frederick Tanne Kirkland Ellis.jpgIn September, Kirkland & Ellis partner Frederick Tanne sued his wife, her lover, and her father for giving him herpes. (We mentioned this lawsuit in passing in Morning Docket at the time of the complaint, and many of you complained about the item not getting its own post. Well, here you go!)

Tanne claimed to have discovered his wife’s infidelity when he found herpes-treatment medicine in their bathroom. According to the New York Post, Tanne got tested for herpes and “discovered he was infected with the incurable virus.” He sued his wife, accusing her of multiple extramarital affairs, and seeking compensation for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.

Mrs. Tanne’s dad is a doctor, and prescribed the herpes medication Valtrex to her. He denied his daughter had an affair. His explanation:

[Amy Tanne's father, Samuel] Messing denied that his daughter was infected.

“My daughter does not have genital herpes,” he said. “This is pure nonsense. I prescribed Valtrex for a cold sore on her lip. She never had a cold sore until she married him.”

He also denied that his daughter ever had an affair.

“He just wants to make things difficult for my family,” Messing said.

The doctor may be a reliable expert witness. The embarrassing twist in the case, after the jump.

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 10.19-11.2: Twin Souls

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We’re back with our second installment of the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch in as many days. Enjoy, and have a happy, happy Friday.

Behold, the most outstanding legal lovebirds from the past three weeks:

champagne glasses small.jpg

1. Brenda Zelin and Kyle Williams

2. Alyssa Greenwald and Edward Wittenstein

3. Erik Hyman and Max Mutchnick

4. Jamie Bartholomew and Steven Aller

Evaluate the worthiness of these couples, after the jump.

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Open Thread: Special Hours at Your Firm?

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The Chicago office of Kirkland & Eliis is taking an extraordinary step for a major law firm. They are closing early:

kirkland ellis logo.JPGThe Chicago office will have an early closure tomorrow, November 4, to ensure the safety of our occupants as large crowds are anticipated in the area. Senator Obama is expected to be staying at the nearby Hyatt Hotel and Senator Biden is expected to be at the Fairmont. Street closures are rolling depending on crowd size, but are not known fully at this time. Columbus is already closed. Therefore, we are cancelling both our 2nd and 3rd shifts tomorrow and will shut down our offices at 3:30 p.m. Shuttle buses begin service at 2:35 p.m.

All employees must check with their supervisor, attorney or manager before departing. Please contact your manager or supervisor with questions. Normal operations resume at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, November 5. Thank you.

“Safety?” Does K&E think Obama supporters might start eating Biglaw associates?

The email isn’t specifically directed at lawyers, but if the concerns are great for support staff, attorneys must be similarly “at risk.”

Are any other Chicago area firms genuflecting to Obama today? Are any (ahem) Arizona firms making sure they stay out of McCain’s way? Let us know.

Debate Night At Kirkland & Ellis

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kirkland ellis logo.JPGPundits and news junkies aren’t the only people talking about presidential politics these days. Some attorneys want to add their two cents as well.

We saw earlier what happened when Orrick attorneys used the firm-wide email list to espouse political views. But Jack Levin, a partner at K&E Chicago, apparently felt that he had learned from the Orrick situation. He sent around what can only be described as a partner’s version of a “HTH” firm-wide email:

From: Jack Levin

Sent: 10/07/2008 03:31 PM CDT

To: #FW Attorneys

Subject: Federal income taxes

In case clients ask you about likely tax policy for high-income folks should Obama be elected, I briefly summarize below Obama’s tax positions(announced 8/14/08) with respect to income tax on high end folks.

This memo is not intended to solicit votes or contributions to any particular candidate, but simply to permit you to converse knowledgeably with clients about Obama tax positions:

* Individual long-term capital gain (“LTCG”) top rate 20%, same as under President Bill Clinton.

* Individual dividend income top rate 20%, same as LTCG, lower than Clinton administration when dividends were taxed at ordinary income (“OI”) rates up to 39.6%.

* Individual OItop rate 39.6%, same as under President Clinton.

* Social security(FICA) payroll tax — currently imposed on individual’s compensation up to $102,000 per year (which amount increases slightly each year with inflation) at 12.4% rate (half on employer and half on employee) — Obama proposes no change for a decade and then (if necessary to save social security system) tax between 2% and 4% (half on employer and half on employee) on individual’s compensation in excess of $250,000 per year.

JSL

Is this useful information that the whole firm needs to know?

Mr. Levin failed to remind his K&E colleagues that he had previously been outed by Law.com as an Obama tax policy adviser:

At Kirkland, appellate and litigation head Christopher Landau is a member of McCain’s Justice Advisory Committee, while partner Jack Levin advises Obama on tax policy and Jewish community relations.

Reaction pours in from around the firm after the jump.

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 9.21: I’ll Meltdown With You

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champagne glasses small.jpgEven as the national economy teeters on the brink of collapse, Wall Street’s elite continue to flock to the altar. Click here, here, and here, and imagine what this month has been like for these people. Getting married is stressful enough; we can’t imagine doing it while at the center of a financial meltdown.

In other random New York observations, both of the city’s baseball stadiums will close their doors this fall. Last Sunday’s final game in Yankee Stadium was celebrated with a Sports Illustrated cover and wall-to-wall coverage on ESPN. This Sunday’s game could be the last in Shea Stadium, and the New York Times marks the occasion with a gripping piece on how pilots landing at La Guardia won’t be able to use the place as a landmark anymore.

Here are this week’s couples:

1. Jean Park and Albert Cho

2. Trinity Jackman and Joshua Harlan

3. Edward Pierce and Robert Saltzman

More about our finalists, after the jump.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 6-10 (2009)

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comparing.jpgWe’re back with the next installment of open threads on the Vault 100 law firms.
A particularly insightful comment from the last post on the top five firms:

[Davis Polk & Wardwell] and [Sullivan & Cromwell] do very similar work. DPW has a stronger underwriters’ practice, Sullivan is marginally better on the issuer side. DPW is much stronger than anyone at converts. Sullivan does more edgy contested M&A while DPW excels at deals with cutting edge securities components.

Sullivan is a slightly better place to work than its reputation. DPW generally lives up to its strong rep as a good place to work.

Now on to the next five from Vault, with their prestige scores in parentheses:

6. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (7.985)
7. Latham & Watkins LLP (7.784)
8. Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP (7.754)
9. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (7.623)
10. Kirkland & Ellis LLP (7.473)

The most notable of “notable perks” in this batch is at Kirkland, where NYC associates get a “$350 office art budget” (previously reported here). Can associates use the money to commission work from their toddlers?
Please compare and contrast the firms in the comments. We’ll continue to work our way down the Vault list in future threads.
The Top 100 Most Prestigious Law Firms [Vault]
Earlier: Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 1-5 (2009)