Linklaters

Judge’s Turn To Hate On News Of The World

By Christopher Danzig

Only God can save you now, James. Not sure if he's interested, though.

It might have seemed impossible, but things have gotten worse for those involved in the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

In addition to all the other evidence against the now defunct newspaper, which was run by James Murdoch, the son of everyone’s favorite terrifying Australian media baron, new email evidence — that investigators literally pulled out of a box in an abandoned office — indicates that the younger Murdoch should have known exactly what was going on.

This isn’t a smoking gun e-mail. It’s a smoking gun, fingerprints, and well-fit glove…

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Letter from London: Can Jobless U.S. Law Grads Find Work in Britain?

By Alex Aldridge

What happens when you put thirty American lawyers in a London pub where the drinks are free for the evening? Well, let’s just say it’s rather different to what happens when thirty British lawyers are assembled in equivalent conditions.

The attendees at last week’s inaugural Benedict Arnold Society meeting for young and young-ish American lawyers in the United Kingdom, held at the Witness Box pub in the heart of London’s legal district, were impeccably behaved. No one collapsed, vomited or — in spite of my continual prying for insider information — gave away a single secret about their firms. In fact, I think I was the only one there who was drunk.

Still, my memories of at least the first part of the evening remain. What stood out was how nicely many of the assembled Yank expats had done by coming to London — be it because they had saved money on legal education costs, were enjoying heightened status due to their willingness to travel, or were appreciating the health-inducing lighter U.K. workloads.

Several had undertaken their legal studies in the U.K., thus circumventing the enormous fees charged by U.S. law schools….

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Letter from London: Expelled from Linklaters’s Gilded Cage
(Layoffs at Linklaters, at the partner level.)

By Alex Aldridge

A few months ago, one of the public relations staff at Linklaters invited me to have lunch with him in the firm’s canteen. Now, I know that if I was a client, or even a journalist of greater rank, my PR acquaintance would have probably deemed me worthy of a trip to a restaurant on the expenses account. But, hey, times are tough, so I didn’t hold it against him. And in any case, I was curious to see what a Biglaw canteen looked like.

To my surprise, it looked a lot like a school canteen. A super-deluxe school canteen, you understand, with all sorts of fancy food options, and tasteful decor, and wholesome-looking — if oddly mature — students. Having finished my generous portion of chicken curry, side salad and smoothie, I relaxed back in my chair and, looking around me, wondered how those Linklaters people stayed so slim. Then I remembered the on-site gym I’d read about somewhere, which, I assume, nestles alongside the on-site doctor, dentist, physiotherapist and dry-cleaners, deep within Linklaters’ lovely womb-like central London offices.

In that moment, I wanted to never leave. It all just felt so… safe. But was it?

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(Layoffs at Linklaters, at the partner level.)“

Letter from London: How To Squander an Empire

By Alex Aldridge

It takes a while to get over squandering an empire. As our habit of placing the prefix “Great” before “Britain” suggests, we’re still not quite there yet. But deep down we know we blew it. The evidence is everywhere: from our dentists, who don’t really know what they’re doing anymore, to our universities, which are crumbling, just like our schools, hospitals, and public transport.

Somehow, though, the U.K’s legal system has avoided being dragged into this spiral of decline. Yes, we’re still good at law — so good, in fact, that London is the top destination in the world for international companies to settle disputes, and English law the most popular among international in-house counsel (40% use it, with just 14% opting for New York law). And, in spite of the relatively tiny size of the British domestic legal market, our law firms manage to give yours a run for their money, with the Magic Circle quartet of Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Freshfields and A&O outdoing most of their U.S. rivals in terms of turnover and profits.

Doubtless part of this success stems from the fact that Britain is the home of the Common Law, which, unless some joker on Wikipedia is deceiving me, was invented around the 1150s by King Henry II. And as we saw during the April nuptials between Prince William and his bride Kate, our “Ye Olde Ingland” nostalgia sells very nicely to foreigners….

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Letter from London: On the Brink of a Double Dip?

By Alex Aldridge

Ed. note: Welcome to Letter from London, a weekly look at the U.K. legal world by our London correspondent, Alex Aldridge. Alex previously covered the London riots and the royal wedding for Above the Law.

“Thank God” Britain didn’t join the Euro, said U.K. chancellor George Osborne last month, as the debt crisis in Greece began to spread to the much larger economies of Italy and Spain. But with the fortunes of the U.K. tightly bound to the rest of Europe (its biggest trading partner), the reality is that we’ll be hit almost as hard as our single currency-sharing neighbours if, as many expect, the crisis worsens.

Last week, as I did the rounds of the U.S. law firms in London in preparation for the commencement of these regular installments from across the pond, I asked various managing partners what European debt contagion would mean for large law firms in the U.K. And, predictably, they reeled off the standard recession line about law firms being “well placed to handle the anticipated wave of restructuring work.”

Doubtless there’s some truth to this. Indeed, Skadden and Linklaters are already riding the wave, with the pair currently advising on the merger between Greece’s second- and third-largest banks. Such are the demands of the deal that much of Skadden’s relatively small London office has apparently been required to temporarily decamp to Athens.

The worry is what happens after the restructuring is complete, with experts predicting that Eurozone sovereign debt defaults could precipitate a decade-long depression. This would be especially bad for the legal profession….

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Non-Sequiturs: 05.27.11

By Elie Mystal

* And finally, a law student sues a law school for its allegedly misleading post-graduate employment information. [Law School Transparency]

* A “leading business lawyer in Germany,” reportedly a partner at Linklaters, allegedly attempts to evade paying taxes on his new lederhosen. Now is the time on Spockets when we dance. [Roll on Friday]

* Score one for anonymous emails! [Law & Technology]

Paul Simon

* DSK gears up to blame the victim. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Female lawyers arguing over women having children and taking maternity leave. I think I’m going to read this post, go with my boys to see The Hangover 2, and then hit up Rick’s. [Vault]

* First-time Tennessee bar exam takers who graduated from the University of Memphis Law School passed the bar. All of them. As Successful Troll might say, congratulations to all of the soon-to-be-employed Memphis Law grads! [The Commercial Appeal]

* A patent attorney from Drinker Biddle helps Paul Simon out with a song. [Reliable Source / Washington Post]

* Deporting immigrant same-sex partners is just cruel. [In The Arena / CNN]

Associate Bonus Watch: Linklaters Links Spring Bonuses to the S&C Scale, Not Cravath’s

By Elie Mystal

This is a little bit surprising. Not that Linklaters matched spring bonuses. We’re getting to the point that pretty much every firm that wants to be taken seriously is going to have to match spring bonuses.

No, the weird thing is that Linklaters matched the lower level of spring bonuses set by Sullivan & Cromwell, not the more generous spring bonuses adopted by Cravath (and the many firms that have rushed to join them).

Does that strike anybody else as strange? Why get into the spring bonus game at all if you can’t afford the extra thousands of dollars it takes to make a market level payment?

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Jews Versus Episcopalians

By Laurie Lin

We were somewhat surprised to learn that this actually isn’t the most depressing day of the year. That honor goes to the third Monday in January, not the first. There’s a whole mathematical formula about it. Anyway, here’s some LEWW cheer to brighten your gray Monday.

Administrative note: Signs are indicating that LEWW will soon be presenting Mr. LEWW with another heir. Wedding coverage will be scaled back somewhat while we recover from the blessed event, but you won’t care because it’s January, and nobody gets married in January.

But some got married in December — like these three couples:

1. Ellen Tobin and Todd Kaminsky

2. Rachel Laitala and Colin Greenspon

3. Mabel Hwang and Jonathan Weiss

Check out their bios and photos, after the jump.

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Lawyerly Lairs: Three Partners’ Palatial Pads

By David Lat

500 West End Avenue: former home of Tina Fey, until she sold - to a law firm partner.

After suffering through a brutal recession that was fueled, in part, by the collapse of the real estate market, you’d think that nobody would want to read about real estate ever again. But that’s not what’s happening in the blogosphere, where real estate is hotter than ever.

For example, consider Lockhart Steele’s Curbed, an excellent network of sites focused on real estate and interior design. Curbed is thriving, and it recently launched a national edition.

Above the Law readers are similarly obsessed with real estate. Is it because everyone had to take Property as 1Ls? For whatever reason, Lawyerly Lairs is one of our most popular and well-trafficked features. The last installment, a visit to the $4.7 million Chicago townhouse of outgoing Northwestern Law dean David Van Zandt, continues to be a top post (even though it dates back to before Thanksgiving).

So let’s give you more of the real estate porn you want and deserve. In today’s Lawyerly Lairs, focused on ATL’s home city of New York, we look at the recently acquired, envy-inducing residences of partners at three leading law firms: White & Case, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Linklaters.

The first featured residence even has a celebrity connection: the seller was Tina Fey, fabulous television and movie star (and Sarah Palin impersonator)….

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Fall Recruiting Open Threads: Vault 21 – 30 (2011)

By Kashmir Hill

We’re rolling through the Vault 2011 list of the “prestigiest” firms in the land, so that you can comment on what it’s like to actually live, work, and breathe those firms (when you’re not choking on all the prestige in the air).

We’ve covered #1-10 and #11-20. Here’s the next round-up. Now it’s time for the London-based Magic Circle firms to join in the elite fun:

21. Arnold & Porter
22. Shearman & Sterling
23. Boies, Schiller & Flexner
24. O’Melveny & Myers
25. Ropes & Gray
26. Morrison & Foerster
27. Munger, Tolles & Olson
28. Hogan Lovells
29. Clifford Chance
30. Linklaters

What do associates have to say about the ups and downs of life at these firms? Here are some excerpts from their Vault listings…

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My Job Is Murder: Of Beetles and Batrachotoxin

By Susanna Dokupil

My Job Is Murder.jpgEd. note: Welcome to ATL’s first foray into serial fiction. “My Job Is Murder,” a mystery set in a D.C. appellate boutique, will appear one chapter at a time, M-W-F, over the next few weeks. Prior installments appear here; please read them first.
Susanna Dokupil can be reached by email at sdokupil@sbcglobal.net or on Facebook.
Tyler slowly awoke to the sounds of the drones coming to work in the hive. He dragged himself to the men’s room, looked at the closed ceiling tiles with a smile, and straightened himself up. He planned to read his draft again, give it to Carol, and go home to get some sleep.
On the way back to his office, he saw Mark.
“Have you heard? Thrax was poisoned!” he said.
“Poisoned? How?”
“The medical examiner found batrachotoxin in his bloodstream.”
“Batracho-what?” Tyler asked.
“Batrachotoxin. The stuff in the skin of poison dart frogs that makes them poisonous.”
“Weird. Was there a frog in his office?”
“They’re in there now, checking everything for traces of the poison,” Mark replied.
“Hmm. . .” Tyler said sleepily and staggered back to his desk. He had to send that draft.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 21 – 30 (2010)

By Elie Mystal

comparing.jpgYou can still call yourself prestigious if you work at the firms that make up today’s fall recruiting open thread. But once you are outside of the Vault top 20, people start talking about “firm culture” at least as much as they talk about prestige.
Here’s the next batch:

21. Shearman & Sterling
22. O’Melveny & Myers
23. Quinn Emanuel
24. Ropes & Gray
25. Hogan & Hartson
26. Clifford Chance
27. Morrison & Foerster
28. Mayer Brown
29. Linklaters
30. Boies Schiller & Flexner

The slide continues for Shearman & Sterling. The firm was ranked #19 last year, and is down two spots this year. Is there any specific reason for the fall?
After the jump, let’s look at the firms rising up through the rankings.

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Morning Docket 08.10.09

By Kashmir Hill

yawn gets six months in prison.jpg* An Illinois judge sentenced Clifton Williams to six months in prison for yawning. Good thing Williams didn’t set off a yawn waterfall. [Chicago Tribune]
* Second Circuit reverses Judge Jed Rakoff’s decision to grant New York Times access to the Emperor’s Club wiretaps. Further embarrassment of Eliot Spitzer is not sufficient “good cause.” Here’s the decision. [Courthouse News Service]
* Layoff litigation for Linklaters? [Legal Week]
* Where the work is: practice areas that are still booming. [ABA Journal]
* Lawsuits say smartphones force hourly employees to work off the clock. [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]
* Hot recession trend: Pro se. [Los Angeles Times]

Welcome to Linklaters!

By Elie Mystal

Earlier today, we welcomed summer associates to Above the Law. It looks like Linklaters had the same idea. Here is today’s welcome memo from the firm.
linklaters sa questions.jpg
We offer some more “frequently asked questions” after the jump.

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International Layoff Watch: Linklaters? More like ‘See You Later’

By Elie Mystal

london.gifLast week, we mentioned that Linklaters was gearing up to conduct massive layoffs.

Today, The Lawyer is reporting that 270 Linklaters employees are out of a job:

Magic circle firm Linklaters has confirmed that between 100 and 120 of its City lawyers will lose their jobs as part of its so-called New World strategy, while 130 to 150 members of business services staff will also be affected.

“New World Strategy” indeed.

Linklaters is a large firm, but 270 people represent deep cuts:

The London cuts will translate to 4.8 per cent of the firm’s total workforce while 4.2 per cent of its lawyer headcount will be slashed.

Is there a country where the legal industry is thriving? Have Rosetta Stone, will travel.

Linklaters: 270 London jobs to go [The Lawyer]

Earlier: Magic Circle Meltdown: Layoffs at Allen & Overy, Linklaters, and Clifford Chance

Magic Circle Meltdown: Layoffs at Allen & Overy, Linklaters, and Clifford Chance

By Kashmir Hill

london.gifThe London-based “Magic Circle” firms may have had a strong presence on the 2008 global law firm rankings, but a few of them are off to a rough start in 2009. Earlier this month, we reported, “having already laid off 20 New York litigators, Clifford Chance today let go of 70 – 80 London lawyers.”

The layoff disease has spread to two other Magic Circle firms. Layoffs were announced in the New York office of Allen & Overy yesterday. Our sources says:

Allen & Overy just fired two paralegals and three attorneys in the NY office. These firings are said to be “performance based.” Word on the street is that there will be more, but they will come in bits and pieces to avoid bad press. Rumors have already started about other attorneys being let go in offices abroad.

[UPDATE (Jan. 26, 10:34 a.m.]: In response to our inquiry about layoffs, A&O spokesperson Jaime Bruck says, “This is nothing more than the normal management of our business. We don’t comment on the reasons for individual departures. The total # of attorneys in NY is 171.”]

And Linklaters plans layoffs soon. The Old World firm is going “New World” by axing 70 partners and 10 percent of its associates, reports The Lawyer:

Linklaters’ top management is to drastically overhaul the firm’s structure, slashing up to 70 partners and 10 per cent of associates in a bid to become a smaller, more profitable operation.

The programme, understood to be called Linklaters New World, will also see redundancies among support staff. The firm’s offices in Western Europe are thought to be most vulnerable to cuts.

Those layoffs could start as soon as February.

With the Guardian reporting that “Britain has officially entered recession for the first time since 1991,” the layoff news from London seems inevitable. But some of the firms in the circle– Freshfields and Slaughter & May– are still feeling magical. Good news from those firms, after the jump.

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Associate Bonus Watch: A Post-Holiday Round-Up

By Kashmir Hill

law firm associate bonus watch 2008 biglaw bonuses small.jpgA few bonus announcements trickled in over the holidays. Here’s a round-up of recent bonus announcements that have not yet been covered in these pages. If you have new news, e-mail us at tips@abovethelaw.com.

1. Sheppard Mullin (New York): Sheppard Mullin is paying above market rate for attorneys who racked up the hours this year. Baseline hours are 2000 in New York (and 2100 outside of New York, see below). Bonuses range from $20,000 to $70,000, plus discretionary bonuses of $20,000 to $50,000. Reaction at the firm, after the jump.

2. Sheppard Mullin (outside New York): Associates in California and D.C. had to rack up a few more hours than their NY brethren to qualify for bonuses, with 2,100 as their baseline. And their lockstep bonuses for additional hours are not as generous. Details after the jump.

3. Akin Gump (outside New York): We posted on the New York market/ half-Skadden bonuses for Akin New York associates, announced on New Year’s Eve. Associates outside of New York received an e-mail saying that “merit bonuses” will be given based on “productivity, quality of work and Firm citizenship.” Check out the e-mail, and news of a freeze watch there, after the jump.

4. Linklaters (all U.S. offices): This Magic Circle firm announced bonuses and salary increases for U.S. associates right before Christmas. The London-based firm is following Cravath’s lead, paying half-Skadden bonuses to all U.S. associates, with no hours requirement. The firm will have normal class-year raises. Per our tipster, “the firm had a good first half, including in NY, so a Latham-style salary freeze would have been pretty shocking.”

5. Arnold & Porter (New York): Associates outside of New York got individualized bonus memos last week. New Yorkers got their bonus announcement on Jan. 2. Per our tipster, “the scale was as expected, the half-Skadden, which is significantly less than the bonus in non-NY offices, but at least is “market,” unlike our salaries.” Our tipster says the first A&P paycheck of the year remains at 2008 levels.

Bonus memos galore, after the jump.

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Morning Docket 1.2.09

By Eliza Gray

hamster.jpg

* London-based law firm Linklaters was the leading law firm in mergers and acquisitions this year, taking the number 1 title from Sullivan and Cromwell. [Bloomberg]

* Former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmith says the UK should take in prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp if it will help the U.S. close the prison. [BBC News] Australia is not likely to take any prisoners says prime minister Kevin Rudd. The U.S. has asked a 100 countries to help clear the prison. [BBC News]

* Guinea pigs may smell bad but should you go to jail for owning one? Probationers in California could end up in jail for failing to report owning harmless pets like hamsters or goldfish thanks to a ruling by the California Supreme Court. [San Francisco Chronicle]

* A chinese court convicted 11 people for running a counterfeiting ring that “manufactured and distributed pirated Microsoft software throughout the world.” [The New York Times]

* Associates were not the only people in the legal community that were displeased with compensation this year. Federal judges lost their request to Congress for a pay raise to account for inflation. Chief Justice John Roberts says the frightfully low pay for judges threatens the quality of the court. [The Los Angeles Times]

* Life at law firms is not looking good for 2009, sorry to say. Lay-offs and lower bonuses will likely continue in the New Year. On the bright side–less work could help you meet that New Year’s resolution to go to the gym. [The Chicago Tribune]

Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 21-30 (2009)

By Kashmir Hill

comparing.jpgIn connection with on-campus interviewing season, we’re giving you a chance to assess the firms that made this year’s Vault 100 list of most prestigious law firms. The previous open threads listed firms in groups of five, but to up the pace, we’ll list them by ten from here on out. Here’s the next group, with prestige scores in parentheses:

21. O’Melveny & Myers LLP (6.815)
22. Clifford Chance LLP (6.772)
23. Jones Day (6.763)
24. Morrison & Foerster LLP (6.657)
25. Hogan & Hartson LLP (6.579)
26. Linklaters (6.574)
27. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (6.512)
28. Ropes & Gray LLP (6.501)
29. Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP (6.494)
30. Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (6.481)

We note Magic Circle firm Linklaters making a big leap from the high 30s in the 2008 list to #26 this year — perhaps because its “notable perks” include group retreats to Europe, a drinks trolley, and an on-site doctor and dentist.
Compare. Contrast. Discuss. Thanks.
Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads – 2009

Would you want a vacation from your Blackberry?

By Kashmir Hill

Blackberry Crackberry young addict.jpgBloggers tend to be so hyper-connected that being away from Internet service for more than two hours can feel like an eternity. Due to the numerous e-mails flying around law firms, and the expectation of rapid response, lawyers tend to have a similar connectivity addiction. The Blackberry is the sweet, sweet drug that feeds the need.
We know how dedicated you all are to your Blackberries. What if you were forced to give it up in order to really go on vacation and get away from the firm?
UK-based Linklaters is doing just that, reports Law People.

Linklaters is reported having decreed, in a fit of concern for work/life balance, that lawyers leave their Blackberrys at home while on holiday (vacation to us).The order is designed to insulate associates, in particular, from the relentless rat race for a few sweet weeks a year, according to management. “Sometimes it’s the small things that count,” one partner averred. While another lawyer confessed that “I feel naked without my Blackberry and there are times when you just have to be reachable.” Whether the firm is successful in enforcing this edict is not yet clear.

We think this will just result in compounding of guilt, as attorneys feel the shame of obsessively checking their Blackberries while “on holiday,” and the need to hide the illicit Blackberry checking from the firm. What do you think about the policy?


Blackberry Withdrawal [Law People]