To paraphrase Austin Powers, Heller Ehrman is getting to "town bicycle" status. The latest firm to take a ride through Heller's financials: Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw.

According to Am Law Daily, citing sources close to both Heller and Mayer Brown, Heller is "aggressively" pursuing other merger options, with Mayer Brown looking like the most promising match. They add:

The current talks between Mayer Brown and Heller, which began days after Heller's talks with Baker & McKenzie ended, actually represent a second effort to combine the firms.

Before anybody starts requesting new business cards, it must be noted that Heller merger rumors tend to be as bankable as that Nigerian guy who needs your account number. In the past few months, Heller has been linked to Winston & Strawn, Proskauer Rose, and Baker & McKenzie. Given that a Heller/Mayer Brown merger has fallen through before, this latest rumor could be more about smoke screen than actual fire.

Just last week, Heller announced that it was postponing start dates until after Martin Luther King Day. We'll keep you updated on Heller's continuing efforts to be saved.

Heller Ehrman, Mayer Brown In Merger Talks [Am Law Daily]

As we expected, celebrity professors Cass Sunstein and Samatha Power were the winners of last week's July Couple of the Month voting, running away with over 60 percent of the vote. Congratulations to this nerdy-hot duo!

This week's set of contestants might be the strongest we've seen this season. Their write-ups feature five Harvard degrees, a Rhodes, and one of Biglaw's most exalted surnames. Here are the names of the newlyweds:

1. Geneviève Treuille and Daniel Wachtell

2. Melissa Langsam and Todd Braunstein

3. Amanda Schwoerke and Stephen Sachs

Read more about these couples -- and see their pictures -- after the jump.

With the U.S. economy in the toilet, third tier or otherwise, law firms are building up their bankruptcy practices. They're eagerly scooping up lateral associates in the field -- and partners, too. From the American Lawyer:

A rough 18 months for Mayer Brown got a little worse on Monday, when San Francisco's Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced that Raniero "Ron" D'Aversa Jr., the co-chair of Mayer's restructuring and bankruptcy practice, would join Orrick immediately.

Considered a rising star of the bankruptcy bar, the 44-year-old D'Aversa -- whose book of business is said to exceed $5 million by sources familiar with his work and reputation -- will be based out of the New York office of Orrick. The firm placed 27th in this year's Am Law 100 rankings with gross revenues of $772,000 and profits per equity partner of $1.7 million.

Will D'Aversa be taking clients with him? There's disagreement on that score. Roger Frankel, the (kinda scary-looking) chair of Orrick's bankruptcy practice, said that "it's clear that there will be significant clients moving with him." But Mayer issued a statement claiming that "no disruption of any client relationships is expected."

Mayer Brown Loses Restructuring Chief to Orrick [American Lawyer]
Ron D'Aversa bio [Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe]
Raniero D'Aversa, Jr. bio [Mayer Brown via Google Cache]

Earlier: Job of the Week: Bankruptcy Can Be Good

In 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

Last year, Viacom filed a $1 billion suit against Google-owned YouTube, asserting widespread copyright infringement. We predicted a smackdown, and that day has come.

Viacom filed an amended complaint [PDF] last month, saying it had found over 150,000 unauthorized clips of copyrighted material on YouTube. In its answer [PDF], Google says YouTube responds properly when made aware of copyrighted content, and said Viacom's suit threatens our way of life... pretty much. From the Associated Press:

A $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit challenging YouTube's ability to keep copyrighted material off its popular video-sharing site threatens how hundreds of millions of people exchange all kinds of information on the Internet, YouTube owner Google Inc. said.

Google's lawyers made the claim in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan as the company responded to Viacom Inc.'s latest lawsuit alleging that the Internet has led to "an explosion of copyright infringement" by YouTube and others.

The back-and-forth between the companies has intensified since Viacom brought its lawsuit last year, saying it was owed damages for the unauthorized viewing of its programming from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks, including such hits as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."

It's sad that MTV no longer has the spirit of rock-and-roll rebellion and has officially become The Man.

In Google's corner are Wilson Sonsini, Mayer Brown, and Bartlit Beck. In Viacom's corner are Jenner & Block and Shearman & Sterling.

Google vows not to settle, saying it will take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary. Let the law firms rejoice!

Google: Viacom's YouTube suit threatens freedom [Associated Press]
Google's Answer To Complaint [PDF] [IP Democracy via Paid Content]
Google vows to keep fighting Viacom [Business Week]
Google Case Spells Windfall For Lawyers [Forbes]

Earlier: Coming Attractions: Viacom - YouTube - Google Smackdown

Earlier this month, a tipster sent us the following suggestion with respect to Mayer Brown:

You might consider a post about all the recent departures from Mayer Brown's Chicago office. Of course, several partners were forced out of Mayer Brown (and other firms) over the last couple of years, as you've covered, but these recent departures are different. They're either completely voluntary or those leaving are taking much more business with them than the Firm would like. In a down market, that's not good for the Firm.

There have been several small groups moving lately from different transactional groups. I know of at least three, but there are probably others. This is only in Chicago; I think that there have been others in other offices as well. Many of the defections probably arise out of continued grumbling about the ways in which the (relatively) new Managing Partners are running the Firm. Even high-producing partners with lots of clients aren't seeing the compensation benefits from the harsh cuts the Management Committee has been making.

Perhaps our tipster contacted the National Law Journal, too. In the latest issue, Lynne Marek reports (subscription):

Mayer Brown slowed repayment of departing partners' capital investments in recent months as the firm faced unpaid client bills and an outflow of money tied to exiting U.S. partners.

Last summer, Mayer Brown leaders changed firm policy to take up to six months to return departing partners' capital investments — which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars per lawyer — instead of handing it back immediately, said former partners who asked not to be identified.

The firm declined to comment, saying only that capital is returned in accordance with the partnership agreement.

Interesting -- although it's probably premature to shed tears for the outgoing Mayer Brown partners. If they're leaving one of the country's most prestigious and profitable firms (2006 PPP: $1.135 million) to join a similarly situated firm, they probably have enough in the bank to tide themselves over until their capital contributions come back. Furthermore, as noted later in the piece, some firms take as long as two years to return capital investments to departing partners. Six months doesn't seem like such a big deal by comparison.

More discussion, after the jump.

The powers-that-be at Mayer Brown have made their decisions on bonus and salary adjustments, as announced in an email last night. And it appears that they've taken a page from the Dechert playbook, according to one associate:

"The second paragraph [of the memo] is a shock. We were never informed of financial ramifications for failing to enter our time."

It might be slightly annoying, but it's the growing trend. Expect more firms to adopt policies that tie compensation to timely time entry. Email exhortations without financial consequences don't seem to be very effective.

(And it's arguably not that big an imposition. You already slave away at the firm for ten or twelve hours a day -- so what's another five minutes at the end, to enter your time before heading home? It's just a matter of getting into the habit of doing it, instead of letting a backlog build up.)

The Mayer Brown memo, after the jump.

These announcements aren't the most exciting things to read (or report on). But we've spoken to a number of associates and law students, especially women, who follow them closely. So we'll continue posting them (and they're easy to skip over anyway).

The latest law firm to improve its parental leave policy is Mayer Brown. Check out their memo, issued earlier today, after the jump.

The Magic Circle law firm of Allen & Overy, defendant in Schoenfeld v. Allen & Overy, has just filed its Answer (PDF). They're hoping to make Norman Schoenfeld's claims disappear. Schoenfeld, an observant Jewish lawyer who once worked at the firm, alleges that A&O discriminated and retaliated against him as a result of his observing the Sabbath.

We contacted the firm for comment. Here is their statement:

Allen & Overy denies all allegations of discrimination. This person's employment was terminated based solely on performance within his orientation period, a trial period of time mandated for all employees. He also failed to disclose to Allen & Overy the fact of his previous employment at another law firm.

Our firm has a strict written policy prohibiting any form of discrimination, and we provide all new employees and partners training in both diversity awareness and harassment prevention. Over the past several years, we have also instituted live diversity training for all of our existing attorneys and managers. We will vigorously defend our proud reputation of diversity and inclusion and are confident of a positive outcome for Allen & Overy with respect to these allegations.

More discussion, including interesting information from tipsters, after the jump.

Update (5/9/08): The case is settling. See here.

Here's an open thread request we've received from multiple sources. A representative message:

I'm trying to gather more info about firms / offices that pay NYC salary + NYC bonus in secondary markets. For example, I believe that Weil and Skadden both do in Dallas and Houston, but none of the other firms in Texas do. I don't know if you've done a post about this before, but I think it might be interesting, because $205K goes really far in TX.

Skadden Wilmington is another possible example.

That's correct about Skadden in Wilmington. Another well-paying secondary market: Charlotte. A CLT tipster tells us: "Mayer Brown, Dechert, Dewey, and Cadwalader have all increased salaries to $160K here in Charlotte."

Hold on a sec -- Cadwalader? Didn't they just lay off 35 lawyers, including some in Charlotte?

Yes, they did -- but they also raised salaries for the survivors. More after the jump.

In last month's ATL / Lateral Link survey we asked you which holidays you worked on, or expected to work on, during 2007. About half of you reported that you had worked on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Last week, we asked you how you fared this year. Did you take the day off to honor a champion of civil rights, or did you make it a "day on"?

We received just under 1,300 responses, and 44% of you reported that you took the day off. Associates in New York, Los Angeles and Boston were most likely to celebrate the holiday, while associates in Chicago, Atlanta, the Bay Area, and Texas were most likely to be working. (Respondents in the Bay Area were also most likely to work over Christmas and New Year's. Is it time for them to get New York bonuses?)

How did it break down on a firm by firm basis? DLA Piper, Milbank, Sidley & Austin, Dechert, Hunton & Williams, Jones Day, Latham, Mayer Brown, McDermott, Hughes Hubbard, McGuire Woods, Morgan Lewis, Nixon Peabody, Paul Hastings, and Sullivan & Cromwell each had multiple happy associates who reported that they had taken the day off. Kirkland & Ellis, Baker Botts, Dewey & LeBoeuf, O'Melveny & Myers, Weil, and Winston & Strawn each had mixed responses. Associates at Skadden, however, uniformly reported that they had worked the holiday, as Martin Luther King Jr. day is a "floating" holiday for the firm.

Of those who spent the day at the office, about 54% reported that they weren't actually asked to work the holiday, but had things they needed to get done. About a quarter reported that their offices were open. Another quarter said that partners told them to work on the holiday. About 8% were asked to work by clients. A surprising number of respondents wrote in that other associates had told them to work on the holiday.

A little over a third of respondents who worked on the holiday thought that the work did not justify the sacrifice.

Back in December -- around the holidays, so many of you may have missed it -- we wrote about Schoenfeld v. Allen & Overy. It's a lawsuit brought by Norman Schoenfeld, an observant Jewish lawyer who once worked in the New York office of Allen & Overy. Schoenfeld claims, among other things, that A&O discriminated and retaliated against him as a result of his observing the Sabbath.

Since then, we've received many requests for updates. This message is representative:

"Is there any news on this lawsuit? As a Sabbath observant 2L, this is of interest to me and many of my friends. A post on ATL providing an update would be appreciated. Love the site. Thanks."

We're not aware of any procedural developments in the case. And we sadly didn't receive much in response to our request for firsthand information about Norman Schoenfeld or Allen & Overy in New York. Here's the most interesting tip we received -- some opinions from an A&O associate:

"That this suit goes on is beyond anyone here at A&O. I did not know this Schoenfeld guy much for the five minutes he worked here and don't know if his complaint has merit. I will say this though: associates don't want to work with Mark Wojciechowski and are asking not to work with him."

"He told A&O he was bringing associates from Mayer Brown; MB associates refused to come work with him. Better to stay on a sinking ship like MB NY than work for a nightmare like Mark Woj...."

"No one can understand how firm management let this happen (rumor is that A&O already fired their first outside counsel). Recruitment of NY lawyers is badly affected and we just wait to see how much this costs the firm in damages (and associates of course since all s**t gets passed down - you know the partners won't take the hit in their pocket)."

We contacted the firm for comment, but they didn't have anything to add.

If you have any firsthand information to pass along about the events in question, please email us. Thanks.

Complaint: Norman Schoenfeld v. Allen & Overy (PDF)

Earlier: Lawsuit of the Day: The Jewish Version of Charney v. S&C?

The recruiting season for 2Ls -- scooped up by law firms eager to hire them as summer associates, fatten them up at fancy lunches, and get them addicted to a luxury lifestyle -- is pretty much over. So now is a good time to take stock of who fared well (and who didn't).

From a tipster at Sidley Austin (New York):

On its internal site for new summers, the firm releases the list of incoming 2008 summer associate class. It is 38 people long, and one has to assume hiring has likely ended. The list from last year was accessible until recently, and that list was 62 people long. Additionally, NALP data shows the firm's NYC office had 58 and 54 summers in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

The significant drop in number of incoming summer associates this summer may be a proxy for the economic health of the firm. In a way, it is positive, because it indicates a proactive measure on the part of firm. That is, they aren't going to risk bringing aboard more summers than they can hire; chances of not getting an offer due to a downturn in business are much lower.

That's an optimistic take. Most people would read a drop in summer associate class size as a sign of declining recruiting appeal or "mojo" among law students. Saint-cum-superman Barack Obama met his wife while summering at Sidley. Was that fact not enough to sway recruits?

Update: We have contacted the firm for comment and are waiting to hear back from them.

Here are some other things we've been hearing (mere rumors, so take with a grain of salt):

1. Wiley Rein: vastly oversubscribed, perhaps due to their topping the Am Law 100 in profits per partner, thanks to the RIM / Blackberry settlement.

2. Wachtell Lipton: our former firm, which we shamelessly plug in these pages, is also hosting a much larger summer class than usual. Office space could become an issue.

3. Kirkland & Ellis: a somewhat lower yield than usual. Some people blame us, but we've offered both sides of the story. We also give K&E lots of props around here for their generous bonuses (and awesome summer associates).

So, if you know: How did your firm do in the summer associate sweepstakes? Please discuss, in the comments (or send us email if you prefer). Thanks.

Further Update: Some tips we received via email, after the jump.

Time for some quick follow-up on yesterday's intriguing email about "an exciting, transformational event" for Mayer Brown. As we speculated, the big news is a merger announcement.

From an article by Ameet Sachdev the Chicago Tribune:

Mayer Brown plans to announce Friday an agreement to join forces with a large Hong Kong firm in a deal that would dramatically expand the Chicago law firm's Asian presence, the Chicago Tribune has learned.

Mayer Brown is teaming up with Johnson, Stokes & Master, one of Hong Kong's oldest law firms known for its stellar reputation in banking and finance, also a strength of Mayer's.

Note that it's "Stokes," not "Strokes." A firm named "Johnson, Strokes & Master" surely would have made this list of funny law firm names. In Asia, the firm will be known as Mayer Brown JSM (which mercifully contains no "i"; but note that "jism" is a legitimate word, and a good way to get rid of your "J" if you enjoy online Scrabble, as we do).

An ATL source at the firm reports:

We just got out of the worldwide meeting they had for associates and counsel, and I thought it was pretty exciting. In its presentations in the past, it has always mentioned that it wanted to have a significant Asia presence. They said that JSM was one of the top law firms in Asia, and the complementary mix of practice groups and clients will lead to lots of "synergies" (that was the big buzz word).

Something you might find interesting -- they put up a new chart ranking law firms by worldwide revenue. We jumped from 13th (with $1.1bn) to 10th (with $1.35bn). JSM last year had about $130 million in revenue on only 41 partners. I'm pretty psyched about it....

Despite $1.3 billion in revenue and 1800 lawyers, the merged firm plans to expand further. From the Financial Times:

The firms expect to grow substantially after the merger. Mr Holzhauer projects annual revenue to hit $2bn ”very quickly” and Ms Lo predicts earnings of $4bn within two to three years. ”This kind of growth cannot be obtained by just organic growth alone,” said Ms Lo.

Up to now, Mayer Brown’s Asia presence has been limited to one office in Hong Kong and a representative office in Beijing. JSM, whose clients include HSBC, Bank of China and Cathay Pacific, has 200 lawyers in mainland China, but none outside Asia.

Meanwhile, in other MB news, the firm just announced New York bonuses. Memo after the jump.

Mayer Brown to merge with big Hong Kong firm [Chicago Tribune]
Mayer Brown merging with Hong Kong’s JSM [Financial Times]

Earlier: Mayer Brown Is A Woman Now

Still no bonus announcement from Mayer Brown. But check out this intriguing email, sent out in the last hour:

From: D'Esposito, Jr., Julian C.
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 12:41 PM
To: FW-Assocs; FW-Cnsl
Cc: Holzhauer, James D.; Geller, Kenneth S.; Maher, Paul; Favoriti, Gail A.; Pepper, Margery; Madden, Emilie S.; Dabrowski, Heidi M.; Reichert, Kathleen S.; Harris, Robert; Staiano, David; Couleur, Nancy Jo; Belic, Indira; Burdett, Shannon T.; Burkes, Eugenia; Corby, Candice; Harris, Russell; Holthaus, John H.; Kennedy, Clinton D.; Kislow, Connie; Ku, Alice; Loessl, Angela-Katrin; Tulic, Vesna; Watson, John; Wells, Stephen R.

Subject: Firmwide Meeting on Friday, December 21

Please plan to attend a Firmwide video presentation by the office of the Chairman on December 21 that will describe an exciting, transformational event for the Firm. The meeting will begin promptly at 8am PST, 10am CST, 11 am EST, 2pm BRST, 4 GMT, 5 CET and 12 am Saturday HKST. The Director of Administration will inform you of the location of the meeting in your office. If you are out of the office, there will be a limited number of dial-in lines, the number for which can be obtained from the DoA. You should receive an Outlook calendar notice of this meeting later today.

____________________________________________
Julian C. D'Esposito
Mayer Brown LLP
71 S. Wacker
Chicago, IL 60606

What could this "exciting, transformational event" be? We assume it's not the recent indictment of partner Joseph Collins, since that's already public.

Maybe a merger is in the works? It wouldn't be the first in the firm's history. The firm's former name, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, reflected the merger of U.S.-based Mayer, Brown & Platt with U.K.-based Rowe & Maw.

Update: One tipster speculates:

I have no idea, but it is of course intriguing. Maybe we're going public. (That would apply only to the English LLP of course. I think that it may be possible in the future but hadn't seen any change in the law that would allow it now.)

So maybe it's a merger. Or possibly the "exciting" change is that they are not going to give bonuses any more.

That would be "exciting" news -- to rival firms, looking to raid the ranks of Mayer Brown lawyers.

Further Update: We've learned that tonight is the holiday party for the New York office. And still no word about bonuses...

We 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

Our series about fringe benefits / perks rolls on. Today we're going to talk about a topic that has surfaced previously, but hasn't received a dedicated post of its own: flextime and telecommuting.

We'll kick things off with an interesting article that's all about, well, some firms' LACK of flexibility when it comes to arrival times:

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw recently asked securitization associates in its New York City office to be at their desks by 10 a.m. Actually, 9:30 a.m. would be even better, says that office’s partner-in-charge, Brian Trust.

According to the request, which took the form of a memo, some partners and, surprisingly, “several associates” were concerned that their colleagues were physically absent during “normal business hours.”

Not so surprising was the reaction the memo got when it ultimately made its way to legal news Web sites and blogs. “When you stop giving us assignments at 6 p.m. that require us to be there until midnight because you’re totally disorganized, we’ll come in at 9 a.m. or whenever you want,” fumed one writer who posted on the Wall Street Journal’s blog. “Other than that, shut your trap, collect your quarterly profits and let us handle our business.”

When we worked at McDonald's years ago, we had to punch in and punch out. But Mayer Brown isn't exactly Mickey D's.

Discussion continues after the jump.

We have heard from the subjects of a couple of today's posts, and would like to post a couple of clarifications based on what they told us.

First, a source from Davis Polk wants to make it very clear that the marriage bonuses are not "bonuses" per se, but are instead gifts from the partnership, which always happen to be in the exact amount of $500.

Second, we stated in the Mayer Brown post that the firm had not commented on the examiner's report in the Refco case. We made that statement based on the fact that two online sources reporting on the case had reported that Mayer Brown had not commented at that time. The statement was not based on any specific request for comment from ATL. However, we now have received an official statement from Mayer Brown, and it is posted in its entirety after the jump.

Earlier: Does It Pay to Be Married In Biglaw?
Court-Appointed Examiner Blows The Whistle on Mayer Brown In Refco Case

This can't help the whole equity partner situation at Mayer Brown.

A court-appointed examiner in the Refco bankruptcy case has there are grounds to sue Mayer Brown for malpractice in the case. Ernst & Young and Weil might be on the hook too, but these are "close calls" according to the examiner (with the obvious implication that with Mayer Brown it is not a close call). This from a Reuters article on the report from the examiner, Joshua Hochberg:

Hochberg filed his report with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan. His recommendations could provide grounds for lawsuits by Refco creditors, many of whom received only a fraction of the amounts they claimed they were owed.

Hochberg is a partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP in Washington, D.C. specializing in white-collar crime. He used to head the fraud unit of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Mayer Brown has not commented.

Earlier:
Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw-ling: Getting Too Far in Front of the Story?
Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw-ling: A Bit of Backstory

The associate pay raise memo for the D.C. office of Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw, authenticated for us by a source at the firm, appears after the jump.

We have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the memos, posted in the comments, that appear to be from Mayer Brown's offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. So it would seem that the firm has raised to the $160K scale in Washington, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

But if you can confirm them for us, please do so by email. Thanks.

(You don't have to email us from your work account. A message from your personal, non-work email account -- but disclosing your real name, so we can look you up on the firm website -- is sufficient confirmation.)

P.S. Hopefully the firm won't have to drop the ax on more deadweight partners to pay for these raises.

Update: The Mayer Chicago memo has been authenticated. We have posted it after the jump.

Further Update: The Mayer L.A. memo is legit. It's also posted after the jump.