As we mentioned earlier this week, Steve Sanders — a fourth-year associate at Mayer Brown, no relation to the 90210 character — argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

When we emailed him on Wednesday to set up an interview, we received this rather straightforward Out of Office message:

I’ll be traveling on client and professional business Monday, 11/2 through Saturday, 11/7. I will have access to email, but my response may be delayed. Thanks.

How modest! If we had been in Sanders’s shoes, we would have used this Out of Office auto-reply:

Oyez, bitchez!!! Today I’m arguing before the freakin’ Supreme Court of the United States.
Later, haters!!!

But that’s not Steve Sanders’s style. He is dignified and professional, as we discovered when we caught up with him by phone after his argument.

As we mentioned in our recent open thread on appellate work, Mayer Brown has one of the best appellate and Supreme Court practices in the country. The firm is also known for being rather democratic when distributing SCOTUS arguments; they tend to spread the argument wealth around, instead of funneling all the arguments to a single prominent advocate.

Make that very democratic about doling out SCOTUS arguments. Today Steve Sanders, a fourth-year associate in Mayer’s Chicago office, argued the case of Pottawattamie County v. McGhee before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Of course, Biglaw associates have appeared before the high court before. E.g., Lindsay Harrison of Jenner & Block, who also argued — and won — her first case at One First Street. But one thing that’s unusual about Pottawattamie County is that it’s a paying case, not a pro bono matter.

Sanders has some serious opposition. Read more, after the jump.

Although we focus on Biglaw in these pages, our recent open threads on small (or at least smaller) law firms, centered around different areas of practice, have been very well-received. So we’ll continue the series. To look at the past threads, click here and scroll down; to suggest a topic to us, please email us (subject line: “Small Law suggestion”).

Today we turn our attention to APPELLATE LAW. This field is near and dear to our heart, since we clerked for a federal appellate judge and focused on appeals during our time in the U.S. Attorney’s Office. If you enjoy research, writing and arguing more than document review and discovery hell, and if you are as lazy as we are more of a “law” person than a “facts” person, then appellate work may be for you.

Unfortunately, there aren’t that many appellate boutiques out there. It’s not easy to build a practice around 100 percent appeals work. Many top appellate practitioners can be found in the Washington offices of large firms, where they can be roped into law-heavy work in the trial courts (e.g., summary judgment motions). Biglaw shops with leading appellate and Supreme Court practices include Gibson Dunn, Mayer Brown, Jones Day, Sidley Austin, and WilmerHale. Check out the Chambers and Partners list of top appellate shops for additional examples.

UPDATE: One appellate practitioner pointed out to us that you can do appellate work for a large firm outside D.C. as well (especially in this age of telecommuting). For example, Jones Day and Mayer Brown have sizable presences in New York (and other cities).

There are opportunities to do appellate work outside the big firm environment too. Read more, after the jump.

Our inaugural Law Firm Swag Contest was about quality rather than quantity. We had just four entries, but they were goodies.

Eschewing trinkets and baubles, K&L Gates took the high road, urging recruits to change their world through an innovative website. Perkins Coie went green, arranging for trees to be planted in honor of interviewees. And who doesn’t like a customized iPod, the swag doled out by Dobrowski LLP, the Texas litigation boutique?

But in the end, dear readers, you voted with your feet. Following in the footsteps of the “Sex and the City” gals, or maybe Imelda Marcos, you made it all about the shoes. The customized Nike footwear doled out by Mayer Brown scored a runaway victory, with over 55 percent of the 2,100 votes.

Props to the person in the Mayer recruiting office who came up with the brilliant idea for this Niketown summer associate event. If you’re looking for new running shoes — or, for that matter, the opportunity to do appellate litigation in New York — then sprint in the direction of Mayer Brown!

Earlier: Law Firm Swag Contest: The Finalists
ATL Contest: Best Law Firm Swag of 2009

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times. We received a whopping four (4) entries in our inaugural law firm swag contest. Is law firm swag, like subsidized soda or staff attorney programs, another casualty of the recession?

But if we cancel the contest, then the terrorists win. So, onward!

We realize, of course, that not everyone approves of swag. See, e.g., this comment:

This is fairly disgusting…. I find this article particularly untimely, given that most law students are struggling to find good jobs, and many practicing attorneys are struggling just to keep the jobs they have.

Jeez, commenter 58 — lighten up! Considering that we cover law firm layoffs in excruciating detail, to the point where many accuse us of doomsaying and fearmongering, we are aware of the tough job market. But, even in the Great Recession, some people are still getting offers — along with a little swag to sweeten the pot. So what’s wrong with some fun to balance out the gloom?

In defense of law firm schwag, here’s a trend worth noting: “going green.” Firms are trying to be environmentally conscious in their swag selections, as well as more socially responsible in general. This may make schwag less “disgusting” to its critics.

A second theme of swag this year: customization. In this age of individualism and/or narcissism, firms are letting swag recipients have a say in what gets given away. Just as firms are moving away from lockstep in terms of pay and promotion, so too are they allowing for greater tailoring in terms of swag.

Check out the finalists, and vote for the best law firm swag, after the jump.

We suppose it’s fitting that on Yom Kippur, when our Jewish friends are fasting at home, today’s Legal Eagle Wedding Watch is a total WASP-fest. (Last weekend was Rosh Hashanah, which explains the unusual dearth of Jewish nuptials in the NYT announcements.) We look forward to receiving plenty of tasteful feedback about how there are “too many gentiles” this week.

Here are your six finalists — all Biglaw associates, as it happens:

1. Elisabeth Madden and Wesley Mullen

2. Ann Parker and Robert McKeehan

3. Emily Harris and Matthew Mauney

Read all about these couples and evaluate their credentials, after the jump.

On Friday, we reported that Sidley Austin was asking some of its deferred associates to start earlier than expected. Today, Mayer Brown keeps the good news rolling. Bloomberg reports:

The firm previously deferred the start dates of its first- year associates scheduled to join this fall. Because of the expanding work, Mayer Brown has asked about half of 12 deferred associates who are scheduled to work in New York to start working after Labor Day, according to [Richard Spehr, partner in charge of Mayer Brown’s New York office].

As far as we know, the rest of Mayer Brown’s incoming class is still on track to start on January 19, 2010.

Sidley had enough work that it needed to bring new people online earlier than expected; now Mayer is in the same position. Are these the fabled “green shoots” we’ve all been waiting for?

Mayer Brown Continues to Expand New York City Office [Bloomberg]

Earlier: Sidley D.C. Wants Some Incoming Associates to Start … Early!
New Management at Mayer Brown Delays Start Dates, Changes Bonus Threshold

You 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.

How young is too young to get married? Or more to the point, how young is too young to appear in the NYT weddings pages and not look foolhardy or vaguely scandalous? We ask because these newlyweds, ages 22 and 24, strike us as shockingly young. (And it’s definitely not a shotgun wedding — click on the link and you’ll see why.)

At any rate, this week’s featured newlyweds are all older than 22, so it’s a moot point. (If you want to ponder the trends in MAFM [median age at first marriage], here’s more.) Our finalists:

1. Caroline Nyenke and LaRue Robinson

2. Elianna Marziani and James Nuzum

3. Zehra Dincer and Matthew Mazur

Click on the link below for the scoop on these newlyweds.

Last week, we brought you the story of a former Mayer Brown associate who is suing the firm. We have some more back story on the plaintiff, Venus Yvette Springs, and she certainly sounds like a colorful person.

Before joining Mayer Brown, Springs worked at Cadwalader. According to our tipsters, she left CWT in an interesting fashion:

In her departure email from Cadwalader, she quoted all sorts of religious passages and talked about how she wanted to devote her life to pro bono.

Shortly thereafter, she wound up at Mayer Brown — one of the largest and most profitable law firms on the planet.

In her complaint against Mayer Brown, Springs alleged that the firm did not count her pro bono hours as it had promised. Of course, working in the real estate department at a major firm hardly sounds like a life “devoted to pro bono.” She wants to work with clients who can’t pay, but wants to make sure she gets a plump pay check anyway.

But maybe she needed to support her family. Unconfirmed reports say that her husband is Jules Springs. Jules Springs recently pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud. No word on whether or not Mr. Springs was an equal opportunity defrauder.

After the jump, Venus Springs compares her plight at Mayer Brown to the Holocaust. I wish I were making that up.

A former Mayer Brown associate, Venus Yvette Springs, has filed a complaint against the firm. She alleges Mayer Brown discriminated against her and eventually fired her in 2008.

Springs was an associate in the real estate group of Mayer Brown, Charlotte. In her complaint, she claims that the head of the group, Frank Arado, said that he would make her a partner with the firm as recently as March 2008. But in May 2008, she was informed that she would be fired. She was officially terminated in September of 2008. The heart of her discrimination claim seems to be this paragraph:

In a statement obtained by Above the Law, Mayer Brown strenuously denied the claims:

Mayer Brown has not yet been served with the complaint filed by former employee Yvette Springs. However, based on our current review, we believe her claims have no merit. We will defend ourselves vigorously in this matter. Consistent with our policy of not commenting on personnel matters or pending litigation, we have nothing further to say.

Additional details after the jump.

It’s a little bit early to be looking ahead to on-campus interviewing — unless, of course, you are a rising 2L who is about to get reamed. Law firms are already making plans for how they will approach the class of 2011.

The early indications are not pretty. Mayer Brown sent out a message that is sure to disappoint future IP lawyers. The firm is pulling out of the the Loyola (Chicago) Patent Law Interview Program. The program’s directors let students know the bad news, on Friday:

Dear students,

You are receiving this email because you had bid on Mayer Brown at this year’s Patent Law Interview Program. Unfortunately, the firm has had a change in plans and will not be attending the interview program on the 30th and 31st. The resumes of all students who bid on Mayer Brown have been forwarded to the firm, and if the firm identifies any students who meet their hiring needs, they will get in touch with you directly.

Best,
The Loyola Patent Law Interview Program Staff

One tipster explains the significance of this decision:

[T]his is the country’s main IP recruitment fair. Every major firm with an IP practice recruits here.

Do you think this problem is just going to affect lower-ranked law schools? Check out one student’s Columbia Early Interview Program stats, after the jump.

* Mayer Brown joins the firms sending its associates away on sabbatical. Except their sabbaticals are corporate, according to Chicago Law. Associates can take $60K to work at a client’s office for a year. That’s quite the deal for Mayer’s corporate clients. [Chicago Law/Chicago Tribune]

* The layoff scene in Maryland. [Baltimore Sun]

* GM’s bankruptcy and sale to the Treasury is on the fast track. [Bloomberg]

*… The law firms getting in line for pieces of the GM unwinding. [AmLaw]

* Dewey & LeBoeuf is on the defendant’s end of a $3 billion lawsuit. That “b” is not a typo. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch via American Lawyer]

* The Washington Post editorial page claims that conservatives are comparing SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor to Harriet Miers. [Washington Post]

* The hooker-booker for the Emperors Club was sentenced yesterday, the last of the defendants to go before the judge. And the excuse for one more article about Eliot Sptizer’s love of the ladies of the night. [New York Daily News]

At least one summer associate in the Chicago office of Mayer Brown appears to have contracted swine flu (aka the H1N1 virus), according to a firm memo that was circulated within the past hour. In addition, a second associate has been showing symptoms.

Quipped one of the many tipsters who sent this our way: “As though summer associates didn’t have it bad enough already this year:” Said a second source: “Rumor is that a lot of people are not feeling well.”

The Windy City has been hard hit by swine flu. As Tim Hadac, a spokesman for the Department of Public Health, told the Chicago Tribune, “This virus is spreading everywhere in the city right now.” On Sunday, a 22-year-old man — roughly the age of an average summer associate, maybe a bit younger — died of swine flu.

A spokesperson for Mayer Brown confirmed the news but did not offer much in the way of additional detail. One of the summer associates had a nasal swab test come back positive for swine flu, but this test is not definitive. According to the spokesperson, doctors have not performed a blood test — which would be definitive — because such tests are being reserved for the elderly and the young.

The affected summers and their officemates, who started at the firm just last week, won’t be coming into work for the rest of this week. From the memo:

Mayer Brown has been notified that a summer associate in the Chicago Office may have contracted the H1N1 virus. Another summer associate is also showing symptoms of this virus These summer associates are under medical care and will be staying at home. As a precaution, we have instructed the summer associates who share an office with the affected summer associates to remain at home for the balance of the week.

Read the full memo, after the jump.

Have you ever been passed over for a promotion and decided: “screw you guys, I’m going home.” That may be what is happening at Mayer Brown. The National Law Journal reports:

Mayer Brown Vice Chairman Paul Maher, who had been on sabbatical at the law firm as of last month when he was passed over for one of the firm’s new management posts, has provided his official resignation from the firm.

Mayer Brown Chairman Jim Holzhauer told all of the firm’s lawyers in a May 15 memo that Maher would be leaving on “a date to be agreed upon.” Maher, a London partner who was slated to give up his post next month, didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment. The firm declined to comment beyond noting that Maher currently is still at the firm.

This is just the latest big management change from Mayer Brown. More details, after the jump.

The first weekend after Easter traditionally marks the beginning of High Wedding Season, where the weekly NYT fodder switches from merely interesting to heart-stoppingly impressive. This year is no exception, as last Sunday’s pages were chock-full of prestigious lawyer couplings.

Here are the three best:

1. Dena Ringold and David Gossett

2. Ashley Potter and J. P. Bruynes

3. Tracy Zuckerman and Ryan Van Grack

Our complete analysis of these couples, after the jump.

We’ve already reported that Mayer Brown pushed back its start date for incoming first year associates to January 19, 2010.

But today, we’ve learned that Mayer Brown is also giving people the option of deferring for an entire year. A Mayer Brown spokesperson confirmed that the voluntary deferral will include a stipend of $5,000 per month:

[A]nyone in that class who voluntarily chooses to extend their deferral for any reason may do so, up to October 2010. Those who choose to take advantage of this option will receive a $5,000 monthly stipend.

The deferral option is being communicated to incoming first year associates over the phone, just in time for final exams.

Pushing back start dates is just one of many things going on a Mayer Brown right now. We have some new management details after the jump.

This is just coming in over the wire. Mayer Brown is letting go 135 people today: 45 lawyers, 90 staff.

Here’s the top line news from the firm:

Following the completion of an extensive review of its global operations, Mayer Brown announced today that it has made job reductions in its offices in the United States affecting 45 lawyers and 90 administrative staff.

All of the remaining associates and staff are scheduled to meet later today.

The firm is also delaying the start dates of incoming first years until January 19th, 2010. There is also some vague language about deferring some associates for a full year to do public interest work, or work with the firm’s corporate clients.

This is the second round of U.S. cuts for Mayer Brown. The firm laid off 33 lawyers back in November.

Sadly, some tipsters think that these cuts are light. According to one source:

Only letting go 45 attorneys here is nothing, there are LOTS of people with no work….

It wasn’t that long ago that soon-to-be former Mayer Brown chairman James Holzhauer was singing the “happy, happy, joy, joy” song about Mayer Brown. Less than a month ago, Holzhauer was quoted in AmLaw saying:

“The firm is going to move forward quite well, and we’ve actually weathered some of the financial storms better than our competitors because we are geographically and practice area diversified,” he says. “We’re going to feel some bumps, sure, but our litigation practice is actually quite busy.”

This looks like a mighty big “bump,” at least for the 135 people that lost their jobs today.

Update (12:16): A firm spokesperson just confirmed that the deferral option of people who move to public interest or corporate clients for a year is $5,000 a month. The spokesperson also added some clarification about the alternate work schedules:

The “alternatives to full-time work schedules” refers to a very small number of specific situations in which an alternative to a full-time work schedule meets the needs of both the individual and the practice.

Read the full press release after the jump.

Ed. note: The legal world is much bigger than New York, or Washington, or even the United States. Welcome to Letter from London, a weekly dispatch from the other side of the pond. Our U.K. correspondent, Isaac Smith, will expose ATL readers to the latest goings-on in the London legal world. You can reach Isaac by email, at isaacsmithlondon@googlemail.com.

On his recent trip to the US, Prime Minister Brown presented President Obama with an ornamental pen holder, carved from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

In return, Obama gave Brown some DVDs — which, it was revealed on Wednesday, don’t work in UK DVD players.

Why humiliate us like this?

Maybe Obama was angry at the UK because London-based firm Clifford Chance laid off 35 business support staff from its New York and DC offices at the end of last year. But news of that only emerged last week — after Obama purchased the DVDs.

Perhaps Obama has a thing against the British. We do, after all, “sound gay and smell like Indian food” — as one poster on last Monday’s column observed. But your new president doesn’t seem the sort of chap to be burdened by petty prejudices — aside from, of course, his hatred of the disabled.

Or could it be that Obama is pissed off that he had to meet Brown instead of Tony Blair? Yeah, that makes sense. Americans f**king love Tony Blair.

Something you might not know about Tony Blair, after the jump.

Good morning. I hope you enjoyed your evening. Welcome back to your daily carnage report.

We just received word that Mayer Brown expects to lay off 55 lawyers and staff. Here’s the internal memo that went out to U.S. employees early this morning:

In recent weeks, Mayer Brown has undertaken various actions to respond to the ongoing global economic crisis, which is impacting our clients, our profession and the firm. As part of that process, our London office today began a redundancy consultation that we expect will result in the departure of up to 55 lawyers and support staff. The action in London is part of a review of our global operations. We have not yet determined what that will mean for each office and practice. However, the only responsible course is to align our personnel levels with current and anticipated client demand for our services.

We are carefully weighing our decisions and considering a number of options, with full recognition that these decisions could affect the careers and lives of people whose contributions to the firm we value. We expect to make any further decisions shortly. As more information becomes available, we will share it with you.

Thank you for your understanding.

This is the second round of layoffs at Mayer Brown. Our sources feel that this is a clear indication that layoffs will be immigrating to the U.S. “shortly.”

If they do, we’ll keep you posted. Good luck to those in London. Happy Friday.

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs