Back in July, Orrick told people exactly what it was going to do regarding recruiting for its 2010 summer program. Here is the crucial part of Orrick’s July announcement:

[W]e believe it would be irresponsible to recruit a class for the summer of 2010 - a class that would normally join us in late 2011 or early 2012, the same time our current class of summer associates would be joining us after the one year deferral - until we know how many of our 2009 summer associates accept their one-year deferred offers. We need to prioritize the interests of our current Orrick summer associates over the law students whom we have not yet met and who would otherwise be competing for the same positions.

For these reasons we have decided to shift our on-campus recruiting efforts from the normal time-frame to November 15, 2009 through March of 2010. After the November 15th NALP deadline, we will know how many of our current summer associates accept their deferred offers, and we will be able to better assess our needs for recruiting 2L associates for a 2010 summer program. We expect to reach out to 2L and possibly 1L students during this shifted time frame to meet our summer 2010 recruiting needs.

Well, we’re getting pretty close to November 15th. And Orrick has been placing recruiting ads at a law school near you. But some Above the Law tipsters are surprised that Orrick is doing exactly what Orrick said it would do:

I assumed that was BS though and figured it was just a way to avoid saying they weren’t recruiting at all. Given how things are going, why would they basically go to recruit fromt the bottom half of the class?

You know, when this whole recession is over, we are going to need to have some trust building exercises between firm management and employees.

Orrick didn’t lie back in July. They really are recruiting. Check it out after the jump.

Last week we wrote about the move of prominent D.C. lawyers Lanny Davis and Eileen O’Connor from Orrick to McDermott Will & Emery. Am Law Daily described the jump as follows: “Lanny Davis, a longtime Washington, D.C., lawyer who supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and was a fraternity brother of George W. Bush, is taking his unique practice from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to McDermott, Will & Emery.”

It’s not the case, however, that the entire practice moved. As noted by one commenter, the rest of the legal strategic and crisis management practice remained with Orrick. Consistent with this, an Orrick spokesperson issued the following statement to ATL:

We wish Lanny and Eileen well, but Orrick’s law, policy, media, and crisis management practice remains vibrant and strong with continuing plans for expansion and will keep delivering its unique blend of legal, public relations and government affairs counsel to our clients around the world.

Remaining at Orrick are partners Adam Goldberg, who was co-chair of the practice with Davis, and Joshua Galper. Goldberg and Galper will head the practice going forward. In addition, the associates who work in and with the law, policy and media group are staying at Orrick.

As for clients, it’s not yet clear which ones will stay with Orrick and which will move to McDermott. “Thankfully, this is a practice where we’ve always had plenty of work, so that’s not an issue,” Galper said. (We’d guess, however, that certain clients closely tied to Davis — like CEAL, the Honduras business group supporting the coup in that country — will travel with him.)

Get to know Messrs. Galper and Goldberg, and read more about Orrick’s very interesting and unusual practice area, after the jump.

Last week we participated in a panel discussion at Georgetown Law that was skillfully moderated by Eileen O’Connor, the Emmy-nominated journalist turned high-powered lawyer. After the talk, we tried to play the “name game” with O’Connor regarding colleagues of hers over at Orrick. But O’Connor seemed strangely uneasy about Orrick, and she quickly changed the subject.

Could this have been why? From Am Law Daily:

Lanny Davis, a longtime Washington, D.C., lawyer who supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid and was a fraternity brother of George W. Bush, is taking his unique practice from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to McDermott, Will & Emery.

Davis, who previously moved to Orrick in 2003 from Patton Boggs, will bring counsel Eileen O’Connor, a former ABC News and CNN reporter, with him.

Beltway dwellers know that Lanny Davis is a big deal. He served as White House Special Counsel during the Clinton Administration, but he has friends on both sides of the aisle. As Bobby Burchfield, cohead of McDermott’s Washington office, told Zach Lowe of Am Law Daily, “Lanny is the only person I know who considers both Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush good friends.”

In addition to practicing law, Davis writes for the Washington Times and for The Hill. In one recent column, he scolded bloggers for inadequate fact-checking. If anything in this post is inaccurate, Mr. Davis, please email us and we’ll fix it ASAP.

Press release after the jump. Good luck to Davis and O’Connor in their new professional home.

As we finish off the Vault top 50, we look at some firms went through some tough layoffs.

Here’s the list:

41. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
42. Baker & McKenzie
43. Goodwin Procter
44. DLA Piper
45. King & Spalding
46. Jenner & Block
47. Dewey & LeBoeuf
48. Proskauer Rose
49. Vinson & Elkins
50. Irell & Manella

It might not look like it, but there is a lot of carnage on this list. Orrick is down four spots. Proskauer is down four spots. King & Spalding is down 3 spots.

And many of the firms here that are marginally up or holding steady still went through significant layoffs.

After the jump, Law Shucks offers some stats.

We’ve compiled a lot of information about the summer associate offer rates at Kirkland & Ellis and at Orrick. Overall, summer associates had a pretty good chance at nailing down an offer at these firms — though individual results varied significantly depending on which you summer at.

At Kirkland & Ellis, sources report that the firm’s offer rate was a solid 85% firm wide. In Chicago and New York, that offer rate climbed to around 90%.

But out west, things were not as rosy. Multiple tipsters reported that the offer rate out of Kirkland’s Los Angeles office was between 60% and 65%. In Palo Alto, things were even worse. Sources there report a 50% offer rate.

Firm wide, a summer class of around 158 summer associates yielded approximately 135 offers for full time employment. In this market, those are good odds.

After the jump, let’s take a look at Orrick.

If Michael Vick can learn to love animals, “be they a dog, or a cat, or … a reptile,” then surely the American courts can’t be far behind.

A couple of weeks ago, we brought you the story of a New Jersey appellate panel which declined to view the family pet as mere property in a divorce proceeding. Now a Virginia court is being asked to award damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress stemming from a pet-icide. The Wall Street Journal reports that there is some high profile pro-bono legal counsel taking up the cause of not treating animals as replaceable goods:

A lawsuit slated to go to trial next week down in Virginia could help redefine the theory — at least in that state — on what how a pet-owner should be compensated if a pet is wrongfully killed. In many states, tort law provides the owner simply gets the replacement value of a pet.

But the plaintiff in the Virginia case, represented pro bono by Orrick partner and former White House counsel Lanny Davis, feels the amount should be much higher in certain circumstances. Davis likened the case to that of a family heirloom, which has worth well beyond its street value.

Go Orrick. Family heirloom status is just the first step. It won’t be long now until I can bring my dog into the Duane Reade with the same disregard for other people’s shopping experience as parents enjoy now with their no spatial awareness/no vocal modulation street urchins.

Either that or we’ll soon see strollers tied up to stop signs up and down the east side of Manhattan.

After the jump, even the defendant in the civil suit agrees that family pets are worth more than their store bought value.

Mega-fraudster Marc Dreier, who recently traded a magnificent penthouse for a cell at the MCC (look him up in the handy Inmate Locator), isn’t the only New York lawyer with new digs.

The iconic CBS Building (aka “Black Rock”), longtime home of Wachtell Lipton, has another prestigious legal tenant. From the New York Observer:

Law firm Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe was expected Thursday to sign a lease for approximately 220,000 square feet at CBS’ 38-story granite slab known as Black Rock, at 51 West 52nd Street, according to industry sources.

As part of the deal, Orrick is taking the space being vacated by UBS and Cushman & Wakefield, which will consolidate its midtown offices at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Sources say that UBS paid more than $32 million to terminate its lease early, money which CBS applied to the Orrick deal to absorb the costs of Orrick’s build-out of the noncontiguous space to the tune of $150 a square foot, and which will reduce the firm’s rent in the building.

It’s a great building, with handsome, elegant architecture (courtesy of Eero Saarinen). Because the footprint is relatively small, it doesn’t have the impersonal, warehouse-like feel of many other New York office buildings. The midtown location is super-convenient, and the higher floors offer amazing views. (We know Black Rock well, having spent several thousand hours in it while working at Wachtell.)

An Orrick spokesperson confirmed to ATL that the deal, described by the Observer as “expected,” has closed. Congratulations to Orrick on the fabulous new digs!

Links and press release, after the jump.

How are firms that have deferred incoming associates going to deal with different classes of associates all showing up to the firm at the same time?

Most firms have been burying their heads in the sand, hoping that the green shoots will blossom into mature plantings of economic growth, obviating this problem. Things will go back to the way they were in 2006, and there will be more than enough work for everyone. NY to 190!!!

But that’s not very realistic, is it?

Orrick — which isn’t afraid to innovate, as reflected in their recent revamp of associate compensation and promotion — has come up with an answer to this conundrum. You might like their approach or you might not, but at least give them credit for having the courage to confront the issue.

Check out the memo, and opine in the comments, after the jump.

Update (11:25 AM): Please note that the original post did not contain a complete version of the memo. We now have the full memo, which we’ve posted after the jump.

Biglaw firms have been talking about moving away from lockstep since the start of the recession. Orrick’s Managing Partner, Ralph Baxter, has been talking about it since before the recession.

Next year, Orrick will be doing it. Instead of a lockstep system, the firm will introduce three different levels for associates. Here is the how the firm describes the change in its official press release:

Orrick will replace the automatic lockstep advancement model for its partner track associates with a model that allows associates to advance at a pace that reflects their developing skill set.

The firm will have three levels of associates - Associate, Managing Associate, and Senior Associate - with well-defined performance criteria for advancement from one level to the next and with corresponding compensation levels. To implement this program, the firm is enhancing its associate training, mentoring, and feedback systems.

“The traditional associate lockstep staffing and compensation model is based upon out-dated assumptions,” said Laura Saklad, Orrick’s Chief Lawyer Development Officer. “Our new Talent Model recognizes that not all associates advance at the same pace, tenure is not a proxy for advancing skill, and clients should not bear the cost of training associates. In the end, our goal is to deploy the right lawyer or professional for the right task at the right cost. “

The three classes apply only to “partner track” associates. What are non-partner track associates going to get? More details and an opportunity to provide some instant feedback via a reader poll, after the jump.

There’s an interesting job opening Orrick is extending to a number of recent graduates. We got this information from Georgetown University Law Center, but we understand that Orrick has posted this job at a couple of top schools:

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Wheeling, WV) - Orrick currently has an excellent opportunity for recent law school graduates in its Global Operations Center in Wheeling, WV. The position is an entry level Career Attorney in its dynamic and growing Emerging Companies Group (ECG).

The economy is bad. Everybody knows that. But are we really living in a world where students at the nation’s best law schools are looking at “career attorney” jobs in West Virginia? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But this can’t be what GULC students were hoping for when they began their law school journey.

A tipster explains exactly what we are talking about, after the jump.

* What is up with judges behaving badly? There was Nottingham, Kent (who sexually harassed court employees) and that judge who was taking bribes to send innocent juvenile delinquents to jail! Now, New York Judge James M. Peck was arrested for hitting his wife, who called 911 from their Park Avenue apartment. Get it together guys. [The New York Times]

* A New York judge threw out a lawsuit accusing “Family Guy” of copyright infringement for spoofing “When You Wish Upon a Star” with a song entitled “When You Wish Upon a Weinstein” about hiring a Jewish person to help with the family finances. The song may be anti-Semitic, but the judge said copyright does not protect against parody. Sorry guy. [The Associated Press]

* Did Madoff swindle you? You probably won’t get your money back, but you can get some free veal osso bucco. Restaurant Nino’s 208 in New York a few blocks away from Madoff’s office is giving away free meals—customers must show the restaurant manager monthly statements from Madoff to cash in. [The New York Times]

* Protesting lawyers were ecstatic yesterday when Pakistan agreed to re-instate an ousted Supreme Court Justice. [The Associated Press]

* Some laid-off lawyers and law students whose offers have been rescinded have found jobs in public works. [CNN.com]

On Tuesday, we were able to tell you that Orrick would be giving a $75K stipend to 3Ls who are willing to defer for a year. We are now able to bring you additional information on Orrick’s plan for its incoming first year associates.

First and foremost, we understand that the $75K stipend is available only if 3Ls are able to secure a public interest or government fellowship. 3Ls received a memo from Orrick which listed some organizations that are hiring. But if you can’t get a job, you can’t get the money.

That said, the firm is open to suggestions. We talked with an Orrick spokesperson who said that the firm would look at any suggestions that 3Ls had for fellowship options. The firm will look at it on a case-by-case basis, looking at whether the job will give the 3Ls good legal training. The firm has put a full time pro-bono manager in charge of helping incoming first years get placements at other organizations. Speaking about the 3Ls, the spokesperson said that the firm likes all of the people that have offers to return to the firm: “We want them back.”

But that isn’t the only option for incoming first years. Details after the jump.

AmLaw is out today with a carnage top ten. They list the firms that have conducted the deepest layoffs by percentage of total associates.

Orrick leads the way, its two rounds of layoffs (in November and on Tuesday) nailed nearly 20% of the firm’s associates.

But is Orrick’s position in the top spot a little unfair? There is every indication that Orrick tied every single one of its layoffs to the economic crisis. Many firms (most firms?) simple cannot say the same. Take a firm like Latham, which ranks fifth on AmLaw’s list, laying off just over ten percent of its associates last week. But the 190 attorneys cut last week doesn’t take into account the stealth layoffs we’ve discussed. The firm has still not directly denied these “stealth” moves to Above the Law, despite our numerous inquiries.

The whole performance based or “stealth” layoff question reminds me of the great debate going on in Major League Baseball over performance enhancing drugs. Everybody is a suspect because so few people will admit the obvious.

More from the layoff list after the jump.

We told you on Sunday that Orrick would be making significant cuts to its attorney and staff compliment. Those layoffs are taking place today.

We can now report that Orrick will let go approximately 100 attorneys and 200 staff. The cuts will affect all offices and all practice groups.

The laid off attorneys will be receiving a three month severance package. That’s half the time that Latham attorneys received, but three months has been the standard package across the industry.

In addition, we understand that incoming first years will have their start dates pushed back from this fall to January of 2010. At this point, Orrick’s 2009 summer program remains unchanged.

Update (10:56): We have some additional information about 3L start dates. The firm is committed to honoring all of the offers they made to incoming associates. However, depending on certain circumstances, some first years will start in March 2010, while others start in January 2010. In addition, we understand that Orrick will be offering a similar public interest externship to the program announced by Latham. Essentially, 3Ls will be eligible to receive a $75,000 stipend ($60,000 “honorarium” plus a $15,000 Bar Exam stipend) to work for a year at a public interest organization. That would push their Orrick start date back into the winter of 2010, but it could still be a great option for some incoming first years.

After completing the program, incoming first years we be viewed as part of the class of 2010, so unlike a clerkship, they would lose a year of standing.

After the jump, read the official statement from Orrick about these layoffs.

Good luck to the new casualties of the global economic crisis.

On Friday and over the weekend, we received a lot of information about impending layoffs at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. The firm has declined to comment for this story, but we believe that significant layoffs will take place at Orrick this week.

On Friday, many people noticed that the Orrick’s chairman, Ralph Baxter, was darting in and out of partners’ offices in New York City. It’s not unusual for a chairman to check in with his partnership. But in this climate, on the very day that Latham laid off 440 people, the chairman’s conspicuous presence in NYC made a lot of people nervous.

Some associates checked the conference room schedule. New York associates found out that there are conference rooms booked for an all partner video conference Monday morning.

At ATL’s request, associates at Orrick’s non-NYC offices checked their conference room schedules as well. We now have reports that conference rooms are booked for Monday in NYC, D.C., and San Francisco for “Ralph Baxter and all.”

But our sources found out something even more disturbing than an all partner video conference on Monday.

Details after the jump.

Let’s pretend for a moment that yesterday didn’t happen and associates were A) employed, and B) expected to be compensated.

Everybody with me? Okay.

You might remember that Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe announced its 2008 bonus structure way back in March of 2008. Once the market collapsed, people started wondering if Orrick would keep its word. But at the end of October, Orrick stated that they would keep bonuses at Skadden levels:

Today, Orrick assured us that the firm would not look to change their bonus plan. A firm spokesperson put the issue succinctly:

“We are committed to using the previously announced bonus schedule.”

But something happened on the way to actually making good on that promise. Details after the jump — and an update from the firm.

Last week, Fortune released its annual list of the 100 best places to work. Shockingly, a number of law firms made the list.

Now Fortune wants to tell us about the 25 Best Paying Companies (from among the top 100 companies to work for), and once again I have no earthly clue what they are talking about.

Let’s start right at the top. The number one, best paying company that is also nice to work for, in the entire United States of America is … Bingham McCutchen. According to Fortune:

For the second year in a row, this law firm is the top-paying Best Company to Work For. Lawyers fresh out of school get starting salaries of $160,000 a year, topped off with fat bonuses.

Umm … okay. I mean, I think Skadden’s definition of “fat” is a little different than Fortune’s, but whatever.

More from Fortune after the jump.

As we noted in yesterday’s Morning Docket, even the New York Times has taken note of the salary freeze trend at law firms. The Times reached out to Above The Law’s own David Lat for the story:

Although many associates are angry about the freezes, others are relieved, said David Lat, founding editor of AboveTheLaw.com, a blog about law firms and the profession.

“There is this sense that firms didn’t act prudently during the boom and now they are getting religion, and that it’s better late than never,” Mr. Lat said. “Many associates we have spoken to think the freeze probably saved jobs.”

At the beginning of the month, we did a round-up of firms that have frozen 2009 salary rates at 2008 levels. That list was 16 firms long. Since then, quite a few other firms have announced freezes. Due to frequent requests, we’re updating the round-up list since the number of firms with freezes (that we know of) has more than doubled, to 33 32. Check out the as-comprehensive-as-we-can-make-it list, after the jump.

Recently announced salary freezes include “solid ice freezes” at Blank Rome and Townsend and Townsend and Crew; and “Slurpee freezes” at Bingham McCutchen, Fish & Richardson, and Texan firm Andrews Kurth.

Memorandums, as well as a new list of all firms with “solid ice” and “Slurpee” freezes, after the jump.

Fortune has released its annual list of the top 100 companies to work for. Despite the general feeling of malaise in the legal industry, a few law firms made the cut.

The highest ranked law firm (number 21 overall) is Arnold & Porter. Fortune reports:

Law firm offers world-class benefits to staff and attorneys: 18 weeks’ paid leave for maternity and adoption, $5,000 for adoption fees, $30,000 for fertility services, free onsite fitness center, on- and off-site child care.

I guess a salary freeze that their peer Vault 20 firms are largely avoiding doesn’t trump a free gym.

Fortune also released a list of the top 20 companies that are great places to work and still hiring. … No law firms made that list.

So I guess we’ll focus on other law firms in the top 100 after the jump.

The new year is shaping up to be a cold one. As we noted in our 2008 Year in Review series, one of the biggest stories heading into 2009 has been that of the salary freeze. Rather than instituting lock-step raises for associates entering a new class year, a number of firms have informed associates that their salaries will remain at 2008 levels.

There have been two types of freezes: the “Solid Ice freeze”—with salaries frozen through all of 2009—and the “Slurpee freeze”—where firms are sticking with 2008 levels for now, but promise to revisit the decision later in the year.

Many an ATL reader has requested a round-up, and we aim to please. So find your pleasure, after the jump. Some of the firms have been reported on before, and some are new.

If you know of other frozen firms, send us an e-mail at tips@abovethelaw.com with the subject, “Salary Freeze: FIRM NAME.” Also, if your firm has raised salaries as expected, feel free to send us the news, with the subject “Salary Raise: FIRM NAME.” While freezes are news, raises as expected aren’t, so we will not be covering firm by firm, but we may do a round-up.

Find the list of the sixteen firms that have frozen, after the jump.