If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. From our sister site, Going Concern:

[A] judge in Seattle has allowed a revised lawsuit to proceed that lists “Washington Mutual officers and directors, underwriters, and the auditing firm Deloitte & Touche” as defendants.

The revised lawsuit was trimmed down to a “concise” 267 pages from the original 388 that the judge described as “verbose” and “disorganized”.

“Verbose” and “disorganized” would also describe many lawyers we know. On the defense side, though, it’s an all-star cast. From Am Law Litigation Daily:

The lineup for the defendants includes Simpson Thacher & Bartlett attorneys Barry Ostrager and Rob Pfister for former WaMu officers; Ronald Berenstain of Perkins Coie for former WaMu outside directors; Barry Kaplan of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for former WaMu CEO Kerry Killinger; Peter Wald of Latham & Watkins for Deloitte; and Jonathan Dickey of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher for the underwriters.

Read more about this lawsuit, and comment, over at Going Concern.

Lawsuit Against Deloitte Gets New Life [Going Concern]

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 continue our slog push through the nation’s 100 top law firms, as ranked by our friends over at Vault. Here are the next ten firms, to be discussed in the comments to this post:

71. Reed Smith
72. Bryan Cave
73. Perkins Coie
74. Hunton & Williams
75. Patton Boggs
76. Arent Fox
77. Schulte Roth & Zabel
78. Howrey
79. Chadbourne & Parke
80. Crowell & Moring

Assorted observations about these firms, after the jump.

Might this be the kindest cut of all? Perkins Coie just announced a salary cut for associates, but it’s rather small — and it was accompanied by good news.

Today a firm-wide voice mail from managing partner Robert Giles went out, announcing the following:

— an average 3.8 percent pay cut for Perkins Coie associates, effective September 1;

— deferred salary rollbacks in some offices — e.g., Menlo Park — until “our competitors in these markets rollback associate salaries” (hmm, sounds like an invitation to us); and

— an expression of confidence that there will be no more layoffs this year.

We reached out to Bob Giles, who confirmed the accuracy of the foregoing.

All in all, it’s on the mild side for bad news, sort of like the firm’s modest layoffs back in April (just 12 attorneys). No wonder Perkins employees seem to like the place so much.

P.S. Congratulations to Perkins Coie partner Harry Schneider, this year’s winner of the American Inns of Court’s Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit. We met Schneider at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, where the honor was presented to him in person. Schneider successfully represented Guantanamo detainee Salim Hamdan in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Perkins Coie

You know things are bad when even a firm that is tight with the Obama administration is forced to lay people off. We are now able to report that Perkins Coie has laid off 38 people today: 12 attorneys, 26 staff.

The firm provided this statement to Above the Law:

Perkins Coie announced this week that it is downsizing by 12 attorneys and 26 non-attorney staff. While these actions are painful to all concerned, the Firm concluded that such actions were a necessary response to the current, challenging economy. The firm has offered all affected employees an expanded severance package that includes continuation of health care for nine months.

Perkins Coie has had some minor attrition over the past few months, but this is the firm’s first round of mass, economic layoffs. Today’s casualties are focused on the west coast. Our sources confirm that the following offices were affected by the layoffs: Seattle, Menlo Park, Bellevue, San Francisco, and Chicago.

Good luck to the 38 people let go today. I guess holy week is officially over.

Earlier: Perkins Coie/Obama Fight McCain Over ACORNs
Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

There was no LEWW last Friday because last week’s wedding pages were even bleaker than the Biglaw employment news. We’ve bounced back nicely, though, because Valentine’s Day fell on a Saturday this year, making this week’s weddings section a February feast of premium nuptial news.

We present three outstanding couples for your consideration:

1. Parisa Sabeti and Ted Zagat

2. Jessica Holzer and Hans Nichols

3. Kendall Burman and Eric Volkman

Check out these newlyweds’ résumés and pictures, 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.

Yesterday, I mentioned that Fortune released a list of the Top 100 places to work. In that post I failed to note that Perkins Coie was ranked 82nd on that list.

According to Fortune:

A support staffer gave this impressive list of her benefits: $2,000 in technology flex plan allowance, $80 for wellness program participation, $475 for 20th anniversary with firm, $1,500 performance bonus, $50 Nordstrom gift card, $3,500 year-end bonus.

Well, tipsters report that Perkins Coie management is pumped about the news. Check out the firm-wide email and fun tipster responses after the jump.

After saying nice things about top Texas firms yesterday, our inbox was flooded today with news of a salary freeze at Fulbright & Jaworski.

As we understand it, the firm is only freezing salaries through the first quarter of 2009, so it’s a Slurpee freeze.

So much for Texas being the beacon of hope for the legal industry.

But, perhaps more surprisingly, Perkins Coie is also freezing salaries:

The 2009 economic picture remains extremely uncertain. Although we continue to have no debt and the firm is in excellent financial shape, we have determined to take a number of significant steps to ensure the firm’s financial health in 2009 for the benefit of all personnel.

The firm’s budget contemplates approximately a 10% reduction in average partner income in 2009, and partner draw percentages for January and February were significantly reduced in order to avoid any need to borrow funds. We have also frozen salaries for senior administrative staff who are evaluated on a calendar year basis. Most staff have salary adjustments on July 1 and no decision will be made on compensation adjustments applicable to them until that time.

We have also decided to hold associates at their current base salary levels. Associates will remain at their 2008 base salary for 2009, subject to two limited exceptions. Adjustments will be made to productivity build-ins for affected associates in the Bellevue, Seattle and Washington, DC offices, and changes will be made to address a few unique compensation arrangements previously scheduled for adjustment in 2009. New compensation memos will be distributed within the next few weeks.

I guess having partners that are tight with Obama isn’t enough to stave off a “solid ice” freeze. So much for unicorns.

But, after the jump, some positive news to report.

Apparently, the activities of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) are now a matter of national import. The group, best known for absolutely nothing prior to a month ago, is now poised to “threaten the fabric of democracy,” according to Senator John McCain.

One might have expected the Obama campaign to take the knuckleball in the dirt, but there is only one October. Last Friday, the Obama campaign called in lawyers from Perkins Coie to harass USAG Michael Mukasey into harassing McCain to stop harassing Obama.

Perkins Coie partner Robert Bauer asked Mukasey to instruct special prosecutor Nora Dannehy to add McCain’s recent conduct to allegations of partisan misconduct within the Justice Department. According to The Blog of the LegalTimes:

[The letter] alleges that Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign and the Republican Party made false claims of voting fraud as part of a Republican effort to influence the presidential election. The letter accuses Republican officeholders of calling on the Justice Department to investigate allegations of fraud, and Justice Department officials of spurring what he called “baseless” investigations.

The McCain camp responds after the jump.

“Non-essential” Heller Ehrman people, it’s time to pack it up:

It is with a great deal of regret that we write to inform you that we will not be able to pay you for work performed after today, Friday October 10 and, as a result, that your employment with the firm will be terminated today. We also expect that we will need to inform other employees over the following two weeks that we are unable to pay them any further and will need to terminate their employment. We do expect that we will be able to continue to pay some people for a longer period of time. Regular paychecks will be provided today but because of the volume of final paychecks we will need to prepare, it may take a few days to get your final paycheck to you. We know this is important to you but please be assured your colleagues in the Payroll Department will be working as hard and as quickly as they can to get you your paycheck.

These actions have been forced upon us by the two banks — Citibank and Bank of America — that control our ability to make any payments. Generally, they have refused to pay employees who we cannot convince them are necessary (as they define it) for the wind down efforts. We understand how upsetting this news is. You should continue your activities to serve clients, including, where applicable, to bill your time. Time billing and client service are two of the criteria the banks are examining in our continuing negotiations with them to maintain an orderly transition.

We want to thank you for your professionalism and forbearance to date and ask you to continue to proceed with the same degree of professionalism you have demonstrated during your valuable service to the firm and to its clients.

The Dissolution Committee

The rest of the bad news, after the jump.

The Vault 100 march continues! In this series of open threads, we list the firms, and you all discuss their upsides and downsides. We’ll be wrapping this puppy up this week.

Here are the next ten (with prestige scores in parentheses):

71. Nixon Peabody LLP (5.218)
72. Hunton & Williams LLP (5.208)
73. Perkins Coie LLP (5.119)
74. Reed Smith LLP (5.057)
75. Patton Boggs LLP (5.050)
76. Chadbourne & Parke LLP (4.997)
77. Bryan Cave LLP (4.969)
78. Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP (4.967)
79. Howrey LLP (4.926)
80. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP (4.910)

Usually, we have fun with the “notable perks” chosen by Vault. But as we move down the list, the perks are becoming distinctly less notable — e.g., gym membership discounts, free parking, and “good views.” Oh well.

You know what to do! Have at it in the comments.

Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads - 2009

Congratulations to this quintet of five law firms, which just made Fortune magazine’s annual list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For (listed below in rank order):

19. Arnold & Porter: “Staffers get 12 weeks paid maternity leave and profit sharing of 7.5% of salary. The less you make, the less you pay for health-insurance premiums.”

Actually, a correction: 18 weeks (as of January 1, 2008).

31. Alston & Bird: “Both the legal and nonlegal staff get super benefits, including 90 days of paid maternity leave, coverage of fertility treatments, and concierge services.”

Concierge services? Fabulous. Atlantans, stop yer whining!

41. Bingham McCutchen: “They’re proud of their elite grads: 72 from nearby Harvard Law, 24 from Yale, and 20 from Stanford. They all start at $160,000 a year.”

55. Perkins Coie: “They value fun at this law firm. At 2007’s Lawyerpalooza battle of the bands, the Perkins Coie rock & rollers brought down the house (and took home the top prize).”

See also Nixon Peabody: “Fun is not prohibited here.” Speaking of which…

66. Nixon Peabody: “The law firm excels on policies for GLBT employees (a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign); it targets 3% of billable hours annually for pro bono work.”

Please send us any theme songs that are composed to commemorate these honors. Thank you.

100 Best Companies To Work For (2008) [Fortune]

Earlier: Bingham McCutchen: Land of the Amazons?

Guess what’s at the top of the New York Times Most Emailed Articles list today? A piece entitled For Lawyers, Perks to Fit a Lifestyle, by Lynnley Browning.

We’re pleasantly surprised that an article about law firm perks, a niche topic that we cover obsessively around here, is so popular with readers of a general-interest publication. Or is it just that lawyers are the only poor saps at work today?

Among the more notable perks mentioned in the article:

1. Milkshakes and candied apples — yum! (Perkins Coie) [FN1]
2. Mortgage guarantees for the first $100,000 of associate mortgages (Sullivan & Cromwell)
3. Reimbursements for associates who buy a hybrid car or a certain brand of car (DLA Piper; Fulbright & Jaworski)
4. On-site yoga classes (O’Melveny & Myers)

It’s an interesting article; read the whole thing here. There’s additional commentary on the piece over at the WSJ Law Blog, by Jamie Heller (filling in for Peter Lattman, who is on his honeymoon).

P.S. Looks like an NYT correction may be in order, due to a slip-up concerning the amount of year-end bonuses:

The perks come on top of higher salaries and larger bonuses — this year, the top-offs have been doubled at some practices. At the New York office of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, an old-line firm, associates will receive special payouts of $10,000 to $50,000, in addition to their year-end bonuses up to $35,000.

Our suggested rewording: “At the New York office of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, an old-line firm, some associates will receive special payouts of $10,000 to $50,000, in addition to year-end bonuses up to $60,000.” (The word “some” is needed before the word “associates,” because class of 2007 or “stub year” associates don’t get special bonuses.)

[FN1] The Perkins Coie milkshakes come from Potbelly Sandwich Works. Coincidentally, we enjoyed a PSW milkshake for the first time on Wednesday. It was Oreo, and it was delicious!

Update: One of you sent us this great comment, by email:

I thought the most poignant perk was Fried Frank’s: they offer psychotherapy (through what sounds suspiciously like a bulk discount deal) to help associates deal with stress, anxiety, depression, and divorce. I love it!

I can imagine the therapist’s notes: “Patient distressed re: possibility of negative performance review. Says he has not seen wife or child since, “let’s see … when was that holiday with the fireworks?” Is in constant pain from chronic papercuts and verbal caning associated with ongoing case. Patient noted gratefully that firm is paying for therapy. Possible diagnoses: Stockholm syndrome?”

For Lawyers, Perks to Fit a Lifestyle [New York Times]
Law Job Perks v. Law Job Woes [WSJ Law Blog]

We have a law professor friend who’s basically getting this entire year off. With pay. It’s one of the nicest perks in academia, and it’s called a sabbatical.

As it turns out, some law firms offer them too — although they’re not usually quite as grand. They’re more like longer-than-usual vacations (the subject of yesterday’s perk post).

But hey, a perk is a perk. So today’s open thread on a law firm perk or fringe benefit will focus on sabbaticals. Here’s what Perkins Coie does, according to an article last year from CNN/Money:

At this Seattle-based law firm, lawyers with 7 years of tenure, salaried staff with 10 years and non-exempt, hourly staff with 13 years may apply for two months of paid leave to spend any way they wish.

The only two requirements: they can’t work for another company and they have to let the firm know what they’re planning to do and why those activities are meaningful and rejuvenating to them.

Sabbaticals aren’t limited to the biggest of Biglaw, like Perkins Coie or Cadawalader (which, according to Vault, gives you a month-long sabbatical after five years). Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus, which has 300 lawyers over nine offices, has this policy:

After five years with the firm, associates are eligible to take an “associate sabbatical.” The firm provides two weeks paid vacation with two round trip tickets to Europe, Hawaii, or the Caribbean, plus $5,000 spending money. The billable hour target is reduced to 1,775 from 1,850 for the year.

Does your firm offer sabbaticals? If not, do you wish it did? (Okay, dumb question — of course you do.)

Please discuss, in the comments. Thanks.

Sabbatical year [Wikipedia]

Perkins Coie is raising to market in California, with a catch. To get the raise, associates must 1) be “on pace” of 1900 hours; and 2) have “no outstanding timesheet penalties.”

The memo’s after the jump.

Our tour of the country’s less-than-gigantic legal markets has swung through Denver, Hartford, and Philadelphia. Now we head out to the West Coast, to pay a visit to one of our favorite American cities: Seattle.

We couldn’t locate a good news article to kick off the discussion. But we combed through the ATL archives to find a few Seattle data points. Here are three firms and their starting salaries in the Emerald City:

1. Heller Ehrman: $145,000.

2. Susman Godfrey: $140,000.

3. Wilson Sonsini: $145,000.

These are all firms with their origins outside Seattle. What about homegrown firms, like Perkins Coie or Davis Wright Tremaine?

Please discuss Seattle associate salaries in the comments to this post. Thanks.

Congratulations to these five law firms, which just made Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For:

— Alston & Bird (#19)
— Arnold & Porter (#26)
— Nixon Peabody (#49)
— Perkins Coie (#64)
— Bingham McCutchen (#94)

The Recorder has a write-up of the results, which contains some fun factoids. Did you know that each Perkins Coie office has a “Happiness Committee,” which throws surprise parties for lawyers and staff?

This is unusual. Many law firms have “Unhappiness Committees,” which are sometimes called “Personnel Committees” or “Associate Life Committees.” But we don’t know of any other firm with a “Happiness Committee.”

And here’s something we didn’t know about the #94 company on the list, Bingham McCutchen (whose name we keep on misspelling):

[A]t Bingham, women outnumber men two to one and make up 23 percent of the partner ranks — believed to be the highest percentage in the industry, according to the Fortune report.

No wonder the Bingham men are so happy.

Five Law Firms Score Places on Fortune Magazine’s ‘Best Companies’ List [The Recorder via Law.com]
100 Best Companies To Work For [Fortune]

Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Mrs. Maura O’Scannlain, and two decades’ worth of law clerks and judicial assistants. (We apologize for the less-than-stellar quality of this pic. If you live in the D.C. area and would like to give us a tutorial in digital photography, email us.)

Our photo essay about the historic Pioneer Courthouse, in Portland, Oregon, is complete . But our coverage of “DFOpalooza” — the delightful weekend of events celebrating Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain’s 20th judicial anniversary — isn’t quite done.

After the jump, more fun photographs. We traveled across the country to be there, so we intend to milk it for all it’s worth. And, of course, it’s good publicity for our awesome former boss.

If you’re a federal judge who’s wondering, “Why isn’t my law clerk reunion being covered this lavishly?”, there’s a solution: Invite us to your next one! (Hey Frank — we hear your house in Alaska is pretty sweet.)