Reed Smith

ATL Salary Freeze Round-up: The Firms on Ice

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pay freeze salary freeze pay cut law firm.jpgThe 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.

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Nationwide Pay Freeze Watch: Reed Smith Does The Obvious

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Reed Smith.jpgWhile the Latham & Watkins salary freeze came as a shock to most in the Biglaw community, Reed Smith associates have known for days that their salaries would remain frozen in place.

Reed Smith laid off 115 people two weeks ago. Individual salary memos started going out to the remaining Reed Smith associates last week (Reed Smith makes salary decisions known on a person-to-person basis). Not surprisingly, most people are not getting 2009 raises.

Because of the individualized nature of the salary information, we can’t say that nobody at Reed Smith will be receiving a raise. We can say that nobody we’ve talked to has received a full raise, expects a full raise, or is hoping for anything other than having a job when the calendar flips over. A couple of people we talked to will be getting a small salary bump, but nothing at the normal level for their class.

Did somebody say something about bonuses? Our Reed Smith sources don’t expect to get that either. There hasn’t been any official announcement, but the rumblings around the firm all point towards the “special bonus” of $0. Though, one tipster points out that there are enough bonus complications that the firm might be able to avoid the negative press associated with a $0 bonus:

RS doesn’t give end-of-year bonuses. All of our bonuses are dependent on hours or performance or are related to profit sharing. Everything is discretionary, except profit sharing, which is based on the firms performance, and well, we know where that is.

The lesson, as always, if your firm recently picked up a bunch of Thelen attorneys, or a bunch of Heller attorneys, things are not going well.

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Reed Smith Cans Staff, Associates, ‘And Your Little Dog Too’

Howrey and Reed Smith: Latest Beneficiaries of Thelen’s Shutdown

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Nationwide Layoff Watch: Reed Smith Cans Staff, Associates, ‘And Your Little Dog Too’

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Reed Smith.jpgReed Smith officially announced massive layoffs today. They didn’t do it “stealthily,” but you can’t really fire over 115 people and have it go unnoticed.

A firm-wide email explained the bloodbath:

Today we are laying off approximately 115 support staff personnel across our US offices. These layoffs include people in all of our support areas, including IT, finance, marketing, practice administration, knowledge management, human resources and office services. In addition, in London we are today commencing what is known as a redundancy consultation exercise, under procedures unique to the UK, that could result in the elimination of up to 7 support staff positions there. Lastly, we are also commencing a UK redundancy consultation exercise that could result in the elimination of up to 11 associate positions in the Business & Finance department in London due to overcapacity.

“Redundancy consultation exercise?” You have to love the British use of the English language.

I guess we have to be happy that Reed Smith decided to announce these layoffs officially. Reports have come in from multiple tipsters that the firm has been “quietly shedding people” for weeks. These moves will come to no surprise to Reed Smith associates working out of the New York office.

It’s sad to see the firm cutting so many people just after they acquired a large chunk of Thelen refugees. A couple of weeks ago, we reported:

Reed Smith is another firm profiting from Thelen’s demise. Check out the pun-aided press release from the firm:

“Reed Smith LLP, one of the 15 largest law firms in the world, experienced a power surge today, with the addition of a 14-member group from Thelen, headed by renewable energy law pioneer Ellen L. Bastier.”

These attorneys also come from San Francisco. Kudos to the new hires.

But, to quote Bill Simmons paraphrasing The Wolf, let’s not start licking each others’ popsicles just yet.

Remember, it wasn’t all that long ago that Orrick was happily announcing 27 new partner hires from Heller — 27 new partners then, 40 freshly unemployed associates now.

Pushing 115-plus Tony Rocky Horrors out of a window might be excessive, but Reed Smith people should have expected a “reaction.”

Read the Reed memo after the jump.

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Howrey and Reed Smith: Latest Beneficiaries of Thelen’s Shutdown

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Howrey logo.JPGThe Recorder is reporting that Howrey will take on 40 lawyers from Thelen’s prestigious San Francisco construction practice:

The group — which Howrey characterized as “most of the construction practice” from Thelen — includes Thelen Chairman Stephen O’Neal, construction practice head John Heisse II, D.C. office managing partner Andrew Ness, San Francisco partner David Buoncristiani (who handles matters for client Bechtel), Los Angeles partner Robert Thum and D.C. partner David Dekker. Most of the 18 partners and about 25 associates and of counsel are in San Francisco and D.C., and the rest are in New York and Los Angeles.

Hmm… Thelen attorneys, Chairman Stephen O’Neal, Howrey — where have I heard that before?

Oh yeah! You’ll remember that the Recorder initially broke the story on O’Neal’s flirtations with Howrey.

Immediately after Thelen dissolved, we mentioned possible options for the firm:

Option 1 is the plan they have arguably been pursuing: breaking up the firm practice group by practice group to interested parties. As we reported yesterday, this is the best option to save associate jobs. However, that plan is dependent on Thelen’s banks signing-off on the plan and maintaining their line of credit. Did Stephen O’Neal’s aggressive and ultimately public pursuit of his own lifeboat at Howrey scuttle that option? Once everybody is told that the managing partner could be leaving in ten days, why would other potential suitors compete for full Thelen practice groups? Instead, it’s easier to wait for an official dissolution and cherry-pick the rainmakers. This is what happened to Heller.

I’ll pause until the Thelen people stop screaming and hitting things.

Read about other Thelen landing places, after the jump.

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Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 71-80 (2009)

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comparing.jpgThe 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

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 8.10: Hotness Disparity Edition

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champagne glasses small.jpgAs some of you have noticed, we tend not to remark negatively on the innate physical attributes of our Legal Eagle contestants. There are several reasons for our reticence, but the most basic one is simply this: LEWW believes that prestige is beautiful. LEWW believes that every bride can look gorgeous on her special day if she has the right law degree. LEWW believes that a JD from HLS is like a great bra; it looks flimsy and has a jaw-dropping price tag, but it will support you and make you look better than you deserve.
Having made much of our reluctance to comment disparagingly about our subjects’ appearance, we’ll promptly depart from our own custom and announce that this is Hotness Disparity Week on LEWW. All of our grooms are decent-looking but undeniably average Joes, and we submit to you that all of them have married up.
See if you agree with us. Here are the couples:

1. Uma Amuluru and John Theis

2. Dena Fayad and David Guggenheim

3. Courtney Gregoire and Scott Lindsay

Click on the link below to read about these couples.

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What’s Going on at Reed Smith?

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Reed Smith.jpgThe law firm of Reed Smith — which, as its Google listing reminds us, is “[o]ne of the 15 largest law firms in the world” — has been in the news a lot lately. Here’s a quick recap.
Some of the news has been good, and some not-so-good. Let’s get the bad news over with first.
Last month, a Pennsylvania state court judge gave the green light to an overbilling lawsuit brought by a former Reed Smith client — a non-profit organization, no less. From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

A Lawrence County Common Pleas Court judge rejected four of five objections by the Downtown law firm Reed Smith, which was sued by a youth foster-care foundation in a dispute over fees.

Bair Foundation, New Wilmington, Lawrence County, sued Reed Smith in November for billing it nearly $1 million — in contrast to the firm’s early estimate of $112,000 in legal costs — to defend the foundation in an employment discrimination lawsuit, according to the complaint.

The $112,000 was a revised estimate; the original estimate, according to the complaint, was $50,000. And Reed Smith’s client ended up losing in the underlying lawsuit.
According to Am Law Daily, “[t]he matter has turned into something of a public relations nightmare for Reed Smith…. The complaint paints a picture of a billing machine run amok.” For its part, the firm denies the allegations and claims that it “will prevail.”
More Reed Smith news, after the jump.

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Featured Job Survey Results: Making Rain?

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We received over five hundred responses to last Thursday’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on client contact, and most of you have been enjoying extensive client interaction:
Results: How many times have you interacted with clients in the last month?
Client Contact Statistics From Lateral Link
Of course, not all client contacts are created equal:

  • About 93% of respondents spoke with clients on the phone, or e-mailed them directly.
  • About two-thirds of respondents had their names on briefs or memos that were sent to clients.
  • Another two-thirds met clients in person.
  • About a quarter of respondents actually attended social events with clients.
  • A fifth pitched prospective clients.
  • About 18% of respondents reported bringing in new clients last month.

    • More findings and discussion, after the jump.

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    Morning Docket: 01.23.08

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    Jose Padilla 2 Abovethelaw Above the Law blog.jpg* Jose Padilla gets 17 years. [New York Times; Washington Post]
    * A merger between Anderson Kill and Reed Smith? Maybe not. But 55 of Anderson Kill’s 126 lawyers have decamped for Reed Smith. [WSJ Law Blog; WSJ Law Blog]
    * Ted Frank on yesterday’s Enron cert denial: Extortion, interrupted? [New York Sun]
    * China shuts down “real-time” porn site, as part of its crackdown on online porn. [Reuters]
    * Law tie (however tenuous) to Heath Ledger story: “Nicole Vaughan, 24, a law student at New York University, was in a seminar about Jesus when someone sent her a message about Mr. Ledger. She checked the Web, then walked to the apartment ‘because of the way our generation is; we sort of feel we’re a part of each other’s lives.’” [New York Times]
    * Apparently Bill Clinton enjoys the Yale Law / Harvard Law rivalry: “I kind of like to see Barack and Hillary fight.” [NYDN via Drudge]

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