Shearman & Sterling

Morning Docket: 04.18.12

By

* Since you’re so funny, crack some jokes about this one, Obama. Senate Republicans will be filing an amicus brief in support of a challenge to the constitutionality of the President’s recess appointments. [New York Times]

* Thanks to this Third Circuit ruling, you can rest easy knowing that you can rely on the First Amendment to protect your homemade sex tapes from all of those strict porn record-keeping and labeling requirements… for now. [Reuters]

* Due to Kelley Drye’s EEOC settlement, the New York State Bar Association is asking firms to end mandatory retirement policies. Because old folks need to make bank till they croak. [Thomson Reuters News & Insight]

* The ABA’s Commission on Ethics 20/20 has decided to ditch its proposal to allow limited nonlawyer ownership of law firms. Cue tears and temper tantrums from the likes of Jacoby & Meyers. [Am Law Daily]

* “If I believe that Chris Armstrong is a radical homosexual activist, I have a constitutional right to express that opinion.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell that to the judge who dismissed your suit, Shirvell. [Detroit Free Press]

* Presenting “her royal hotness”: apparently Pippa Middleton has been seen cavorting around France with gun-toting lawyer Romain Rabillard, of Shearman & Sterling. [Daily Mail]

10 Comments

Letter from London: Shearman Lawyer in ‘Spit-Roast’ Email Shame

By

It was just another day at Shearman & Sterling. Daniel England, a British trainee lawyer based out of the firm’s Singapore office, took a break from whatever thrilling piece of work he was doing to email his friends about their forthcoming vacation in Dubai.

Being a rules-obsessed lawyer, he included a list of “do’s and don’ts” for the group — two of whom work in London’s financial district, the City — to follow on the trip. A few days later, the poor fellow found the email plastered across the British press.

“‘Cheating on our girls is allowed… We must boast about how rich we are’: City boys are ruled offside after rugby tour ‘rules’ email goes viral,” bellowed the Daily Mail on Thursday.

“For four young City high-fliers, the adage ‘what goes on tour, stays on tour’ has unravelled after a private email with their ‘tour rules’ went viral,” crowed The Telegraph.

Here are those tour rules…

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Letter from London: Shearman Lawyer in ‘Spit-Roast’ Email Shame”

32 Comments

Keeping Up With the Cravathians: The Ten Most Generous (or Foolish?) Law Firms

By

This morning’s news that Boies Schiller is making a mockery of the Cravath bonus scale simply reinforces the prevailing view (pace David Lat) around here that the 2011 Cravath bonus scale is fundamentally unfair.

Agreeing on this point is former Kirkland & Ellis partner Steven Harper (whose apparent pro-associate stance may make him a sort of Biglaw apostate). As Harper points out, “equity partner profit trees have resumed their growth to the sky. As the economy struggled, Cravath’s average partner profits increased to $2.7 million in 2009 and to $3.17 million in 2010 … That’s not ‘treading water.’ It’s returning to 2007 profit levels — the height of ‘amazing’ boom years that most observers had declared gone forever. Watch for 2011 profits to be even higher.”

And yet associate bonuses remain stagnant at 2009 levels. Furthermore, as ATL commenter “The Cravath Cut” is so fond of noting, when viewed as a percentage of profits, bonuses appear especially measly, at least from the associate p.o.v. (The current $7,500 market rate for first-years is just 0.23% of Cravath’s profits per partner. Back in 2007, first-year bonuses equalled 1.36%.) Despite these numbers, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone Biglaw’s rank and file will follow Cravath’s lead.

Cravath is among the most profitable firms in the world. We thought it would be interesting to see what the implications of matching Cravath are for those firms with much lower profit margins. Which firms’ partners willingly take the biggest hit by keeping up? Are these firms arguably more “generous”? After the jump, check out those firms that pay the largest percentage of PPP in bonuses.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Keeping Up With the Cravathians: The Ten Most Generous (or Foolish?) Law Firms”

35 Comments

Associate Bonus Watch: Shearman & Sterling

By

As they say in the Pokémon movie, you gotta catch ‘em all.

That’s how we approach bonus news here at Above the Law. Today is shaping up as a day that will be full of bonus news. We’ve heard some rumblings about some big, Cravath topping bonuses at a well known shop, but for now, we’ve got a standard Cravath match.

Shearman & Sterling, come on down. You’re on “The Price Is Meh”…

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Shearman & Sterling”

38 Comments

Musical Chairs: Orrick Assembles an Impressive Team of Finance and High-Yield Lawyers

By

The law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe continues to do battle with its former client, MGA Entertainment. It seems that the maker of Bratz dolls is still acting in bratty fashion, by not paying its legal bills, and Orrick has moved to withdraw from representing MGA. (This is not the first time that Orrick has tried to fire its difficult client.)

Fortunately, things are happier on the transactional side for Orrick. The firm just announced that it’s picking up five bank finance and high-yield partners, for its New York office.

The new arrivals come from four different places, including three firms whose names you will definitely recognize….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Orrick Assembles an Impressive Team of Finance and High-Yield Lawyers”

11 Comments

Career Center Survey Results: Who Labored on Labor Day?

By

Almost half (48%) of Career Center survey respondents said they were too busy billing on the Labor Day holiday to fire up the barbie. That’s more than the 35% of survey respondents who reported working on the Fourth of July, but less than the 73% of respondents who worked on Presidents’ Day, and the 66% of respondents who worked on MLK Day.

The most popular reasons given for skipping out on the Labor Day celebrations were:

56% said that nobody specifically asked them to do work, but they had work they needed to get done. 29% said a partner or associate asked them to do work. 14% said a client asked them to do work. 10% said they needed the hours. 7% said everyone else in their office was working. 3% said that Labor Day is not recognized as an official firm holiday.

Now let’s find out in which practice areas and at which Biglaw firms associates were most and least likely to work on Labor Day….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Career Center Survey Results: Who Labored on Labor Day?”

Biglaw Perk Watch: The Gay Gross-Up Gains Traction

By

As many of you know, here at Above the Law we have been tracking which major law firms offer a non-salary benefit that we’ve dubbed the gay gross-up. As we’ve previously explained, quoting a memo issued by Simpson Thacher, the gay gross-up is “[a] ‘gross-up’ for employees who enroll same-sex partners in the Firm’s health benefits plans to offset any federal, state and local income taxes paid on the value of the partners’ benefits which heterosexual spouses are not subject to.”

Today we are pleased to report that two top firms have joined the club. Kudos to Debevoise & Plimpton and Shearman & Sterling for standing on the side of equality. You can read their announcement memos, issued earlier this month, after the jump.

We have added these firms to our list. By the way, for those firms that would rather appear on a list maintained by the New York Times than one maintained by Above the Law, you should note that the NYT is also monitoring which workplaces provide this perk. The NYT list includes employers of many different types, not just law firms, and features some of the nation’s most innovative companies, such as Google and Facebook and Apple.

With the addition of Debevoise and Shearman, which leading law firms provide this benefit? Let’s take a look….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Biglaw Perk Watch: The Gay Gross-Up Gains Traction”

16 Comments

Musical Chairs: Paul Weiss Snags Corporate Partners from O’Melveny — Along With a Top Client

By

The high-powered law firm of Paul Weiss has a legendary litigation practice. But their corporate department is strong too — they’re working on, for example, the big Warner Music deal — and it’s only getting stronger.

Yesterday corporate lawyers at Paul Weiss received an unusual email: “We would like to ask all counsel and associates to attend a meeting tomorrow morning at 11 to discuss some exciting developments affecting the Corporate Department. The meeting will be held in the concourse. Please make every effort to attend.”

The meeting took place earlier today. What was announced?

UPDATE: Please note that several updates have been added to this post, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Musical Chairs: Paul Weiss Snags Corporate Partners from O’Melveny — Along With a Top Client”

17 Comments

Associate Bonus Watch: Shearman & Sterling Matches Spring Bonuses

By

Either your New York firm is paying spring bonuses, or your firm is counting on you being too much of a beta to leave. Today Shearman & Sterling announced that it will be paying spring bonuses, and the bonuses will match the Cravath scale for the spring payout. As with other firms, the Shearman’s spring bonus will be paid out on April 29th.

Man, I hope hookers and coke dealers are prepared for the increased demand for their services that will be coming at the end of April.

You do wonder what kind of effect these spring bonuses are having on the lateral market in New York. Usually, people look to move firms right after the end-of-the-year bonus, making February a really hot month for lateral hires. But now with spring bonuses, people will be compelled to stay at their firms through April. And by then people will feel rejuvenated by the spring, and the next thing you know, associates will tell themselves “you know, if I just hang on a few more months I’ll get a whole new 2011 year end bonus.” Mwahahahaha, only now, at the end, do you understand that true power of Biglaw.

Sorry, didn’t mean to be a downer. The point here is that if you work for a firm that is not paying a spring bonus, leave now. Leave now, while you can, while your lateral competitors are busy planning how they are going to spend their spring bonuses.

Full memo after the jump, congratulations to our Shearman & Sterling friends…

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Shearman & Sterling Matches Spring Bonuses”

65 Comments

Associate Bonus Watch: Sherman & Sterling
(And… Jeopardy!)

By

We want to hear about your firm’s bonus news, even if it’s old. If we haven’t reported on it yet, we want to know about it. (Use our site search box in the upper-right-hand corner, or scroll through our Associate Bonus Watch archives, to see which announcements we’ve already covered.)

Here’s some old bonus news (literally “last year’s” news). A few weeks ago, Shearman & Sterling announced its bonuses. They essentially matched the Cravath scale, but with the caveat (also issued last year) that they are at least partly “merit-based” — i.e., adjusted up or down based on performance. The S&S bonuses are being paid out on January 14.

Some Shearman associates might be upset by the lack of upward movement on bonuses. But at least one of them probably doesn’t care that much, since he enjoyed other income in 2010.

I’ll take “Lawyers Who Have Appeared on Jeopardy” for $1000, Alex….

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Sherman & Sterling
(And… Jeopardy!)“

34 Comments
Page 2 of 7123456...7