Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.

This week, economists missed on the good side — initial jobless claims fell by more than expected. The 502,000 applicants are the fewest since January 3, and the four-month rolling average is at the lowest level since November 2008.

It’s tough to grasp half a million people filing for first-time benefits as good news, but these are troubled times, so we have to cheer where we can. Don’t get too excited, though. Even news that looks good at first glance probably isn’t. The 139,000 people who came off the continuing-claims roster more likely did so as a result of benefits running out or giving up the search than actually finding work.

But don’t be surprised if that number starts creeping back up. A bill was passed last week that will extend benefits by 14 weeks in all states, and six additional weeks in states where the unemployment rate is greater than 8.5%.

All in all, it was a relatively good week in BigLaw, with no layoffs reported. Nonetheless, firms continue to flail about trying to fix their economic models, and we document the efforts after the jump.

After Cleary announced its 2009 associate bonus, we asked you if the market had been set at the Cravath level. In response to the question “is it over,” 83% of you said “yes.”

Not so fast my friends. There was an all associates meeting at the D.C. office of Sidley Austin. Tipsters report that the Sidley bonus could be larger than it was last year.

Details from our tipsters after the jump.

In today’s Morning Docket, we mentioned the recent benchslap administered to Sidley Austin by Judge Diane Cannon (pictured), an Illinois state court judge. Lynne Marek of the NLJ reports:

A court hearing on Tuesday in Chicago at which former Northwestern University journalism students planned to fight a subpoena for their records and grades turned into a judicial lambasting of their Sidley Austin lawyers.

It started when Judge Diane Gordon Cannon of the Cook County Circuit Court called the lawyers, partner Richard O’Brien and associate Linda Friedlieb, to the bench before prosecutors from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office had even arrived. She asked who had written the brief she was holding. O’Brien and Friedlieb responded that they had submitted the reply supporting the motion to quash the subpoena.

Judge Cannon was, suffice it to say, not happy about the Sidley Austin brief.

Her Honor’s complaints — plus discussion of whether they were justified, and a reader poll — after the jump.

The big news out of Sidley Austin today involves Brian Schroeder, a 2009 Harvard Law School graduate who recently turned himself in for setting fire to a chapel housing the remains of 9/11 victims. Earlier today, the firm told ATL it was rescinding Schroeder’s job offer.

But there are other developments at Sidley too. Regarding start dates for class of 2010 graduates, a source reports:

Sidley Austin sent out letters regarding their deferral program. The details are a January 2012 start date, not optional. Health insurance coverage starting June 1, 2010 (thank goodness), and a stipend of $5000 / month starting January 2011. As usual, no stipend if we work for another law firm, and they reserve the right to call us back early if hell freezes over work picks up.

Sidley declined to comment on its deferral program.

On the subject of being summoned to work before 2011, we’d tell the tipster: hey, it might happen. As you may recall, some Sidley D.C. incoming associates were contacted over the summer and asked to start early.

A year and a half is a long time to be deferred. Hopefully members of the class of 2010 won’t get into as much trouble as Brian Schroeder during their time off.

CORRECTION: As noted in the comments, and confirmed by emails sent to us directly, Sidley is splitting up the class of 2010. Some are starting in January 2012 and some in January 2011 (which is apparently the earliest start date).

Speaking of Brian Schroeder, we wanted to draw your attention to one reader comment that struck us as funny, as well as yet yet another testimonial about him (to add to the prior ones).

Check them out after the jump.

We wrote earlier today about Brian Schroeder’s Halloween misadventures. On the morning of October 31, the Harvard Law ‘09 grad set fire to a chapel housing the remains of unidentified 9/11 victims. He turned himself in that evening.

Sidley Austin has responded to our inquiry regarding Schroeder, who had summered with the firm in 2008. The firm says it officially rescinded Schroeder’s job offer today.

Many have written to us about Schroeder, expressing surprise that he would do something like this. A collection of comments, after the jump.

Delaying start dates for incoming associates may have another downside: leaving them with nothing to do but get into trouble.

Brian Schroeder has an impressive résumé. The Texan graduated from Duke in 2005, having majored in theater studies, and went on to Harvard Law School. There, he was an editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review and a co-president of Lambda, an LGBT student group. He also took part in Parody, the HLS comedy show (which Elie was involved in during his time at Harvard Law).

After taking a year off to travel around Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe, he graduated from HLS this spring and moved to New York for a Biglaw job. He was supposed to start at Sidley Austin. [Update: Tipsters say Schroeder had taken the Sidley deferral package and was doing pro bono work.]

On Friday at 6:31 p.m., Schroeder’s Facebook status read, “Brian Schroeder is all tattooed and ready to go.” He included a link to these tattooed self portraits.

That night, Schroeder got very drunk and got up to some serious trouble on the morning of October 31. Yesterday a friend wrote on his wall:

“I totally just read this article that someone with your name and age set a fire…just a coincidence huh?!”

Unfortunately, it’s not a coincidence.

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.

Yesterday, we learned that Morgan, Lewis & Bockius came up with only one offer for the 17 second-year law students who summered in the firm’s D.C. office.

At Sidley Austin’s D.C. office, the news is very different. Above the Law has learned that Sidley D.C. is calling some of its incoming associates and asking them to start early. A Sidley-bound tipster reports:

Everybody in the D.C. office who expressed an interest has received a call from the D.C. office to start early — right after the Labor Day. Yay! Yay! Yay!

Sidley offered a voluntary deferral option to its incoming associates. The firm reports that about a third of their incoming class voluntarily decided to start in November 2010. The rest of the class is slated to begin work in November 2009. But a few people in D.C. will have the opportunity to start earning money even earlier. A Sidley spokesperson released this statement to Above the Law:

[A]bout 100 associates will start with the firm on November 16, 2009. Due to the needs of certain practice groups, a handful of fall associates will join the firm before November 16, 2009.

This is good news. Cherish it, my friends.

Earlier: News For Incoming Associates at Kirkland and Sidley Austin
Nationwide No Offer Watch: Zero Offer Extended At Morgan Lewis D.C.

Even though we are moving out of the Vault top ten, we are still firmly in the land of law firms that everybody recognizes.

To refresh your memory, here is the next batch of firms on the Vault list:

11. Williams & Connolly
12. Debevoise & Plimpton
13. Paul Weiss
14. Gibson Dunn
15. Sidley Austin

Williams & Connolly was crowned the safest firm by Above the Law readers in March. And so far, the firm has worn its crown with grace and style. No layoffs to report at this small dynamo. It’s something to consider during this recruiting season.

After the jump, the Paul Weiss / Gibson Dunn troll fight starts in 3 … 2 … 1 …

This year’s batch of summer associates are roughing it at Biglaw summer camp, with fewer meals out on the firm and less lavish events. To make matters worse, some summers are being told now that their future job will be deferred. Summer associates at Skadden and Ropes & Gray have been informed that they can’t come back to the camping ground until 2011. Tents can’t be repitched at Orrick until 2012.

This seems like a good time to focus on the light side of the summer associate experience. For the past month, we’ve been soliciting entries for our Summer Associate Event Contest of 2009. They came trickling in slowly, whether because there aren’t many events to brag about or because summer associates are too busy (or too scared) to email us. One SA was so fearful of “tipping” us that the announcement about the firm’s event was sent anonymously via snail mail. [FN1]

One ATL reader from a small firm had this to say about the environment at firms this summer:

Our firm does a lot of corporate bankruptcy work, so we’re faring better in this economic storm than most, but we had to scale back our summer associate program a bit. We do not have as many summer associates as we used to, and we are not having as many major, expensive events. No more big-ticket concerts; no more dinner theater on a river boat; no more renting out an entire movie theater for a pre-release movie showing….

Certainly, the difficulties of this economy are showing in the makeup of our summer class: because we have a summer program at all (unlike many law firms), we’re getting students from higher ranked schools. Most of them are from Top 20 law schools, all of them from Top 75 law schools, none of them from the fourth-tier local law school that usually supplies some of our summer class. And our summer associates are noticeably more stressed about the experience and their prospects than I’ve seen in the past 10 summers.

Despite the foregoing, we have a nice selection of events for the contest. We ask you to vote on the best one, plus offer a few honorable mentions (for events involving public urination and broken bones), after the jump.

Gentleman, how emasculated would you feel if your future father-in-law shuttled your bride down the aisle, and then, instead of pecking her on the cheek and handing her over, actually turned around and performed the wedding ceremony? Talk about control issues. That’s exactly what this groom endured last Sunday, as he was married by his father-in-law, United States Federal District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.

The Rakoff wedding didn’t make our final three. Neither did a couple of lesbian unions, a WGWAG, and several other worthy contenders. Here are the three who made the finals:

1. Devon Quasha and Jeffrey Thorn

2. Saralisa Brau and William Van Horne

3. Linda Cho and James Brennan

More about these impressive legal-eagle newlyweds, after the jump.

If you like the fast life, look out for opportunities in your firm’s offices abroad. Judging from the Russian tales of Deidre Dare and the new memoir, China High, by the pseudonymous “ZZ,” life in Biglaw’s foreign offices is full of drugs, sex, and nonstop clubbing.

Of course, these two are no longer with their firms, Dare fired from Allen & Overy and ZZ no longer on the payroll at Sidley Austin. Which leads us to suggest that you not serialize your wild adventures — Dare’s downfall — or get caught running food delivery business or smoking opium-laced hashish in public — ZZ’s sins.

Now ZZ is pursuing a new career: writing. He has spun his adventures and misadventures into a memoir, called China High. From Bloomberg:

The seat of China’s age-old civilization is as seamy on the inside as it looks imposing from the outside, judging from “China High,” a memoir scribbled under the nom de plume ZZ by a Shanghai-born, U.S.-trained lawyer in his 20s.

Written before the global credit meltdown, “China High” lifts a curtain on a side of Beijing seldom seen by tourists. ZZ captures the nocturnal buzz of a city where rave parties in derelict factories are a staple and orgies have become a rite of passage. Then there’s the pot, which locals call the Big Numb….

A Chinese national, ZZ graduated from Brandeis University and Boston College Law School, says his publisher, St. Martin’s Press. Then he went to Hong Kong in late 2000 to work for Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP (now Sidley Austin LLP) and transferred to its Beijing office in late 2001.

That bio is detailed enough that we don’t imagine ZZ is going to stay anonymous for long.

Those who have been to Beijing know that it is super cheap. Anyone living there with a $250,000 salary gets to live like a king. A sex-having, drug-doing, dumpling-eating king. More on ZZ’s indulgences and “flings with models, Mrs. Robinsons, kept women and what he delicately terms ‘local girls with jungle fever’,” after the jump.

Incoming associates at Kirkland & Ellis got good news today. They get to start in 2009! November, to be exact. We’ve added the firm to our start date round-up, after the jump.

New associates heading to Sidley Austin, on the other hand, got “optional deferral” news. The firm e-mailed incoming associates yesterday announcing the “Pro Bono Assistance Program:” a January 2011 start date with a $75,000 stipend attached. Says one tipster:

very unclear to what extent each office is effected, what happens if you DONT choose the option, etc. etc.

It looks like at least 17 New York associates will be taking the year off to do good works. From the e-mail that went out yesterday:

The economic downturn has led to a slowdown in workflow for most law firms. As a result, many law firms, including Sidley, are seeking challenging professional alternatives for a number of the lawyers in the class of 2009 - alternatives that will provide a worthwhile experience for our new lawyers and much needed service to the community at large. For this reason, the Firm and the Sidley Austin Foundation are establishing a new Pro Bono Assistance Program (the “Program”). We anticipate establishing between 17 to 20 of these positions under this program in New York. Our other offices will be participating in the Program as well. The Program will enable incoming Sidley attorneys to spend approximately one year working full time for a public interest organization while deferring arrival at the Firm. Participants will be paid a salary of $75,000 per year and will receive benefits from the organization by whom they are employed.

It is anticipated that participants will work on a full-time basis commencing sometime in November of 2009 (subject to adjustment by the employing organizations) and would be welcome to rejoin the Firm effective January 3, 2011, if they choose to do so.

That “if they choose to do so” is a little ominous.

We’re not sure how many associates will be deferred in other offices, as Sidley has not yet responded to our inquiries. If you know more, e-mail us.

Check out the full memo from Sidley, and our updated start date and deferral table, after the jump.

It looks like Sidley Austin decided to just get it all over with today. We reported earlier that Sidley was planning layoffs, and now we have official firm numbers: 89 associates, 140 staff.

Above the Law obtained the internal memo sent out to all Sidley employees:

In addition to routine departures, 89 associates and staff attorneys and approximately 140 staff in our U.S. offices have been told their jobs are being eliminated. We have provided these lawyers and staff with financial and other assistance to help with their transitions. All affected individuals have been notified. The London office has also today announced a period of redundancy consultation.

As we reported earlier, 17 attorneys in London are on their way out. That accounts for over 20% of the associates in that office.

What should we make of the “In addition to routine departures” line? Clearly, it seems like some of the stealth layoff rumors have been true. Since the firm won’t release those numbers, we can’t say what the full Sidley damage report has been. But at least the firm didn’t try to layoff over 200 people under the radar.

What’s particularly interesting about the (now announced) “stealth” layoffs, is that Sidley specifically tried to calm its associates in the immediate aftermath of Lehman’s collapse. On September 16th, Sidley sent around an internal memo. We reported:

While Sidley Austin declined to comment to ATL on the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America merger, they did send around an internal memo to their associates. Sidley essentially told their people: “DON’T PANIC!!!!!!!!!”

Apparently, the firm opened up their books to show the percentage of their business that comes from the companies affected by the yesterday’s meltdown. Merrill Lynch represents well less than 10 percent of the firm’s overall business, so they think they should be fine.

But September was a long, long time ago.

Read the full Sidley memo after the jump.

Fun fact: every month has an ides. Most months, it’s on the 13th. Not March though.

Less fun fact: Sidley Austin is most likely going to lay off a significant number of associates on Friday, March 13th.

People have been sending in tips about layoffs at Sidley for well over two weeks. But now, all of our information seems to be coalescing around Friday as the big day. While the firm has not responded to our inquires, we now have what has become the gold standard of impending layoff information: the conference room schedule for Friday.

Chuck Douglas (managing partner) has reserved all of the biggest conference rooms in the Chicago office (a total of 6) for this Friday, March 13th, from 6am - 6pm. There are four reserved on the 37th floor and two reserved on the 38th floor. We have heard that conference rooms have also been reserved in the New York office. Associates are talking pretty openly about the impending layoffs. Secretaries have not had their reviews and their salaries have not increased. Sidley told associates in December that a decision would be made as to whether or not to freeze salaries at the end of the first quarter, which is fast approaching.

We at Above the Law have been told to expect about 10% of associates — associates, not total attorneys — to be cut. Staff will be fired as well, but we haven’t heard any numbers on them.

Update (12:05 PM): Or the layoffs could start today. We are receiving reports that layoffs have already started in London and D.C. In London, it looks like 17 lawyers, accounting for 21% of the total lawyers over there, have started redundancy consultation. Four months is what they are looking at for severance.

Update (12:42): And now we’re getting reports that layoffs are happening in New York. 2nd years in corporate are particularly sad right now. No word on Chicago yet.

More details, about the severance package and incoming first years 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.

Which firms are on the cutting edge of the digital age? Law and Technology News has an opinion. The publication just released their sixth annual law technology awards:

The awards recognize outstanding innovation by law firms and law departments in their use of technology.

The big winner is Fish & Richardson for most innovative use of technology.

And Joy Heath Rush of Sidley Austin won the award for “Champion” of Technology. I don’t know what that means, but it sounds pretty cool.

Read about all of the award winners here.

2008 LAW TECHNOLOGY NEWS AWARDS [Law Technology News]

In a former life, I did a lot of coverage on Michael Bloomberg’s controversial “congestion pricing” plan for New York City. If you spend any length of time with transit policy — and don’t otherwise have a life — you’re going to find transit policy fascinating. It touches on law, politics, the environment and city planning.

It looks like Sidley Austin attorneys are getting a taste of this great work. The firm is working on behalf of a town which is trying to stop Washington, D.C.’s proposed “Purple Line.” I won’t bother you with the ins and outs of the Purple Line project (light rail versus buses!). But it’s particularly interesting that Sidley is representing the town of Chevy Chase, and the firm is working pro-bono.

When you think of disadvantaged clients in need of free legal services, you don’t really think of the well-to-do town of Chevy Chase do you? According to a press release from Action Committee for Transit:

The town has also engaged the nationally prominent law firm Sidley Austin to represent it in the transit dispute. Sidley Austin has submitted to the Maryland Transit Administration an extensive request for information, much of which duplicates an informal request previously submitted by Columbia Country Club.

At present, the town’s lawyers are working “pro bono”—without payment. However,
Sidley Austin’s web site states that the firm’s pro bono work is done “to provide legal services to the poor and to charitable, religious, community, governmental and educational organizations that otherwise would be unable to afford legal representation.” The town can easily afford to pay for legal services. Its most recent financial statement shows it has $4.4 million tucked away in the bank—more than its entire annual budget of $3 million.

In these tough economic times, maybe the firm shouldn’t be giving away services for free when the client could pay? But it’s important to remember that pro bono work isn’t just about work a client can pay, it’s also about doing work that nobody will pay for.

Does Chevy Chase fit into that broader category? More 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.

Sidley Austin just emailed all of their associates to wish them a happy New Year. How nice. How thoughtful. How … oh wait a minute. The firm also took the opportunity to inform all associates that their pay raises would be delayed until sometime next year.

The firm-wide memo from Sidley is short and to the point:

At this time of the year, we historically have provided information about class-wide and individualized salary adjustments for next year. Given the current uncertainty in the economy and financial markets, and the impact on law firms, we are still in the process of evaluating associate salary levels for 2009. We expect to make a decision on this issue sometime during the first quarter of next year.

On behalf of all of our partners, we thank you for your professionalism and dedication.

Most of our sources are out enjoying the holiday season. But our remote reporters are generally displeased.

But, as one tipster put it:

I’d still rather work at Sidley than Latham.

So there’s that.

Earlier: Sidley Austin Shows Firms How to Deal With Associates During the End Days
Associate Bonus Watch: Sidley Matches New York Market, Takes the Show to Chicago