We're a little late in passing along this news, which is from last month. But when it comes to coverage of certain topics, like start dates and layoffs, we aim for completeness.

An article in Crain's Chicago Business focuses on delayed start dates at major law firms in the Windy City. Most of the news in the piece was previously broken by ATL. See, e.g., Seyfarth Shaw; DLA Piper.

But there's one nugget of news:

With starting attorney salaries reaching $160,000 a year, delaying new-hire dates is one way to trim expenses. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which has 186 attorneys in Chicago and a substantial real estate practice, pushed back starting dates for seven lawyers by two months, to mid-November, a spokeswoman says.

So add Sonnenschein to the list of firms that have delayed start dates for incoming associates. Just like no-offering summer associates, pushing back starting dates is less than ideal. But as we wondered on Friday, such measures may be the lesser of multiple evils (with lawyer layoffs as a greater evil -- although some firms have done both).

P.S. Lee Miller might want to coordinate better with his public-relations team. The DLA Piper PR folks previously explained that the change in start dates was made "to provide a uniform start date across all our offices... [and] to have a uniform orientation process." But Miller tells Crain's that it's the economy, stupid:

"Any firm that isn't careful in this economy is nuts," says Lee Miller, joint CEO of DLA, Chicago's eighth-biggest law firm. Mr. Miller says the firm also plans to cut next summer's recruiting class by as much as one-fifth. "The transactional practices are slower, mirroring the economy, and the capital markets are in turbulent times," he says.

P.P.S. Today, of course, is Labor Day. Is anyone reading?

Update / Correction: The Sonnenschein start date news was first reported by Bloomberg News on August 5, in a very interesting article on partner pay. As Lindsay Fortado reported, the firm pushed back start dates for 20 of its 24 incoming first-year associates from September to November 15. (The seven lawyers referenced in the Crain's article appear to be Chicago associates; the firm-wide number appears to be 20.)

Tougher times on the docket [Crain's Chicago Business]
Wall Street Lawyers Ask Bank, Can You Spare $250,000? [Bloomberg News]

We bring you more word of postponed start dates for incoming associates. The latest comes from the Philly firm of WolfBlock, as first reported in the Philadelphia Business Journal:

In response to the economic slowdown, Wolf Block has delayed the start date of its entry-level lawyers for two months. The firm said all but one of eight recent law school graduates were told not to report for work until November 10 rather than the normal start date shortly after Labor Day.

Hiring partner Andrew Chirls said the first-year associates, who get paid $135,000 a year, will receive a $5,000 stipend to tide them over.

That works out to $2,500 a month, or $30,000 on an annual basis. But hey, at least they don't have to work for it.

If you're interested, there's more -- including info about summer-associate offer rates -- after the jump.

We recently heard the following about Heller Ehrman:

1. Start dates for incoming associates have been pushed back to January 19, 2009. Associates are being offered a $10,000 stipend.

2. The firm has pulled out of on-campus interviewing (OCI) at several law schools, including UVA and UC-Davis.

We contacted the firm for comment. Spokesman Patrick Bustamante informed us that Heller has delayed the start date for fall associates to Tuesday, January 20, 2009 (because Monday the 19th is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day). These associates will receive a monthly stipend between November and January.

He also confirmed that the firm has withdrawn from OCI at some schools:

It's not unusual for firms to change or cancel their on-campus interview plans as they refine their hiring goals in late summer. [Ed. note: "Guys in my high school..."]

Because we plan to hire fewer summer associates next summer, we did cancel our plans to interview at some schools and to focus on schools where we have been the most successful in the past.

A little bit more, after the jump.

Lately we've been hearing various rumors about Shearman & Sterling. Some appear to be true, and some not.

Here are the rumors, followed by the firm's responses, in blockquotes.

1. Have start dates for incoming first-year associates been pushed back?

Start dates for incoming first-year associates for fall 2008 are October 6, 20, 27 and November 3.

We don't know what the 2007 start dates were (and the firm didn't provide them), but we're guessing they were earlier. But the 2008 start dates are not particularly late. Compare them to these firms' postponed start dates.

2. Have there been any layoffs at the firm, of lawyers or staff?

There have been no lay-offs at Shearman & Sterling, of either attorneys or administrative staff.

This makes sense to us. Shearman did layoffs back in the early 2000s, which it later came to regret, when memories of the layoffs harmed the firm's recruiting efforts once the economy came roaring back. So, having learned their lesson, we'd be surprised to see mass layoffs from Shearman now.

(But we wouldn't be surprised if there have been some performance-related dismissals lately, especially on the corporate side.)

3. Did the firm make offers to all of its summer associates?

(We had previously heard, through the grapevine, that the firm had 135 summer associates and made offers to all of them.)

This summer we had 144 summer associates. There were four summer associates whose academic commitments precluded their joining the firm in fall 2009. We made entry-level offers to all but one of the summer associates available to join the firm.

Based on the high percentage of offers to summers, north of 99 percent, it seems that Shearman is doing just fine these days. But we are curious about that one SA who got no-offered.

Might there be a juicy but undiscovered summer associate scandal? Perhaps a new and improved version of the Shearman & Slur-Man? If you have info, feel free to email us.

(If it's garden-variety incompetence, that's of little interest to us. But if there's an entertaining or salacious tale, we'd like to hear about it. Thanks.)

Earlier: X-Summers: Shearman & Slur-Man

We've been hearing about delayed start dates for incoming associates at Seyfarth Shaw, both in comments and by email. We contacted the firm for confirmation.

A firm spokesperson informed us that start dates for new associates have been pushed back by five weeks, from September 8 to October 13:

Seyfarth Shaw recognizes that we are navigating a difficult economic climate along with everyone else. Accordingly, like a lot of other firms, we have thoughtfully deliberated about steps we can take to help us deal with these conditions with the least disruption to our personnel while ensuring continued best-in-class legal services to our clients.

Out of our deliberations, we have concluded that a prudent, minimally disruptive measure we can take immediately to help keep expenses in control is to delay by a relatively short period of time the start date of our incoming 26 first year associates.

Seyfarth Shaw is quite sound financially, indeed most of our practice areas are on-track to meet their financial targets for 2008. However, some of our practice groups are struggling along with the clients we serve in adversely affected sectors of the economy. Therefore, our decision to postpone by five weeks the start date of our incoming first year associates reflects our firm's disciplined, fiscally conservative nature, which will help enable the firm to meet our financial objectives and help us to continue to meet our commitments.

Sounds prudent -- and the firm may be taking additional steps to deal with the downturn. From a tipster:

Seyfarth Shaw held meetings with its associates last week in all of its offices regarding "firm economics." They acknowledged that may practice areas are performing above expectations (L&E, commercial lit, employee benefits), but there were others that have seen considerable slowing (construction/real estate). As a result, there have been a few layoffs in these slow areas (word on the street is that they largely came from Boston) and they were pushing the incoming class start date to October. The office managing partners told associates that there were no other layoffs anticipated and overall the firm was "on target" in terms of budget for the year.

We asked the firm about the layoff news as well. The Seyfarth spokesperson declined to comment, except to reiterate that "some of our practice groups are struggling along with the clients we serve in adversely affected sectors of the economy. Firm-wide, most of our practice groups are on-track to meet their financial targets for 2008."

Hmm... we'll take that as a "yes." But we have no details about the alleged layoffs, other than what appears above (slow practice areas, Boston). If you can enlighten us, feel free to email. Thanks.

We continue to monitor deferred start dates for incoming associates at the nation's largest (i.e., Am Law 200) law firms. If you're aware of any such firm that has pushed back start dates for first-year associates and hasn't been mentioned in these pages before, please drop us a line (subject line: "Nationwide Start Date Watch").

The matter of start dates may seem trivial. But it's one way of figuring out which firms are struggling in the tough economic climate. Some firms have pushed start dates into 2009 in order to cut costs.

Last month we broke the news of layoffs at Powell Goldstein. Now we hear this, from a tipster:

Powell Goldstein in Atlanta just pushed back start dates for associates until January 5, 2009. To make matters worse, not all starting associates were pushed to January -- a few "favorites" are still starting on time in September. It seems that people are very upset at the way things are being handled, and really resent the preferential treatment. There is also a rumor that the associates will be paid $2,500 / month until they start work in January.

Yesterday we sought comment on this from James J. McAlpin, Jr., chairman of Powell Goldstein, who previously confirmed the layoff news for us. He has not gotten back to us as of the time of this posting. If he or anyone else from the firm does, we'll update the post accordingly.

If it's true that some PoGo associates have had their start dates pushed back while others have not, is it surprising? One ATL reader in ATL thinks not:

I have heard from my friends that PoGo, like King & Spalding, has an "all-star system" by which associates designated (informally) as "PoGo All-Stars" get preferential work assignments and projects. [So having] some people starting on time and some people being delayed.... doesn't strike me as being outside the realm of possibility. Short-sighted for sure, but who really knows what the thinking is at PoGo.

If you have more information about the Powell Goldstein start date situation, please email us. If we've made any errors or omitted anything material, we will revise this post as soon as we're notified of it (by email; anonymous comments don't have the same reliability and accountability). Thanks.

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Powell Goldstein

As you might expect, we hear a lot of wild 'n crazy rumors in this line of work. We try to chase down as many as we can, and if we can confirm them, we report out in these pages.

One of the more interesting rumors we received, from multiple sources, was that Howard Rice, the prominent San Francisco -based law firm, was giving its incoming first-year associates two-year deferrals. Talk about a delayed start date!

Two years struck us as a bit insane. Why not just rescind the offers outright, and be done with it?

As is so often the case, however, the game of telephone distorted things a bit. We reached out to the firm for comment. Recruiting partner Jon Hughes explained:

Thank you for providing us the opportunity to address the information you heard about Howard Rice, and to respond to your questions.

Your instinct was correct: we are not deferring start dates for two years, and we are not deferring all of our incoming class. We had eight associates scheduled to start this fall - seven litigation associates and one business associate. We are deferring the start dates for three incoming litigation associates for one year. We will pay them a stipend and work closely with them to find opportunities that will be valuable to their development and their careers here. For example, we are looking for opportunities for these new attorneys to work with one or more of the many national and local public interest organizations with which we have a close relationship.

I think the confusion about the two years may be that one of the three associates has a clerkship for fall 2009 to fall 2010, so in that one instance, that incoming associate will start in fall 2010.

Howard Rice has not taken any other actions with respect to more senior classes of associates (that was one of the questions you asked). [Ed. note: We asked about whether the firm had laid off or offered buyouts to any more senior associates.]

Just a few more words to put this decision in context. Our primary goal in making this decision is to ensure that the very bright, hard working and talented attorneys who join us have an experience in their first year of practice that is challenging and interesting. Counting last fall and this coming fall, we have a disproportionately high number of incoming first-year associates who want to join our litigation practice. One of the reasons we attract the best litigation associate candidates in the country is that we give our them more responsibility earlier in their careers than their peers get at many other firms. We concluded that this decision would help us keep that commitment, to our current junior associates and those will be arriving at the firm this fall and next.

We thank Mr. Hughes for the clarification. Deferring incoming first years for a year is obviously not ideal (and it's one of the most delayed start dates we're aware of; prior coverage of start date changes is collected below). But it's a far cry from a two-year "deferral," which is laughable.

Are you aware of a major (i.e., Am Law 200) law firm that is pushing back its start dates for first-year associates? If the news hasn't been mentioned here before, feel free to drop us a line. Thanks.

Earlier: An Update on Start Dates: DLA Piper, Pillsbury Winthrop
Nationwide Start Date Watch: K&L Gates

These aren't the best of times for Biglaw, in case you hadn't noticed. The most recent evidence: staff and lawyer layoffs at Sonnenschein, news that we broke last night (and might write more about, so feel free to email us with info).

But here is a tiny sliver of good news. In response to our open call for information about delayed start dates for incoming associates, which some law firms have been using to reduce expenses, we received very little.

First, we learned that DLA Piper has instituted a nationwide start date of October 1. This isn't terribly exciting, since October 1 isn't that late. Other firms that have announced delayed start dates have gone for late October or even January.

The change also doesn't appear to be economically motivated. From DLA spokesperson Jason Costa:

The changes were made to provide a uniform start date across all our offices. The new collective date allows us to have a uniform orientation process. We think it will also be good for the associates, since the shared start date will probably lead to a tighter knit class.

Our tipsters mentioned the availability of pay advances if needed, which Costa confirmed: "We are more than happy to give pay advances to any incoming associates who had planned to start earlier than October, and who may need the extra cash."

Second, we received more details about Pillsbury Winthrop, which previously said it was spacing out start dates "over several months."

Read the rest, after the jump.

Thanks to the worsening economy, law firms don't have enough work for the lawyers already on their payrolls. Some firms have decided to save money by having incoming first-year associates start later than originally planned. What's the point of bringing new kids on board, at starting salaries of $160,000 each, if you don't have enough work to give them?

The latest Biglaw shop to push back start dates: K&L Gates. The original firm-wide start date was September 15; the new start date is October 20.

We contacted K&L Gates for comment. The firm's director of recruiting, Roz Pitts, explained that the change was made not for any economic reason, but due to "crazy scheduling." She explained that the firm's partner retreat in Phoenix is taking place in early October, and they didn't want the first-years to start work only to have the entire partnership disappear a few weeks later. She added that the firm stands by all its offers -- i.e., no offers have been rescinded -- and that all incoming associates will be notified of the start date change by today. (Some offices started notifying associates on Friday, which is when we learned of this change.)

But even if K&L Gates were making this change for economic reasons, would there be any shame in that? Other prominent law firms have already announced postponed start dates:

1. Pillsbury Winthrop: start dates pushed back, possibly as far back as January 2009 (the firm told the Wall Street Journal that it "is staggering start dates over several months").

2. Thacher Proffitt & Wood: the start date for non-litigation first-years has been pushed back to October 20.

3. Thelen Reid: start dates for first-year associates pushed back from September 2008 to January 2009.

Do you know of a Biglaw shop that has announced it's pushing back start dates? If so, feel free to drop us a line. Thanks.

P.S. When it comes to start dates, maybe there's no way to please everyone. Back in February, some Sidley Austin associates complained about excessively early start dates.

[Ed. note: Apologies for the radio silence for much of today. Alas, we've been experiencing some rather severe technical difficulties, in connection with the site redesign and relaunch. The next few days (and perhaps weeks) may be a little bumpy around here; please bear with us. Thanks for your patience.]

Here are two pieces of information that we've heard about Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman:

1. For incoming first-year associates, their start dates, originally set for early October 2008, are being pushed back. These new associates could start as late as January 2009. The delay is due to "a serious slowdown in business."

2. For 2008 summer associates, the summer program has been reduced from 12 weeks to 10 weeks. Summer associates will not be allowed to work more than 10 weeks, even if they want to.

With respect to the first tip, concerning incoming full-time associates, we've heard it with respect to the Los Angeles office specifically. With respect to the second tip, concerning summer associates, we believe it to be a firmwide policy.

We contacted PWSP for confirmation and comment, earlier this week and again today. A firm spokesperson confirmed receipt of our inquiries but had no comment (as of the time of this posting; if we hear from her, we'll update this post).

More details, plus reactions from some of our tipsters, after the jump.

That's what many of you have been wondering, in emails to us and in comments. We've investigated the situation at Thacher Proffitt & Wood, and we now bring you this detailed report.

We'll start off with the big rumors:

1. Thacher Proffitt laid off additional associates earlier this week.

The firm's response: "As always, we continue to talk to associates in the areas most affected by the market conditions."

Sounds a tad Orwellian, and suggests that some additional reductions in the associate ranks did in fact take place (since it's not an outright denial). But we don't have any details, in terms of numbers of lawyers affected, departments, severance, etc. If you do, we'd love to hear from you.

2. TPW is delaying the start date for the incoming first year class until late October (which may need to be extended until January).

Partly true, partly not. From the firm: "The start date for incoming litigation associates remains the same. The start date for others has been moved to October 20th."

3. The White Plains office is being closed.

The firm denies this outright: "The rumor related to our White Plains office is not true."

Update (10/27/08): The White Plains office is now closed.

More detailed discussion about the situation at Thacher Proffitt -- which sounds rather grave, according to the former, current, and future TPW lawyers we heard from -- after the jump.

The rumor making the rounds of lawyer and staff layoffs at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner is true. We just spoke to Thelen's co-chair, Stephen V. O'Neal, who provided confirmation and details.

The firm is in the process of laying off 26 associates and 85 staff members, on a firm-wide basis, "in response to recessionary pressures." (Unlike President Bush, Mr. O'Neal was not afraid to use the "r" word.) Thelen has approximately 600 lawyers, per its website, so the cuts amount to roughly 4 percent of total headcount.

With respect to the location of the affected lawyers, the cuts affected all major offices. With respect to seniority -- one source told us that some first- and second-year associates were fired -- Mr. O'Neal said that "some were fairly junior, and some more senior."

In terms of practice areas, Mr. O'Neal said the layoffs were spread out among groups, but with "some areas more impacted than others," including certain parts of capital markets and cap-markets-related real estate work. He noted that other practice areas are "thriving and increasing in scope," including renewable energy, cross-border M&A, China practice, litigation, and workouts / bankruptcy.

With respect to staff layoffs, Mr. O'Neal explained that they are due in part to the economic climate, but in part due to post-merger staff redundancies. The merger of Thelen Reid and Brown Raysman took place in late 2006, making the consolidated firm a little over a year old. But the firm did not do much cutting of staff in 2007.

Last year "was not a year when we tried to make deep cutbacks in anything, even though we had combined two good-sized firms," explained Mr. O'Neal. "It was a year of building, coordinating, and consolidating. We wanted to understand how best to organize this new entity." Now that the firm has a better understanding of its staffing needs, and is in the process of consolidating multiple offices in the same cities (e.g., New York), it is reducing staff redundancies.

As for associate severance packages, Mr. O'Neal stated that firm provided a "market-level" package. We floated three to four months as our understanding of market, and he said that the firm is "in that ballpark."

"We are anticipating a profitable 2008," said Mr. O'Neal. "We are being prudent businesspeople, and when you are dealing with recessionary pressures, you adjust your business so you will have -- and maintain -- a strong level of profitability, notwithstanding those pressures."

We thank the firm for the information and candor with respect to the layoffs (i.e., not casting these departures as "performance-based"). If you have more information, feel free to email us.

Updates: A few additional nuggets:

1. As noted in the comments, total headcount includes partners and counsel, so the percentage of associates laid off is higher than 4 percent. Some of you suggest it's around 10 percent.

2. We're a little annoyed at Legal Pad for the lack of an ATL shout-out -- in both the blogosphere and the MSM, it's proper form to credit and/or link to the source that breaks a story first (even if you were working on the same story too) -- but we'll link to them anyway.

They have more on the Thelen layoffs here. Much of the info in their post appeared previously in ours, but they do add that the firm "is also trimming its summer program from eleven to eight weeks and is pushing the start date for first-years from September to January."

3. A source at the firm tells us that the severance packages were in the two- to three-month range.

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of layoffs (scroll down)