More news from one of ATL's favorite law firms, Quinn Emanuel. See Gawker and Radar.

If your friends are as fabulous as Susan Estrich's, why hide them behind a bcc?

Query: Could this actually be a brilliant viral marketing ploy? Has Susan Estrich harnessed the power of the blogosphere to get all the world to read her paean to QE?

The Art Of The 'To' Line [Gawker]
Fox News' Susan Estrich Has a New Job [Radar Online via Big Law Board]

Some associates at Quinn Emanuel are a tad grumpy these days. But here are three items to cheer them up:

1. Profits per partner clear $3 million. As we previously reported in these pages, some QE associates were rather unhappy with their bonuses. But look on the bright side: stingy bonuses mean more money once you make partner.

As reported by Zusha Elinson in the Recorder:

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges continued its screaming ascent in 2007 with financial results that should put a scare into the most profitable New York firms.

The Los Angeles-based litigation shop reported that profits per partner hit the $3 million mark last year -- a height surpassed by only three firms on the Am Law 100 list for 2006.

"That's Wachtell country," said Ronald Beard, a law firm consultant with the Zeughauser Group, referring to the highly profitable New York deal shop Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Managing partner John Quinn offered a rebuttal to the bonus complaints:

The financial results didn't prevent some associates from complaining about their bonuses. Legal blog Above the Law reported griping that the firm unexpectedly drew the line for full year-end bonuses at 2,100 hours, 100 hours more than the previous year.

Quinn said that decisions about bonuses are made at the end of the year, not beforehand, and that 2,100 was "not necessarily" a bright line. He added that Quinn associates were given a special bonus this year on top of the normal ones, matching a move made by only a few elite New York firms.

"If [Quinn associates] are not the most highly paid, they're among the most highly paid in the country," Quinn said. "Any suggestion that the firm has done really, really well and the associates haven't shared is false."

We have a rebuttal to the rebuttal from a disgruntled associate. Check it out -- but caveat lector, this tipster may have an ax to grind -- after the jump.

Update: Note the many defenders of the firm in the comments. Not all associates are whiny bee-atches!

2. Susan Estrich is in da house. Quinn seems to have a weakness for high-powered litigatrices. Already home to former Stanford Law dean Kathleen Sullivan, the firm just added Susan Estrich, who joins as Of Counsel in the Los Angeles office. From one associate:

Susan Estrich just joined our firm. Classic.

Now when I watch Fox News at home, I'll hear plugs of work.

3. Retention bonuses: We're looking into reports of retention bonuses in the high five-figures, which vest in 18 months. In light of the dissatisfaction in the ranks, retention bonuses may be just what the doctor ordered.

Quinn Partner Profits Clear $3 Million [The Recorder via Law.com]

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: A Few More Updates