Ropes & Gray

Associate Bonus Watch: Ropes & Gray Announces Spring Bonuses!

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Happy Friday! And happy is right — the spring bonus news continues to roll in.

The latest firm to share the wealth with its associates is Ropes & Gray. The spring bonus news is much cheerier than the Ropes news from earlier today (although note the updates appended to that post, highlighting comments skeptical of plaintiff Patricia Martone’s claims).

So, yes, the Ropes springtime bonuses. The scale being used has the Cravath numbers on it, but there are some caveats and qualifiers.

In terms of overall bonus compensation, some R&G associates will do better than their Cravath counterparts, and some will do worse….

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Ropes & Gray Sued for Age and Sex Discrimination By Former Partner

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On Tuesday, Ropes & Gray was sued in Manhattan federal court by a former partner, Patricia A. Martone. Martone’s lawsuit claims age discrimination, sex discrimination, retaliation, and interference with protected retirement benefits in violation of ERISA (the basis for federal jurisdiction in the S.D.N.Y.).

As you might expect from an ex-Ropes partner, Martone has some high-powered counsel: Anne Vladeck, one of New York’s top labor and employment lawyers, widely regarded as the queen of employment discrimination law. Vladeck famously (and successfully) represented Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit against Isiah Thomas and the Knicks.

Patricia Martone is a veteran intellectual-property litigatrix, a specialist in patent litigation, with almost 40 years of practice under her belt. She made partner at Fish & Neave, the well-known patent law firm, in 1983, and then became a Ropes partner in 2005, when Ropes absorbed Fish. She’s now a partner at Morrison & Foerster, which she joined in October 2010.

Why did she leave Ropes? Let’s have a look at Patricia Martone, and her lawsuit….

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Howrey Met Your Mother (Then Lost Her to Another Firm)

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Yesterday we reported on talks last week between Jones Day and key partners in the construction group of Howrey. It appears that the talks have borne fruit.

As reported yesterday by the Daily Journal (subscription), a group of seven Howrey partners — led by prominent construction lawyer Steve O’Neal, former chairman of the now-defunct Thelen law firm — left Howrey this week for Jones Day. The move was confirmed yesterday by Robert Mittelstaedt, the partner in charge of Jones Day’s San Francisco office.

Who are the departing construction-law partners? And which other partners might be leaving Howrey’s California offices?

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Villanova Law ‘Knowingly Reported’ Inaccurate Information to the ABA

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In a letter just released to students and alumni of Villanova University School of Law, Dean John Y. Gotanda admits that Villanova Law knowingly reported inaccurate admissions information to the American Bar Association, for years prior to 2010.

The school has conducted an internal investigation and has been independently audited by Ropes & Gray. In response to the investigation and audit findings, the school will reorganize its admissions reporting process, with the goal of implementing “a reporting system which is above reproach.” In addition, according to Dean Gotanda’s letter, “the University will hold those responsible accountable for their actions.”

Sadly, this is not the first scandal that has rocked the law school in recent years….

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Non-Sequiturs: 10.13.10

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A Westboro Baptist Church protester.

* Does this explain Boies Schiller’s great media coverage? Their PR person is in bed with the media. [Gawker and AllThingsD]

* Speaking of romantic entanglements, here are six rules for law firm dating, in case you don’t follow Rule #1: Don’t. [Sweet Hot Justice]

* McDermott isn’t the only law firm switching digs. The folks at Ropes always struck us as Prudential people. [Ropes & Gray]

* The defendants in the Robert Wone civil case have moved for a gag order — which isn’t surprising, since they have a thing for gags. [Who Murdered Robert Wone?]

* A nice round-up of reactions to Snyder v. Phelps, aka the Westboro Baptist Church case, and the Pincus Family Law firm’s controversial website. [Infamy or Praise]

* Do WestlawNext and Amazon use the same design firm? [Law Riot]

* Is America “drowning in law”? Covington partner Philip K. Howard, author of Life Without Lawyers, thinks so. [New York Daily News]

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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: Green Day

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First, a couple of notable non-legal nuptials: Kelly McGillis (of Top Gun and Witness) married her long-time girlfriend. Short ceremony, long write-up.

There’s also perhaps the most painfully stylish wedding we’ve ever come across. The bride is the daughter of modernist architect Richard Meier, who keeps his homes “very relaxed and casual but everything has to be perfect” — “[e]ven the Snapple bottles are lined up perfectly in the pantry.” (Oh . . . so not really relaxed and casual at all.) Watch the slideshow of the uber-posh wedding, and take note of those origami flowers; you’ll be seeing poorly executed versions in weddings near you for the next few years.

Now, our legal eagle couples. Here are the finalists:

1. Nicole Moen and Michael Skoglund

2. Jennifer Ain and Russell Lippman

3. Anne Green and Leonard Braman

Marvel at these couples’ résumés, after the jump.

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The Best Firms To Work For, When It Comes To ‘Quality of Life’

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Forget about prestige (momentarily). Which firms have the best quality of life?

Vault has compiled its annual Law Firm Quality of Life Rankings, based on associate surveys. Associates were asked to rate their firms on “overall satisfaction, associate/partner relations, firm culture, hours, compensation, office space, training, and pro bono and green initiatives.”

Williams & Connolly managed to get into the top ten on both the quality of life (#2) and prestige (#8) lists. (UPDATE: Vault sent along a new list without ties.) Here are the top five on the “Quality of Life” list:

1. Ropes & Gray
2. Williams & Connolly
3. Morrison & Foerster
4. Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
5. Shook, Hardy & Bacon

At which two other firms can you let your hair down, but keep your nose in the air?

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Things Are Looking Up: More Summer Associate Classes Get 100% Offer News

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Pop the Biglaw Bubbly

We feel like we’re taking magic Biglaw pills today and having hallucinatory flashbacks to 2006. The good news has been rolling in. Just today, we covered raises at Sheppard Mullin, and a 100% offer rate for D.C. summer associates at Latham & Watkins.

And over at Am Law Daily, Zach Lowe predicts good things for 2011. There will be more summer associate spots to go around next year, law school kiddies:

On-campus interviewing starts in two weeks at some schools, and early indications are that hiring at premier law firms will jump–in some cases by a lot–after plummeting this summer, according to sources at law schools and firms.

Cravath, Skadden, and Ropes & Gray, among others, plan to hire more warm bodies next summer than this one. This summer was dismal, after all, in terms of summer associate hiring, as demonstrated by these charts from the National Law Journal and Am Law Daily.

The upside of hiring fewer summer associates, though, is an increase in the likelihood of all of them getting hired. We’ve had more reports of 100% offer rates from a few firms today, along with fun ways of spreading the good news. Eyewitness accounts, after the jump.

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Ropes & Gray Partner Rob Skinner Puts on a Midlife Crisis Cabaret

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Robert Skinner of Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray partner Rob Skinner was named a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation in 2009. They were surely impressed by his securities work on behalf of financial services clients. But Skinner may be a future star in musical theater, too.

That’s our prediction after watching a YouTube video from “Rob Skinner’s Midlife Crisis Cabaret,” a one-man show Skinner put on last month in honor of his 40th birthday. An attendee tells us:

Rob is a well-loved, youngish partner at Ropes, known for his being a bit over the top. After he turned 40, he wrote and arranged a one-man show, then rented out his local theater in Winchester, MA and performed it last month for friends, family, and a fair number of co-workers (plying us with drinks for a good while before hand). Not in any way a firm-sponsored event, although a fair number of partners were in attendance.

We discovered that partners are just as capable as associates of making fun of law firm life. Skinner did a Kermit-inspired number about lawyer TV shows. “The partners on TV shows are like Machiavelli. They own everything but their souls,” he sings. “They win their cases and have lunch with Satan, who joins them for 18 holes.”

We caught up with Skinner by email. Check out his hilarious video and an interview with this non-Satanic partner, after the jump.

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Lawyers of the Day: Arthur Cutillo, Michael Kimelman, and Jason Goldfarb

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Michael Kimelman Mike Kimelman Michael Kimmelman Arthur J Cutillo Arthur Cutillo Ropes Gray headshot.JPGToday the winners of Lawyer of the Day honors are obvious. Congratulations to Arthur Cutillo, Michael Kimelman, and Jason Goldbfarb, three attorneys who stand accused of involvement in the infamous Galleon Group insider trading scheme.

Both Cutillo and Kimelman have distinguished pedigrees, with ties to two top firms. Cutillo (left), a holder of an M.S. in chemical engineering as well as a J.D. (both from Villanova), was an associate at the white-shoe firm of Ropes & Gray. Kimelman (right), a partner at Incremental Capital LLC, once worked as an associate at super-prestigious Sullivan & Cromwell.

Check out Cutillo’s firm bio and Kimelman’s LinkedIn profile over here.

The third charged lawyer, Jason Goldfarb, apparently worked as a personal injury lawyer in Brooklyn. He allegedly served as a conduit of information between Cutillo and Zvi Goffer — the former Galleon employee apparently referred to as “Octopussy” at the SEC, because “he had his arms in so many insider” trading schemes.

More on our three honorees, after the jump.

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