In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the Houston legal community is getting back to work. WRAL news channel 5 reported that Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell expects to reopen Wednesday. Andrews Kurth has their attorneys working remotely. According to the WRAL report, an Andrews spokesperson said, "all of our BlackBerrys are working."

Other Houston area firms were contacted by ATL directly. The most important news is that everybody is safe.

Mike Conlon, partner-in-charge of Fulbright & Jaworski's Houston office, said:

[W]e have been able to assist all that have needed temporary housing. While our Houston office is closed today, our lawyers are working from remote locations, including our other offices in Texas. All computer support functions are operating, and other offices are providing additional support where needed, which is part of Fulbright's disaster recovery plan.

Fulbright & Jaworski plans to be fully functional by tomorrow.

More news from Houston after the jump.

We're entering the second half of the Vault 100. This is part of a series of open threads to discuss the firms considered to be the profession's most prestigious. Because we know you love prestige. And the opportunity for "TTT" accusations. [FN1]

Here's the next bunch of firms, with prestige scores in parentheses:

51. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP (5.851)
52. Dechert LLP (5.838)
53. Vinson & Elkins LLP (5.822)
54. Goodwin Procter LLP (5.815)
55. Jenner & Block LLP (5.778)
56. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (5.728)
57. Alston & Bird LLP (5.715)
58. Fish & Richardson P.C. (5.706)
59. Cooley Godward LLP (5.692)
60. Irell & Manella LLP (5.635)

Vault notes that attorneys at Pillsbury are treated to "freshly baked cookies." But they also have to put up with being referred to as "Pillsburians" by Vault.

Compare, contrast, discuss... and if you're at Pillsbury, have a chocolate chip cookie for us.

Earlier: Vault 100 Open Threads - 2009

[FN1] We periodically get e-mails asking for the definition of "TTT," which appears so often in comment threads. As the uninitiated have surely gathered, it's a derogatory term. Likely originating on AutoAdmit, it stands for "third tier toilet." For more, see Urban Dictionary.

We've said it before and we'll say it again. The economy must be bad if a former U.S. Attorney General can't get a job.

And your life must be pretty bad if you're a former U.S. Attorney General who can't find a job, and some columnist in Austin is making lots of fun of you. John Kelso of the Austin American-Statesman wrote a column yesterday titled Maybe former A.G. Gonzales could get a job being paid by the hour to keep his mouth shut. AG AG's frequent "I don't recall" answers during Senate testimony provide inspiration for many of Kelso's jokes:

What holiday do you think of when you think of Alberto R. Gonzales? With me, it's always Mother's Day. Why? Simple. Because with Gonzales, mum's the word.

I feel sorry for anybody out there who can't find a job, even a guy like Gonzales who is still making a bunch of money from speaking engagements. As bad as Gonzales' memory is, he must use notes.

Maybe the problem is that when the job interviewers ask him what his last job was, he's telling them that he doesn't remember. Can't say as I blame him. If I were him, I'd tell them I used to work at Denny's.

It's pretty traditional for law firms to bring former partners back after they've served in government -- e.g., Mary Jo White and Debevoise, Michael Mukasey and Patterson Belknap -- but AG AG's former firm is apparently not biting, despite his having served as America's top lawyer. A tipster tells us:

Several months ago, I heard that even V&E [Vinson & Elkins] was not interested in having Gonzales back – looks like there are no takers. How long do you think he’ll be able to support himself on speakers’ gigs?

Locke Liddell took Harriet Miers back. Apparently, endorsing torture and getting caught in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal is worse than losing the Supreme Court popularity contest and having many bad hair days.

In Searching for New Job, Gonzales Sees No Takers [New York Times]
Maybe former A.G. Gonzales could get a job being paid by the hour to keep his mouth shut [The Austin American-Statesman]

Let's send you into the holiday weekend with some associate bonus news. Here are some law firm bonus announcements that haven't been previously covered in these pages.

(Firms that previously announced their bonuses, but are being sneaky about the exact amounts and/or the percentage of associates getting them, will be addressed separately. This post is for completely new announcements.)

Some of this news is incomplete. If you can provide more details, please email us. Thanks.

1. Akin Gump (New York): Year-end bonuses, and special bonuses to "those associates and counsel who have performed in accordance with the Firm’s expectations regarding productivity, quality of work and Firm citizenship." Plus "discretionary merit bonuses" to associates and counsel "who performed in a truly exceptional manner."

One source at the firm characterizes it as follows:

Full match in NY, with extra bonuses in certain cases (generally to billers over 2400). There has never been an hours requirement, so if past practice is any indicator, anyone not being fired will get it.

Full memo, after the jump.

2. Akin Gump (outside New York): Each associate is allowed to make the case to the firm for a big bonus. A source tells us that this practice of asking associates to write up memos to justify their bonuses started a few years ago. "I wonder how this plays into the current bonus climate, or if anyone else has to do this."

3. Hogan & Hartson (outside New York): The 2007 bonus memo appears after the jump.

4. Hogan & Hartson (New York): We've confirmed the fact that Hogan announced bonuses in New York. It was described to us as a market match. But we haven't seen a memo or the fine print of the announcement, so we can't confirm that.

Update: The bonus memo for Hogan & Hartson's New York office appears after the jump.

5. Vinson & Elkins (New York): "V&E matched the New York market bonus (including this year's special bonus) for its New York associates, to be paid on January 15, 2008. No memo yet, a voicemail."

6. Sheppard Mullin: Details after the jump.

That's the conclusion suggested by this Houston Chronicle article, about the most fabulous law firm holiday parties thrown in that city.

In New York, the biggest and best law firm parties tend to be thrown by the biggest and best law firms. But they do things differently down in Texas, Land of the Plaintiffs' Lawyers. From Mary Flood's quite interesting article:

A random survey of about 100 Houston lawyers showed these to be the six hottest legal party tickets this holiday season:

• litigation firm Susman Godfrey's art-studded office reception;
• plaintiffs lawyer Richard Mithoff's traditional classy soiree;
• plaintiffs lawyer Mark Lanier's family-friendly extravaganza;
• plaintiffs lawyer John O'Quinn's sparkling gala;
• Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels & Friend's crowded office open house;
• defense lawyer David Beck's high-quality in-home affair.

More excerpts and discussion, after the jump.

Attention young lawyers. We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this important announcement:

If you purchased a bar review course from BAR/BRI anywhere in the United States anytime from August, 1997 through July 31, 2006 (the “Class”), you may be affected by a settlement of a class action lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California called Rodriguez, et. al v. West Publishing Corp., d/b/a BAR/BRI, and Kaplan, Inc., Case No. CV-05-3222 R (MCx).

Okay, you already knew about that -- and we wrote about it before too. But here's the important part: the deadline for filing a Proof of Claim is this coming Monday, September 17, 2007. So if you chucked that form into a big "to deal with later" pile, just like we did, you need to fish it out over the weekend.

More discussion, after the jump.

There's a lot going on this morning, including the resignation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general and the Michael Vick plea hearing. But none of this will prevent fall recruiting from going forward, full speed ahead. So let's continue with our open threads on Vault 100 law firms.

Here are the Biglaw shops to talk about this morning. Two of them -- Alston & Bird and Bingham & McCutchen -- are, along with Nixon Peabody, on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.

61. Alston & Bird LLP (5.742)
62. Heller Ehrman LLP (5.690)
63. Vinson & Elkins LLP (5.676)
64. Bingham McCutchen LLP (5.641)
65. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (5.635)

As you may recall, we wrote about Bingham McCutchen recently. Our post triggered some additional tips, which appear after the jump.

Please discuss these five firms in the comments. Thanks.

The Vault Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]

Earlier: Vault 1-5; Vault 6-10; Vault 11-15; Vault 16-20; Vault 21-25; Vault 26-30; Vault 31-35; Vault 36-40; Vault 41-45; Vault 46-50; Vault 51-55; Vault 56-60

Following closely on news of the Vinson & Elkins raise, Andrews Kurth has also raised salaries for first- and second-year associates, to $160,000 and $170,000, respectively. As explained in the memo, the firm is "still working on the details of the compensation structure for other associate classes." Here's an article from the Texas Lawyer.

What about other Texas firms? Here's what we've been hearing:

Baker Botts: They should raise later this week or early next week. Prior to the V&E announcement, a Baker source speculated: "[T]hey seem to be waiting on V and E. I think they might be trying to leapfrog them, hoping V and E lowballs."

Akin Gump: "They had an associates' committee meeting [yesterday] and said there were working out a few details, but they would be raising in their Texas offices sooner rather than later. Who knows what any of that means."

The Andrews Kurth memo, in the form of an email from managing partner Robert Jewell, appears after the jump.

Word on the street is that Vinson & Elkins has raised salaries for its Texas and Washington associates. But we haven't confirmed it directly with someone at V&E. If you can confirm this rumor, please email us.

Update (11:08 AM): That was fast; thanks! It's confirmed: V&E has raised associate salaries for first- and second-year associates.

Things are more complicated for more senior classes. Basically they're adopting a deferred compensation system, dependent upon hitting an hours target (2000 "Firm Credit Hours").

For all the gory details, check out the memo, which is posted after the jump.

Time for an installment of ATL's legal celebrity sightings column, The Eyes of the Law. This one is especially juicy.

We hear that last week, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was sighted in the Houston office of Vinson & Elkins -- the firm where he was once a partner. His presence was not kept a secret, since he walked right past the offices of several summer associates.

Was AGAG just paying a friendly visit to some of his former partners? Or could his drop-by signify that he might be resigning as Attorney General and returning to his former stomping grounds (a la Harriet Miers, who returned to Locke Liddell after stepping down as White House Counsel)?

If you think we're getting carried away, we'd like to remind you: office visits can be very revealing. Remember when a bunch of Weil Gotshal bankruptcy partners defected to Cadwalader back in March? A week before their move was announced, the ex-Weil partners were sighted in the Cadwalader offices, on an evening tour led by CWT chairman Robert Link and bankruptcy chairman Bruce Zirinsky.

If you have any scuttlebutt to add about Gonzales and V&E, please email us. Thanks.

Update: According to this comment, "He was there for the funeral of a former partner -- Rush Record." This explanation sounds plausible to us, since Mr. Record did pass away last week.

Two more firms drop off the LIST OF SHAME. First, we received this information about Nixon Peabody, on Friday afternoon:

Email came out today, but i do not yet have access to scan it. NYC was bumped to 160, Boston/Wash/CA bumped to 145, Long Island bumped to 115.

Second, over the weekend, Vinson & Elkins announced:

Vinson & Elkins New York matches market. V&E DC adjusts salary in DC for fourth through eighth year associates. Texas offices stay the same. No memo. A voicemail on Sunday.

Sorry, Texans: It's looking like BigTex is staying put, at least of now. But hey, look on the bright side: in light of your low cost of living and state taxes (or lack thereof), you make out like bandits.

Now that V&E, Dickstein Shapiro, and Hunton & Williams have matched, here's the latest, official LIST OF SHAME (ranked by Vault 100 placement; AmLaw 100 placement indicated parenthetically):

43. Baker & McKenzie (3)
50. Fulbright & Jaworski (36)
77. Bryan Cave (56)
82. Reed Smith (33)
83. Dorsey & Whitney (68)
86. McGuireWoods (65)
90. Baker & Hostetler (73)
92. Mintz Levin (91)
100. Seyfarth Shaw (66)

Yes, this list is New York-centric (because we have to draw the line somewhere; NYC generally leads the charge on pay raises, and we can't write about every legal market under the sun). Please feel free to discuss other cities in the comments to this post.

As always, if you see any errors in this list, please email us (with supporting documentation, if any). Thanks.

Oops, we left out new partner news from the MC post that we just published. And since half of you probably just made partner at Jones Day, that's not a good thing.

Here's the news:

* Jones Day: Forty-five (45!!!) new partners. Names here.

* Kaye Scholer: Four new partners. Names here.

* Stroock & Stroock & Lavan: Three new partners. Names here.

* Vinson & Elkins: Fourteen new partners. Names here.

NY Associates Making Partner, Counsel [NYLawyer.com]
Jones Day Names 45 New Partners [Jones Day]
Kaye Scholer Announces New Partners and Counsel [Kaye Scholer]
Stroock Names New Partners and Special Counsel [Stroock & Stroock & Lavan]
Vinson & Elkins Names 14 New Partners [Vinson & Elkins]