Associate Bonus Watch: Skadden Increases Its Minimum Hours For Bonus Eligibility
Get ready for some hardcore Skaddenfreude, because this firm seems to be screwing its associates.
Morning Docket: 12.15.14
* Thanks to a former Skadden attorney's failed attempt to kill himself, police were able to retrieve a suicide note -- entitled "A Sad Ending to My Life" -- that revealed the lawyer's $5M Ponzi scheme. We may have more on this later. [Am Law Daily] * "I’m not one who believes there are too many lawyers in the country," says Dean Thomas Guernsey of Thomas Jefferson Law. Conveniently, only 29% of TJSL's '13 grads are working in full-time, long-term jobs as lawyers. Kudos! [U-T San Diego] * The government just paid the least amount of money to legal services contractors since 2008. As far as Biglaw firms are concerned, Curtis Mallet-Prevost posted "significant losses," receiving $2M less than it did in 2013. [National Law Journal] * Because not everyone wears gas masks, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order to keep police from using tear gas on peaceful protestors in Ferguson without first issuing "clear and unambiguous warnings." [WSJ Law Blog] * Ladies and gentlemen, this is the main event of the evening! IT'S TIME! FIGHTING out of the blue corner, angry UFC combatants who are planning to use "renowned" antitrust firms to secure "hundreds of millions of dollars"! [Bloody Elbow / SB Nation]
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How Much Do You Make — And Why?
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An Inside Look at the Skadden Annual Review Process
Today, we take an inside look at the annual review process for attorneys at Skadden Arps. In this special report, we'll provide general observations on the Skadden review process, highlight noteworthy comments from leaked attorney evaluations, and show you a few reviews in their entirety. If you're interested in learning more about performance reviews at one of the world's biggest and best law firms, please keep reading....
An Inside Look at the Skadden Annual Review Process
Today, we take an inside look at the annual review process for attorneys at Skadden Arps. In this special report, we'll provide general observations on the Skadden review process, highlight noteworthy comments from leaked attorney evaluations, and show you a few reviews in their entirety. If you're interested in learning more about performance reviews at one of the world's biggest and best law firms, please keep reading....
Skadden Takes Its Heart from San Francisco — and Closes Its S.F. Office
Late last week, word started to leak out that Skadden Arps plans to close its San Francisco office, by the end of June 2011. A meeting was held on Friday where the closure was announced to the office. The S.F. office is essentially being folded into the firm’s Silicon Valley outpost. Some of the initial […]
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Associate Bonus Watch: Skadden Matches Cravath
Bonuses have just been announced at Skadden. The following memo went out earlier today to all Skadden partners, from executive partner Eric Friedman: To All Partners: The attached memo announcing a year end discretionary bonus will be sent to associates in North America on a class by class basis today. Bonuses will range from $7,500 […]
Skaddenfreude: A Look Inside the Life of a Kirkland & Ellis Contract Attorney
We call it Skaddenfreude: taking pleasure in the misfortune of others who work at large law firms. Today’s tale of Skaddenfreude involves a contract attorney working a project in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis. Let’s kick it off with a picture….
Nixon Peabody Partner Gets Chastised by a Federal Judge for Work Hoarding
Nixon Peabody was a winner in Signature Flight Support Corp. v. Landow Aviation, a dispute between two aviation companies at the Washington Dulles airport. Nixon landed a victory for Signature Flight, and filed a motion for Landow to pay attorneys’ fees in the case. Landow thought Nixon’s fees were sky-high and opposed the motion, resulting […]
Reality TV Star Victoria, of Downtown Girls, Fails the Bar Exam
MTV has sunk low. Really low. Its newest program, Downtown Girls — a reality TV show about a group of hot girls living in TriBeCa — is using the New York bar exam as a dramatic narrative hook. We wrote before about the law grad on the show in our post: Why Unemployed Lawyers Shouldn’t […]
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Open Thread: What’s Your Net Worth? (And how does it compare to Elena Kagan’s?)
Earlier this week, we published a Lawyerly Lairs post about a graduating 3L named Jimmy. According to the blog Urban Turf, “Jimmy” is a 27-year-old law student with a job in D.C. Biglaw lined up, starting at $160,000. If that’s not enough to make you hate Jimmy, he also has a credit score of 781, […]
What’s Up at Sullivan & Cromwell?
The Brokeback Lawfirm scandal folded its pup tent months ago. But there’s still stuff to cover at one of ATL’s favorite firms, the venerable Sullivan & Cromwell. Here are two items. First, from a tipster: If I recall correctly, Sullivan & Cromwell sent out a memo in December or January saying that even though they […]
Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: Williams & Connolly to $180K
The litigation powerhouse of Williams & Connolly has announced associate pay raises, effective January 1, 2008. We have confirmed the fact of the raise with sources at the firm. There was no comprehensive memo, so we’re not 100 percent certain of the specific numbers. But word on the street is that the new pay scale […]
Attention Tier Two Grads: Duval & Stachenfeld Wants You
Never heard of Duval & Stachenfeld? Well, that’s about to change, thanks to the firm’s innovative approach to associate compensation, which is getting some media mentions. From an article by Kellie Schmitt in The Recorder: The 50-lawyer firm, based in New York but with a small L.A. office, starts first-year associates at $60,000 — or […]
NYC to $200K? The American Lawyer Weighs In
The American Lawyer’s 2007 Associates Survey is now available, via Law.com. Good stuff! A summary of the survey’s key findings, by editor-in-chief Aric Press, appears here. The WSJ Law Blog collects additional highlights here. It seems that ATL readers and law firm consultants aren’t the only ones predicting pay raises in the reasonably near future. […]