One third of the incoming class will start on time, in Fall 2009.

Another third will be deferred to 2010. They will get a stipend of $5,000 per month for 12 months, along with reimbursement for health insurance.

And the final third has been told that a future position with the firm is “unlikely,” and they should look elsewhere for employment. These grads will, however, get a stipend of $5,000 per month for six months, along with reimbursement for health insurance.

The firm says it will “revisit their situations” in mid-2010. Which translates into English as “go away.”

Founded in 1878, Fish & Richardson is one of the largest in the world practicing intellectual property, litigation, and corporate law, and has as a legal staff of more than 450 attorneys and 1,200 employees in 12 offices across the globe, including an office in Munich, Germany. It opened its 11th US office in Houston in October.

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The firm says it simply cannot predict if it will need any new associates. It intends to skip only the one year of new associate hiring.

Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold LLP is an international litigation and business law firm that provides counseling, risk management, litigation management, trial, appellate and transactional legal services to sophisticated corporate clients. Founded in 1933 as a three-person firm in San Francisco, Sedgwick now has more than 400 attorneys in offices around the world.

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