JD Journal » deferrals

Morning Roundup

sara — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:44:23 +0000

Good morning everyone! Today is Friday, February 5, and here’s a quick look back at yesterday’s headlines.

Tycko & Zavareei filed a class action suit against Fifth Third Bank…

Pillsbury gave raises (sort of) and bonuses…

Gardere Wynne added four attorneys to their roster…

Morrison & Foerster hired Joe Calve as their Chief Marketing Officer…

Danna McKitrick attorney Ruth Binger was named a Top Small Business Lawyer by the St. Louis Small Business Monthly…

Revenues and profits were up at Bingham McCutchen…

Thor Hearne, a former national election counsel in the Bush administration, joined Arent Fox…

Littler Mendelson welcomed 4 new shareholders to the firm…

Neil Upton joined Greenberg Traurig to head its UK Energy Practice…

The former director of Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality joined Foley & Lardner…

Mintz Levin gave incoming associates the option to defer their starting employment date…

Alston & Bird hired a contractor to explore the construction of a new office building…

Layoffs at Seyfarth Shaw

joshua — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:20:19 +0000

Seyfarth Shaw is letting go of approximately 40 people, 20 lawyers and 20 staff. It’s been rough over at Seyfarth over the past year and they’ve taken several steps to keep costs down. In December, the firm cut salaries as part of a move toward merit based compensation. In November, it re-deferred half of its already deferred first years for an entire additional year, while cutting the salaries of the first years lucky enough to actually start working. In August, the firm announced that it would not have a summer program in 2010 and in May, Seyfarth laid off 50 people and cut some salaries.

Chicago’s Seyfarth Shaw LLP is a full-service law firm founded in 1945. It has ten offices, nine of which are in the United States. The firm is well known for its labor and employment, employee benefits, litigation and business services.

Last Minute Deferrals at Nixon Peabody

joshua — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:04:45 +0000

Forget for a moment that Christmas is right around the corner, and that Hanukkah has already begun. Nixon Peabody’s associates were supposed to start on January 4th, three weeks from now. Yesterday, 2/3rds of them found out that they have been re-deferred, indefinitely.

Yes, the economy is struggling and it’s rough all over. But any half way decent lawyer would have done their due dilligence and been prepared to start work in three weeks. They would have signed a lease, bought plane tickets, hired movers – in short, they would have committed time, effort and money into being prepared.

Memo to Biglaw: It’s too late. If you have associates scheduled to start work in January, you’re stuck with them now.

McDermott Will & Emery Issue More Deferrals

joshua — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:28:12 +0000

McDermott Will & Emery associates were supposed to start work in January, but many are now being deferred again. Details are still sketchy, and it appears that no firm dates have been given yet. Associates will be brought in when their respective practice groups need them. In the meantime, they will draw a $5000 per month stipend.

Is it just me, or is it a bit harsh to issue these deferrals so late in the game? Presumably the affected associates, should they have been lucky enough to secure gainful employment while waiting to start work, have already informed their employers that they would be leaving in January. It’s certainly not inconceivable that many of them made holiday plans based on the presumption that they would be drawing a much larger salary come January.

This must be how it feels to wake up Christmas morning and find a lump of coal in your stocking.

Morning Roundup

joshua — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:34:33 +0000

Good morning everyone! It’s Tuesday, December 8, and here’s a look back at yesterday’s headlines…

Kirkland & Ellis is under new management…

A transgender teen is suing McDonald’s…

There’s a new round of layoffs at DLA Piper’s middle east offices…

and Mayer Brown has asked some of its incoming associates to voluntarily defer their start dates…

Voluntary Deferral Extension at Mayer Brown

joshua — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:43:31 +0000

The incoming class of associates at Mayer Brown is scheduled to begin work in January after being deferred back in April. Later that same month the firm offered voluntary extension to October of 2010 with a $5000 per month stipend plus benefits, along with assistance securing public service experience in the meantime. Now we’ve learned that the firm is once again asking 18 of its 119 incoming associates to push back their start date until October, although it’s still being called a voluntary deferral. It’s unclear how voluntary the deferment actually is. If you have any specific information on the options available to those being asked to hold off starting work, please send us an anonymous tip here.

Mayer Brown is one of the largest global law firms both by number of lawyers and revenue. The firm has over 1,800 lawyers in key business centers across the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Chadbourne & Parke Restoring Salaries

joshua — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:29:57 +0000

In April, Chadbourne & Parke cut associate salaries and promised that some or all of the money would be returned based on each associates contribution to the firm. Now it appears that all of the money cut from salaries will be restored in a lump sum payment in early 2010. On the one hand, this appears to be good news for a legal industry that has been struggling along with the rest of the economy. Chadbourne had a ready made excuse to keep some of the money but isn’t doing it. On the other hand, half of Chadbourne’s class of 2009 is still deferred indefinitely.

New York’s Chadbourne & Parke LLP, founded in 1902 by Thomas L. Chadbourne, employs 400 lawyers and tax advisers in 13 offices in nine countries. Chadbourne is best known for its global practice in project finance and energy, international insurance and reinsurance practice, multi-jurisdictional litigation in courts from Rhode Island to Russia, and corporate transactions.

Hard Times at Seyfarth Shaw

joshua — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:14:47 +0000

Seyfarth Shaw has told half of its deferred associates that they will not be starting in January as planned. Instead, they are being redeferred to October 2010, and will receive a stipend of $2000 dollars per month starting in January. If that wasn’t enough bad news, Seyfarth is also cutting the salaries of first year associates by five to ten percent. One can only hope that the deferral stipends aren’t subject to those cuts.

Yes, it’s nice to get paid $2000 a month to do nothing, and yes, it’s possible in some parts of the country to live on that kind of money, but in general biglaw doesn’t have offices there. Keep in mind that we’re talking about lawyers that graduated in June, got a job, and are now having to wait almost a year and a half to start working – assuming that things improve enough to start at all. With more firms pushing start dates back to October of next year, are there going to be jobs available for the 2010 grads?

Katten Deferrals Split Into Three

joshua — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:37:59 +0000

Katten has split its deferred class of incoming associates into three groups. The lucky group will start in February, as re-scheduled. The second group is being pushed back to October of next year, a full 16 months after they graduated from law school, and the third group gets $50k and the door.

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has offices in Chicago; New York; Los Angeles; Washington, DC; Charlotte, North Carolina; Palo Alto, California; and Irving, Texas; with an affiliated entity, Katten Muchin Rosenman Cornish LLP, in London, England. The firm has over 650 attorneys practicing in more than 40 areas.

Winston & Strawn Pushes Back Start Dates for Deferred Associates

joshua — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:16:31 +0000

Winston & Strawn’s class of 2009 associates were deferred back in April, and were scheduled to begin mid January of 2010. Now the firm has pushed those start dates back again. The class is being divided into three groups starting at different times. The lucky ones will begin in February, and the rest will either start at the beginning of June or the beginning of October, 2010. Keep in mind that these are lawyers who graduated in June of 2009, some of whom will now have to wait 16 months to begin work.

All of Winston & Strawn’s deferrals began receiving health benefits from the company in September of this year and will draw a stipend until they begin working. The stipend for those deferred past February will be $3300 per month, less deductions for the associate contributions to their health care plan.

New Round of Deferrals at Sidley Austin

joshua — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:40:47 +0000

Sidley Austin has announced its plans for the class of 2010. Some of the associates will be starting in January of 2011, with the remainder being deferred until January 2012. Yes, that’s a year and a half after graduation. All associates from the class of 2010 will receive health insurance from the firm beginning in June of 2010 and associates deferred until 2011 will draw a stipend beginning in January of 2010.

Presumably, setting fire to things in the meantime will not help.

Scary Days at Drinker Biddle

joshua — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:23:31 +0000

Drinker Biddle managed to avoid deferring its incoming associates this year by cutting salaries, as we reported back in May. Apparently that wasn’t enough, as sources are reporting more than twenty associates were laid off yesterday. So far, it appears litigators are safe, with most cuts coming from tax and corporate practice groups. As we get more detailed information, we’ll keep you posted. If you have information for us, remember that tips are always anonymous and can be submitted here.

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP was founded in Philadelphia in 1849. The firm has more than 650 attorneys in 12 offices in the US. Its largest offices are in Philadelphia, Chicago, Florham Park, New Jersey, and Washington, DC.

Incoming Associate Class Split, Half Will do Pro Bono Work at Reduced Salary

joshua — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:47:35 +0000

Incoming associates at Kaye Scholer will all start in January, right on (deferred) schedule. The only thing is, half of them will be paid $100,000 less per year than their colleagues. The class was divided based partially on practice group preference and to a certain extent, arbitrarily. Instead of extending the deferrals for half the class, Kaye Scholer is putting them to work in the pro bono department and paying them $60,000 per year plus benefits. This mirrors the stipends being paid by several other firms, who are turning the deferred associates out on the street to do public service law.

Is this an improvement? Tell us what you think.

More Deferrals at Foley & Lardner

joshua — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:31:30 +0000

Earlier this month tipsters alerted us to layoffs at Foley & Lardner, which the firm later confirmed. Like many firms, Foley & Lardner deferred its incoming associate class, but now it appears that some of those associates are being deferred again. Incoming IP associates have been pushed back to September of next year, and will receive a $5000 per month stipend, but no health care, in the mean time. Some litigation associates will start in February, the date of the original deferral, while the rest will start this December, earlier than planned.

Fenwick & West the Latest Firm to Buy Off Incoming Associates

joshua — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:51:16 +0000

We’ve reported on a few firms that have paid incoming associates a stipend to, essentially, go away. In each of the previous cases, the offer has been to the entire incoming class. Fenwick & West was slated to have 24 new associates start, once their deferrals expired, and has offered some of them $60k to go away. No hard numbers yet on how many were given the offer or how many accepted. As always tipsters, if you have information for us, send it anonymously here.

Founded in 1972, Fenwick & West LLP is a full service law firm focusing on technology and life sciences clients. The corporate, intellectual property, litigation and tax groups service clients from a wide range of additional industries. Approximately 300 attorneys work from offices in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, California; Boise, Idaho; and Seattle, Washington. The firm is headquartered in Mountain View, California.

Tuesday Roundup

joshua — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:23:56 +0000

Good morning everyone! Here’s a look back at yesterday’s news…

Jeffrey Lamken leaves Baker Botts to open boutique…

The US Attorney’s office hired three new prosecutors in DC…

Half of Chadbourne’s deferred associates have been deferred again…

and Blakes becomes the first Canadian firm with a presence in the Persian Gulf…

Chadbourne Defers Half its Incoming Associates

joshua — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:53:53 +0000

Half of the incoming class of associates at Chadbourne & Parke have been deferred indefinitely. The firm will pay the deferred associates an additional stipend of $60,000.

This deferral comes on top of salary cuts in April and layoffs in March.

Arent Fox Revokes Offers to New Associates

joshua — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:23:00 +0000

On Monday we reported that Alston Bird was deferring its deferrals again, indefinitely. Arent Fox has taken a different approach. Rather than indefinitely extend deferrals, the firm has chosen to revoke the offers of several new associates. Those whose offers have been revoked have been paid $20,000 in compensation.

Arent Fox is a Washington, DC, based firm with three offices and 350 attorneys. It has a strong lobbying practice along with a broad array of practice groups.

Alston Bird Defers its Deferrals, Indefinitely

joshua — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:05:46 +0000

Back in March, we told you that Alston Bird was deferring its incoming class of new associates. With so many firms doing this, it hardly seems like news anymore. Now, however, the same group of new associates have been deferred again, and this time the deferral is indefinite.

This does not bode well for this years group of summer associates who are still waiting for offers.

Alston & Bird LLP is the second largest law firm in Atlanta, Georgia and the 43rd largest in the United States. Founded in 1893, the firm has offices in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; New York City; Washington, DC; Dallas; Los Angeles, the Silicon Valley and Ventura County.