JD Journal » deferred associates

Baker & McKenzie Says So Long to Deferred Associates

joshua — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:15:57 +0000

Baker & McKenzie, which replaced Skadden atop the AM Law 100 with 2009 revenue of $2.11 billion, has formally parted ways with 11 of its 12 re-deferred associates from the class of 2009.

The New York associates were re-deferred by the firm back in September with a potential June start date. Now, Above the Law is reporting that word has come down from the firm’s brass that their services won’t be needed.

In a statement to the Web site, the firm said that “unfortunately the work required for these individuals has not materialized to a sufficient degree,” while also pointing out that more than 30 deferred associates from the firm’s 2009 class are now working in North America.

Baker & McKenzie was founded in 1949 and has more than 3,900 lawyers in 67 offices worldwide.

Vinson & Elkins Make Good: First-Year Associates Begin Oct. 4

joshua — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:26:28 +0000

Reports out of Texas indicate Vinson & Elkins has tabbed Oct. 4 as the day its 2010 first-year associates can begin their careers at the Houston-based firm. The Texas Lawyer reports hiring partner Tom Leatherbury announced the news March 29. Starting annual salaries will be $160,000.

Vinson & Elkins expects 49 first-year associates to accept the job offers. The firm is also offering Jan. 4, 2011 as a potential start date in case associates face a conflict with the October date.

The Texas Lawyer reports Vinson & Elkins followed the lead of many firms last fall when it made job offers to 2009 summer associates, but did not specify specific start dates or salaries. Leatherbury said Vinson & Elkins has had a particularly strong first quarter, which included a large number of energy transactions, “and we’re ready to get our new lawyers onboard.”

Vinson & Elkins is an international law firm with more than 700 attorneys and offices in 13 major cities around the world.

Chadbourne & Parke Moves Forward After Rescinding Job Offers

joshua — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:26:52 +0000

Chadbourne & Parke’s decision last month not to offer jobs to 11 deferred associates from 2009 obviously didn’t sit well with those affected. Nor does the firm’s plan to move on in its summer program recruiting. The New York Law Journal spoke with four of those involved as well as the firm’s head of recruiting to provide more insight into the move.

According to the report, Arent Fox and Winstead are the only other biglaw firms known to have rescinded offers to deferred associates of 2009. Yet Scott Berson, a partner and the firm’s head of recruiting, said that while the business decision “was not something we took lightly at all…we really don’t think we’re standing out in any particular way.

“We handled an issue every New York law firm was handling, and we felt this was the most equitable way to do it given the firm’s circumstances and students’ circumstances, both of which were taken into account,” Berson told NYLJ.

The firm said it will be back recruiting on law school campuses in August, but at least one of the deferred associates finds that particularly unfair.

“I would hope that if they were going to end our relationship they would have looked to end their future classes,” the lawyer said.

The firm’s reasoning, according to Berson, is not having a summer program would potentially hurt the firm’s law-school pipeline.

“We thought not having a summer program or drastically reducing a summer program would send the wrong message, because we’re very optimistic about our future,” Berson said. “We don’t want to cut ties with other law schools or at least leave the impression with law schools we’re drastically changing our policies about recruiting.”

Citing a report by the National Association for Law Placement, the NYLJ reports a total of 2,400 law school graduates were deferred last year when in the midst of the recession

New York’s Chadbourne & Parke 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, and corporate transactions.

New York City Bar Revises Results of Study

joshua — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:32:49 +0000

The New York City Bar has issued revised results of a study released earlier this month that said a “culture gap” had emerged between deferred associates and their colleagues at public interest groups in the city. Instead, the study now concludes deferred associates “were largely happy with their placements.”

The New York Bar explained the error with the following statement.

“We have learned of an error, for which we apologize, in the interpretation of one aspect of the online survey data in the report,” the statement reads. “We had reported that the deferred externs reported a lower satisfaction rating with regard to colleagues and integration into the workplace than was the case; in fact, the externs reported a high degree of satisfaction in their interactions with colleagues.”

In the revised results, 92 percent of respondents said they would recommend their placement to a future deferred associate; 89 percent thought the skills they had acquired in their placement would be helpful to them in their future career; and 73 percent responded that their interest in pro bono had increased as a result of their placement.

Almost 95 percent of those responding rated their experience as rewarding our moderately rewarding.

There are also details to the structure of the deferrals. More than 75 percent of respondents were in placements of more than nine months with 25 percent on deferrals of 12-24 months. Over 90 percent reported they were receiving a financial stipend , 50 percent had health insurance, and over 60 percent received a bar exam stipend.

The study estimates as many as 140 deferred associates from major firms were placed with public interest groups.

Simpson & Thatcher Paying Bonuses to Public Interest Deferrals

joshua — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:58:34 +0000

Simpson & Thatcher deferrals who are doing public interest law while waiting for their new start date will be receiving a prorated bonus from the firm this year. Given that Simpson & Thatcher rushed in to follow the Cravath scale, the bonus won’t be much, particularly once it has been pro rated and taxed, but it’s still better than deferred associates from other firms are likely to get.

I spend too much of my time reading and writing about how biglaw is mistreating employees – it’s nice to get a story like this one. Props to Simpson & Thatcher.

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.

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.

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.

Bryan Cave Pays Associates to Not Come to Work

joshua — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:10:14 +0000

In 1933 the Federal Government began paying farmers to not grow crops, in the hopes that reducing the supply would stabilize prices and help spur recovery from the Great Depression. Today, Bryan Cave becomes the third law firm to pay lawyers not to work. Certainly the goals of the Federal Government differ from that of a big law firm, and just as certainly the effectiveness of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 can be debated, but one comparison that seems firm is that the current market can’t bear the supply. There are simply too many lawyers for too few jobs. Paying new associates to not come to work, in effect subsidizing the legal industry, is one of many ways the market is handling the situation.

In the case of Bryan Cave, new associates are being offered $70k to not work. In some cases, these lawyers are being asked to, in effect, “go away”, while others are being paid to take a deferral. It’s unclear how many of each there are at this time.

Stroock and Pillsbury have already offered first year associates money to walk away in one form or another. If more firms continue to do this, will it have a net impact on the legal economy? How many new associates would need to be subsidized in order to “correct” the market? If this becomes an industry trend, we may find out.

Morgan Lewis Update

joshua — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:09:22 +0000

Last week we reported that Morgan Lewis was not making any offers to its summer associates in the Washington DC office. i After the firm put out a statement to the contrary, we updated our report. Now Morgan Lewis has released its firm wide numbers, and they aren’t pretty.

Of the 102 eligible summer associates, Morgan Lewis made offers to 28. These offers are to start in 2011, a year later than would normally be expected, due to the deferrals of the 2009 class to 2010. The firm did not release city by city offer rates and still plans to both forgo on campus recruiting this year and to change associate compensation models to a performance based standard with lower base pay.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is a law firm that was founded as Morgan & Lewis in Philadelphia in 1873. It has 1,400 lawyers in 22 offices worldwide.

Mayer Brown Asks Deferred Associates to Start Early

joshua — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:32:02 +0000

For the second time in two weeks, a major law firm has bucked the trend and asked associates to start early. Mayer Brown today asked half of the new class of associates in their New York office to begin after Labor Day, while the other half will continue to wait until January. Mayer brown also announced the addition of a new partner in New York today; George Miller has joined the New York office as a partner in the Global Projects and Infrastructure Groups.

Mayer Brown is an international law firm with 21 offices and 1800 attorneys. They specialize in commercial transactions and litigation.

Ethics Concerns Scuttle Massachussetts Clerkship Plan

joshua — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:45:42 +0000

It seemed like a match made in heaven – thanks to a struggling economy, Massachusetts was unable to fill all of the judicial clerkships for the year, and there is a growing number of deferred associates in Massachusetts being paid a stipend but with no work to do. Why not pair them up? Massachusetts planned to do just that, with the blessings of the firms paying the stipends. But after an undisclosed letter from the state ethics commission reached Robert Mulligan, who is the chief justice for administration and management of the trial courts, Massachusetts has dropped the idea due to ethical concerns. Even with a proposed double blind system preventing judges from knowing which firms had donated deferred associates or who their clerks were paid by, concerns over favor currying and influence were enough to shut the idea down.

Unfortunately, this leaves the state’s court system short about 50 clerks and the state can’t afford to hire them.

Mintz Levin Defers Start Dates — Again

Erik Even — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:35:44 +0000

Boston’s Mintz Levin, which cut associate salaries this month, is deferring start dates for members of its incoming 2009 associates class, again.

Half the 2009 class will start in April 2010 — but the other half has been informed, personally by phone, they will not start until January 2011. The latter group will get an additional stipend and fellowship opportunities.

Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo is a general practice law firm employing 500 attorneys worldwide. Headquartered in Boston, Mintz also has offices in New York City, Washington DC, Stamford, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Diego, and London.

Proskauer Rose Defers Its Deferred 2009 Associates

Erik Even — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:17:51 +0000

Proskauer Rose, which in July deferred its current Summer associates to Fall 2011, is also deferring its deferred 2009 incoming associate class in New York.

The associates, who had already been deferred to March 2010, are now being pushed to November 2010. This move seems to affect only the New York office.

Founded in 1875, Proskauer Rose, formerly known as Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, is one of the United States’ largest law firms, with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Boston, Boca Raton, Chicago, Newark, New Orleans, São Paulo, London, Hong Kong, and Paris.

Setfarth Shaw Cancels 2010 Summer Program

Erik Even — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:05:53 +0000

Seyfarth Shaw, which laid off 50 people in May, has announced it will not host a Summer associate program in 2010.

The firm stressed that the cancellation is a one-time decision, and is not permanent. It will also continue to hire from law schools.

Last year’s Summers will start in either January or October 2010, and this year’s Summers who get offers will begin in January 2011.

Chicago’s Seyfarth Shaw LLP is a full-service law firm founded in 1945. It has ten offices.

Weil Gotshal to Defer Summer Associates to 2012

Erik Even — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:08:39 +0000

Weil, Gotshal & Manges announced in March that it was deferring its incoming associates’ start dates to January 2010, and is asking new hires to voluntarily wait until 2011.

Today the firm told its current summer associates that, if offered a job, they can voluntarily defer their start date from January 2011 to January 2012.

Those deferred would get a $75,000 stipend and health care benefits, if they spend 1,000 hours doing firm-approved public interest work.

In May, Weil Gotshal eliminated 79 administrative positions across its US offices.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. It is one of the largest and most highly regarded law firms in the world, with approximately 1,300 lawyers and gross annual revenue in excess of $1.7 billion.

Ropes & Gray Defers 2009 Summer Associates to 2011

Erik Even — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:55:50 +0000

Boston-based Ropes & Gray, which in March deferred its 2009 associate class, is deferring its current summer associates to “no earlier than January 2011.”

It is encouraging those deferred to find a public interest fellowship or a clerkship.

There has been no mention of stipends.

If you have any additional details about deferrals at Ropes & Gray, please send us a confidential tip!

Ropes & Gray LLP is a national law firm with offices located in Boston, New York City, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Washington, Chicago, Hong Kong and Tokyo; and a conference center in London. The firm has over 1,000 lawyers worldwide.

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert Targets 49 Lawyers & Staff [Update 2]

Erik Even — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:03:23 +0000

London’s Barlow Lyde & Gilbert has launched a redundancy consultation targeting 49 lawyers.

Trainees and staffers will not be affected.

In April, the firm opened a fifth office in Manchester, and has hired two attorneys from DLA Piper to run it. In May, it deferred half of its September 2009 incoming trainee class.

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP is a leading international legal practice specializing in commercial litigation and dispute resolution, as well as insurance and reinsurance. It has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, with its principal office in London.

UPDATE

In fact, the layoffs do not specifically target lawyers. All areas of the firm are under threat, except for trainees.

UPDATE 2

The firm has made a statement clarifying that that its East Asian offices will not be affected by the layoffs. Only employees in London and Oxford are being targeted.

Pillsbury Associates Still Waiting to Hear About Deferals

Erik Even — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:06:04 +0000

Pillsbury has missed its own deadline to inform 22 of its 54 incoming associates that they will be deferred again, to January 2011.

The other 32 will begin work in January 2010.

The firm had promised its incoming class that each member would be informed of their fate by last Friday, but this never happened.

Pillsbury offered $60,000 to incoming associates who would voluntarily leave, and public interest fellowships are available to those deferred.

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is an international law firm with offices located throughout the US and globally, including key financial centers New York, London, Tokyo and Shanghai.

Pinsent Masons Defers Start Dates

Erik Even — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:06:15 +0000

Pinsent Masons, which is in the midst of a redundancy consultation, has asked 25% of its incoming trainees to defer their start dates.

If you have any additional information about deferrals at Pinsent Masons, or about their redundancy consultation, please — send us a confidential tip!

Pinsent Masons LLP is a full-service commercial law firm. The firm ranked amongst the top 15 law firms in the UK and internationally ranks in the Global 100. Pinsent Masons has UK offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Manchester, and internationally in Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Okays Deferred Associates as Interns

Erik Even — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:31:24 +0000

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Committee on Judicial Ethics has signed off on a proposal that would allow deferred law-firm associates to work for the Trial Court as “volunteer interns,” while on the payroll of their firms.

The CJE concluded that Trial Court judges could maintain their impartiality by using a double blind system to select and manage the law clerks. Judges would not know who the employer of each clerk was, reducing the appearance that firms could exert influence over the judge.

In May the Massachusetts Trial Court rescinded offers to 25 incoming court clerks. It is expected to hold layoffs next week.

Shearman & Sterling Announces Start Dates

Erik Even — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:16:57 +0000

In April, New York’s Shearman & Sterling deferred its 2009 associate class. Incoming associates were offered a stipend to defer to 2010.

Now the firm has finally announced internally the start dates for those who did not accept the Delayed Start Program. According to online sources, the start dates are January 25th, February 1st, and February 8th, 2010. The dates are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Shearman & Sterling LLP is a law firm headquartered in New York City, with 19 offices located in major financial centers around the world. It was founded in 1873.

As of 2006, it was the 17th largest law firm in the world as measured by 2006 annual revenue. Shearman & Sterling is a white shoe firm, the equivalent of the Magic Circle in the UK.

Wiggin and Dana Defers Incoming Associates to February 2010

Erik Even — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:03:03 +0000

Wiggin and Dana, which in March laid off 14 attorneys and 14 staff, has deferred its incoming associates to February 2010.

Those deferred have been offered a stipend, although the firm will not reveal the amount.

Founded in New Haven, Connecticut in 1934, Wiggin and Dana LLP has offices in Stamford and Hartford, Connecticut; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York City.

Shipman & Goodwin Defers Associates

Erik Even — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:38:46 +0000

Connecticut’s Shipman & Goodwin, which cut 26 jobs in April, is deferring three of its eight incoming associates.

The three associates joining its Hartford office will start in Fall 2010. The others will begin on time this Fall.

The firm is working on placement opportunities for the deferred associates.

Founded in 1919, Shipman & Goodwin has 335 employees, including 135 lawyers. In Hartford, the firm has 100 lawyers and about 150 support staff. Its other offices are in Stamford, Greenwich and Lakeville.

Fish & Richardson to Rescind Incoming Associate Job Offers

Erik Even — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:41:36 +0000

Global intellectual property firm Fish & Richardson, which earlier this month laid off 35 lawyers and 85 staff, has rescinded job offers to one-third of its 2009 incoming associate class.

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.

Skadden Warns Summers: You Will Be Deferred to 2011

Erik Even — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:13:27 +0000

The 2009 Summer Associate Program at Skadden has begun. And the 3Ls have been warned that, if they get an offer to join Skadden, they won’t be starting in 2010 — they will be deferred to 2011.

There are no further details on 2011 deferrals, as those decisions, such as precise start dates and stipends, have most likely not been made, and will not be for some time.

Do you have any additional details? Send us a confidential tip!

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, founded in 1948, is a prominent law firm based in New York City. With over 2,000 attorneys, it is one of the largest and highest-grossing law firms in the world. Forbes magazine called Skadden “Wall Street’s most powerful law firm.”

Day Pitney Lays Off 20 Lawyers, Defers Associates

Erik Even — Tue, 12 May 2009 23:12:33 +0000

Day Pitney, which laid off 66 staff members across it offices in February, today announced that 20 lawyers have been laid off, and incoming associates will be deferred to January 2010.

From the memo:

Earlier today, we met with 20 associates and counsel to notify them that their positions are being eliminated. The reductions are spread throughout our offices and practice areas… Each person has been offered a severance package that includes outplacement services…

…we have moved the start date for our incoming associates to January 5, 2010. We will be providing each member of our incoming class a weekly stipend from September 15 through December 31, 2009 and are encouraging each of them to participate in available public interest opportunities.

The amount of the deferral stipend has not been announced.

Headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut and Florham Park, New Jersey, Day Pitney employs 382 attorneys spread across nine offices in four states and the District of Columbia. In 2007, Day Pitney ranked 113th on the National Law Journal’s list of the 250 largest American law firms.

Hogan & Hartson Offers $75,000 Deferral

Erik Even — Sat, 09 May 2009 17:39:56 +0000

Washington, DC-based Hogan & Hartson has joined the ranks of law firms offering a $75,000 stipend to extend the deferrals of incoming associates, in this case to December 2010.

The stipend will be paid this September. Associates who choose the plan will be able to start at the end of 2010, if they pass the bar.

Deferred associates can take time off or do public interest work, but they cannot do work for another private firm.

Associates have already received a $4,000 stipend, in addition to a bar stipend.

In April the firm cut 93 US support staff, and cut associate pay.

Founded in 1904, Hogan & Hartson is the oldest major law firm headquartered in Washington, DC. It is a global firm with more than 1,100 lawyers in 27 offices worldwide, including offices in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Sidley Austin Announces ‘Pro Bono Assistance Program’

Erik Even — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:43:12 +0000

Sidley Austin is offering its incoming associates an optional deferral plan.

The “Pro Bono Assistance Program” offers a $75,000 stipend to associates who defer to January 2011, and do public interest work in the meantime.

The New York office is offering the plan to up to 20 new grads.

In March, the firm cut nine lawyers and 140 staff.

Sidley Austin LLP, formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth-largest US-based corporate law firm with over 1,800 lawyers, annual revenues of more than one billion dollars, and offices in 16 cities worldwide.

LexisNexis Announces Program for Deferred Associates

Erik Even — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:19:57 +0000

LexisNexis has announced a program of free access for new associates whose law firm positions have been deferred.

The Associates Serving Public Interests Research program, or ASPIRE, gives graduates complimentary access to federal and state case law, codes, regulations and law reviews. The idea is to give law school grads resources to effectively support their non-profit and public interest work.

Online training and other training materials will also be provided.

Any graduate accepted as an associate at a professional law firm whose start date has been deferred, and who has elected to pursue non-profit work during their deferral period, is eligible to participate in the program.

LexisNexis is a popular searchable archive of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents and other printed sources. It serves customers in more than 100 countries, with 18,000 employees worldwide.

Thompson & Knight Lays Off 42; Defers Start Dates

Erik Even — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:50:47 +0000

Texas’ Thompson & Knight has laid off 17 associates, including two first-years, and 25 staff.

The layoffs targeted the real estate and corporate practices.

The firm has also pushed back start dates for its incoming associates to January 2010.

Thompson & Knight was founded in 1887. It employs approximately 400 attorneys between its Texas and New York offices. It has global offices in Algeria, Brazil, France, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

Morrison & Foerster Defers Start Dates

Erik Even — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:34:31 +0000

Morrison & Foerster has informed 40% of its incoming associate class that their start date has been pushed to April 2010. The remainder will start in November 2009.

Those deferred will get $5,000 per month plus a bar stipend, and reimbursement of health care premia.

Also, new associates can opt to join at an even later date than April 2010, if they do public interest work. Those who take this option will get a $15,000 bonus when they eventually join the firm.

Morrison & Foerster LLP has more than 1,000 lawyers in 19 offices. The firm was founded in San Francisco in 1883.

Dewey & LeBoeuf Offers 18-Month Deferral Program

Erik Even — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:53:02 +0000

Dewey & LeBoeuf, which in March deferred start dates for its 2009 incoming class to January 2010, has now announced a new year-long deferral program called “DL Pursuits.”

Associates who sign on for the plan will get one-third of their salary, full medical, $1,000 in student loan repayment, and bar fees.

First year associates can take the plan for 18-months instead of 12.

Program members who take on a paying job while deferred still get the salary stipend.

Dewey & LeBoeuf is a white shoe law firm formed in 2007 by the merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. The firm has 24 offices in 14 countries.