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Morning News Roundup for Monday

Erik Even — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:00:27 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

McCann Fitzgerald has deferred some of its trainees’ start dates by two years…

Eckert Seamans has canceled its 2010 Summer associates program; and so has Howard Rice…

Two non-equity partners laid off from Clifford Chance are suing the firm over their termination…

Cincinnati’s Dinsmore & Shohl and Louisville’s Woodward, Hobson & Fulton have merged…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:00:03 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

Online legal recruiter A. Harrison Barnes is suing Robert E. Kinney of Kinney Recruiting, and other defendants, for anonymously maligning Barnes and his companies online…

According to a JDJournal tipster, there have been stealth layoffs at the USC Gould School of Law…

Watson Burton did not hire most of its qualifying trainees, but helped all but one of those trainees find alternate employment…

Barack Obama has appointed two lawyers with whom he has close personal ties to the Legal Services Corporation; and nominated three lawyers to the US District Court bench…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:00:49 +0000

Good morning! It’s the 57th birthday of disbarred attorney and wackjob censorship activist Jack Thompson.

Here are the top stories:

Halliwells is cutting attorneys’ working hours, but not adjusting its billable hours requirements…

Florida’s McDonald Hopkins has added three attorneys to its roster…

Pro bono work for the poor and disadvantaged increased by 13% in 2008, despite an economic recession that caused the shutdown of several law firms and thousands of lawyer layoffs…

Blawgs are reporting on rumors that global law juggernaut DLA Piper plans to force out some equity partners…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:00:53 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed eight new judges to the Los Angeles Superior Court…

A survey says Slaughter and May has the most satisfied associates of any UK firm…

Poyner Spruill has brought on three new Summer associates…

Weil, Gotshal & Manges is asking new hires to defer to 2011…

And White & Case has announced that Summer 2009 associates who are offered positions will not start until Fall 2011…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:00:39 +0000

Good morning! It’s the birthday of lawyer and US president John Quincy Adams. He’d be 242 years young today.

Here are the top stories:

Eckert Seamans has laid off another 90 lawyers at its Pittsburgh document coding center…

Hogan & Hartson let go 30 senior associates this week…

McKool Smith has nabbed three intellectual property lawyers away from Dewey & LeBoeuf…

Allen & Overy announced its revenue for the last fiscal year was up, but profits were down…

California’s Howard Rice has cut all associate salaries by 10%…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:00:07 +0000

Happy Independence Day! Have a picnic, or go see a parade, or go out and find British people and make fun of them!

Here are the top stories:

Allens Arthur Robinson, which in April offered up to one year’s pay to lawyers who accept voluntary redundancies, has seen 114 employees take up the offer and leave the firm…

Addleshaw Goddard suffered a 30.8% plummet in partner profits in the last fiscal year…

The Dublin Solicitors Bar Association says that 40% of new and low-level solicitors in the city have suffered pay cuts or job loss…

Linklaters is now the UK’s largest law firm by revenue, reporting income of £1.3 billion ($2.13 billion)…

And back on our side of The Pond, Ruden McClosky has laid off eight associates…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 12:00:42 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

Baltimore’s Venable is cutting salaries across the board, affecting all lawyers and staff, including partners…

There’s a “jobs-for-entry” scandal at the University of Illinois College of Law — the law school admitted politically-connected applicants, some unqualified, in exchange for guarantees of jobs for law graduates…

Speaking of Illinois corruption, six Chicago lawyers have been hired by the Blagojevich defense team as pretrial contract lawyers…

Ohio’s Reminger law firm will open an office in Louisville, Kentucky…

And Indiana business law firm Alerding Castor is merging with the practice of Brian Hewitt…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:00:11 +0000

Good morning! Today, it’s all about the lateral hires:

Since January, Greenberg Traurig has recruited 45 lateral partners, and plans to acquire more this year…

Much Shelist has added three attorneys to its health care practice…

Winstead has added three attorneys from the San Antonio office of Bracewell & Giuliani…

Chicago’s Baker & McKenzie has hired a seven-lawyer energy law group from the crosstown office of Thompson & Knight…

And, the Portland office of Seattle’s Foster Pepper has spun off as Roberts Kaplan LLP…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:00:06 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

Cravath is offering its 2009 associate class a voluntary deferral option; also, the entire 2010 associate class will be deferred to Fall 2011…

Starting salaries have been cut at Cincinnati’s Frost Brown Todd…

The Chicago office of Philadelphia’s Cozen O’Connor is recruiting, seeking to double its attorney workforce…

Alameda County, California is laying off 14 prosecutors and 15 public defenders…

A JDJournal tipster tells the tale of stealth layoffs at Sughrue Mion…

Morning News Roundup for Monday

Erik Even — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:00:22 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories this Monday:

Last week in law firm layoffs: 101 lawyers, 142 staff, 49 undisclosed

Labor law firm Ogletree Deakins has hired two away from Davis Wright Tremaine…

Kilpatrick Stockton will cut associate salaries by 10%…

Maclay Murray & Spens is only keeping on four of its 31 qualifying trainees; and Blake Lapthorn will keep on only two of its 14 trainees…

Morning News Roundup for Monday

Erik Even — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:00:59 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

Herbert Smith has ended a redundancy consultation without firing anyone, after 84 staff members signed on for voluntary redundancy or alternative working arrangements…

UPDATED: Snell & Wilmer has laid off up to 40 staff, and tipsters claim it’s shedding lawyers as well…

McDermott Will & Emery has cut pay for summer associates to $135,000, down from the Biglaw standard $160,000…

But at least McDermott hasn’t yet fired incoming associates, like the UK’s Freshfields and LG…

And Weil, Gotshal & Manges has eliminated 79 administrative positions across its US offices…

Morning News Roundup for Tuesday

Erik Even — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:00:18 +0000

Good morning! Hope you had a good Memorial Day!

Last week in law firm layoffs: only 40 lawyers, 118 staff

Ropes & Gray has let go between 30 and 40 associates…

Sonnenschein plans to cut associate salaries, beginning June 1st…

Allen & Overy will reduce incoming associate class sizes…

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft tops the list of AmLaw 200 law firms by percentage of layoffs…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 16 May 2009 12:00:42 +0000

Happy Weekend! Here’s the news:

Two key partners at New York’s Skadden have jumped ship to Kirkland & Ellis…

Blake Dawson has eliminated 23 lawyers and 66 support staff…

DLA Phillips Fox, an affiliate of DLA Piper, has cut 12 lawyers, and its CEO has stepped down…

Morris, Manning & Martin has hired a seven-member group away from Bryan Cave…

Simmons & Simmons has laid off 91 people, including 18 associates…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:00:51 +0000

Good morning! Here are the weekend’s top stories:

Florida’s Ruden McClosky has laid off two lawyers and at least 18 secretaries and paralegals…

Four partners at Clifford Chance’s New York office have left to found their own firm…

California’s McDonough Holland & Allen has laid off four attorneys and 13 staff…

Two former California state labor lawyers are founding of their own San Francisco law firm, Locker Folberg…

Dechert has lured away from Chadbourne & Parke five partners to found a Moscow office…

Morning News Roundup for Monday

Erik Even — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:00:16 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

Last week in law firm layoffs: 232 confirmed layoffs total, down from 454 the week before…

The UK’s Howard Kennedy has launched a redundancy consultation targeting 40 lawyers & staff…

Eversheds has launched a redundancy consultation targeting 10 lawyers in its real estate practice; it is also deferring new associate start dates…

Legal news sites noticed that 28 names have mysteriously disappeared from Troutman Sanders’ roster of attorneys on its website…

UK law firm LG has laid off 15 lawyers and 18 staff…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 13:00:15 +0000

Good morning and Shabbat shalom! Wait — if you know what that means, then why are you using a computer today?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal industry has lost an estimated 24,900 jobs since December 2007….

According to a tip from a JDJournal reader, Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn in Detroit laid off 30 staff and 15 senior partners this week…

Lovells month-long redundancy consultation ended Friday with 79 legal and support staff laid off…

Alston & Bird announced it is laying off 14 lawyers and 38 staff — but the lawyers are being offered pro bono fellowships…

New York’s Shearman & Sterling will defer its 2009 associate class, offering a Delayed Start Program…

Morning News Roundup for Monday

Erik Even — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:00:09 +0000

Good morning! Here are today’s top stories:

Cozen O’Connor is picking up at least 28 attorneys from the now-defunct Wolf Block…

Also, Stradley Ronon has hired two finance partners from Wolf Block…

Squire Sanders, which recently pushed back incoming associate start dates to January, 2010, has now informed last year’s 1Ls they are not being invited back this summer.

Also Edwards Angell, which just announced the layoffs of 60 people, yesterday announced it will defer start dates for its incoming first year associates to March 1, 2010…

One quarter of lawyers surveyed believe their firm will hire in the next 12 months, most likely in bankruptcy and litigation…

Morning News Roundup for Monday

Erik Even — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:00:22 +0000

Good morning! The top stories:

This week in law firm layoffs: 91 lawyers, 177 staff, 75 unidentified; 343 in all.

Troutman Sanders announced Friday that the firm will lay off associates and offer staff a voluntary buyout, which is likely to be followed by layoffs…

Two partners from Skadden’s Washington, DC office are leaving the firm to form their own, BuckleySandler…

Chicago’s Mayer Brown has laid off 55 lawyers and staff from its London office…

Freshfields will add at least 15 lawyers to its Munich office, including four partners who will relocate from Frankfurt…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:00:06 +0000

Good morning – here are the top stories:

This last week: 574 lawyers, 812 staff were laid off. And there are still more to come…

Husch Blackwell Sanders has laid off 17 lawyers and 45 staff members…

Norton Rose may implement a flexible hours scheme to help avoid job cuts…

York, UK’s Minster Law is recruiting 150 people for its two offices in York and Wakefield…

Baker & McKenzie’s London office has launched a redundancy consultation targeting up to 30 lawyers and 55 staffers.

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Why are you reading legal job news on a Saturday morning? Go back to bed!

Yesterday, King & Spalding laid off 37 lawyers and 85 staff…

Also yesterday, Akin Gump laid off 47 associates and 57 staff…

According to rumor, Kirkland & Ellis laid off four attorneys this week, and more firings took place yesterday…

Latham & Watkins is offering incoming lawyers $75,000 to take a year off…

McGuireWoods notified associates by voicemail that first year salaries will be cut 10%…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:00:59 +0000

Good morning! Here are the top stories:

London’s Hammonds LLP is set to cut about 10% of its partnership. The top 50 UK law firm is cutting up to 20 partners from its fixed share and equity ranks…

The US House of Representatives voted for a $410 billion spending plan which includes a cost-of-living adjustment for the federal judiciary…

McKenna Long & Aldridge has added 17 real estate and litigation attorneys to its Los Angeles office…

Chicago’s Schiff Hardin cut some of its administrative staff this week, as a result of “increased technological efficiencies…”

Latham & Watkins has cut 440 employees — 190 associates and 250 staff. The cuts are the largest to date by a US-based firm…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:00:24 +0000

This morning’s top stories:

Morrison & Foerster has frozen associate salaries, and revised its associate discretionary bonuses to as low as $6,000 for 2008…

Am Law 100 firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore saw 2008 gross revenue fall 13%, while profits per partner dropped 24% to $2.5 million…

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney eliminated between 25 and 30 administrative positions Thursday…

The National Law Journal reports that major firms brought on as many new associates in 2008 as they did in 2007, leaving them with many new hires despite the current industry-wide layoffs…

Faegre & Benson has announced the layoffs of 58 staffers.

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:00:24 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day!

On Thursday, February 12th, 2009, six prominent firms fired over 700 attorneys and legal staffers, in what is becoming known as Black Thursday in the legal industry…

The State Bar of California has shuttered three offices of attorney Mitchell W. Roth, who was recently declared a vexatious litigant by a federal judge…

Holland & Knight has cut 70 lawyers and 173 support staff positions across its 21 offices…

The Bowling Green, Kentucky branch of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs will close next month, affecting five lawyers and five staff….

Clifford Chance is offering associates the chance to leave the firm voluntarily, while proceeding with a formal redundancy consultation that could see up to 80 fee-earner jobs in London affected…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:00:23 +0000

These are the weekend’s top stories:

Hinshaw & Culbertson, a Chicago-based firm with about 490 attorneys, cut 11 attorneys and 17 staff members in an effort to trim costs in the economic meltdown…

Prosecutors at the State Bar of California have shut down a satellite office of lawyer Walter S. Martinez, alleging that two office administrators were illegally practicing law and participating in medical fraud…

Law firm leaders and industry consultants say a firm cuts costs by an average of $250,000 for each attorney let go…

The legal services industry continued to slash payrolls in January with a loss of 1,300 jobs, according to the US Department of Labor…

Two intellectual property partners at Latham & Watkins are leaving, and setting up shop at Quinn Emanuel…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:00:33 +0000

Here are this morning’s stories:

Boston’s Ropes & Gray cut 106 staff positions, or 10% of its non-lawyer staff…

Nixon Peabody has launched an Israeli business practice group, to counsel companies in the Jewish State and those doing business with them…

Clifford Chance will cut 20% of its lawyer head count in its Moscow office, with the firm’s Middle East offices also set for potential layoffs…

Partners of the law firms K&L Gates and Bell, Boyd & Lloyd have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a merger of the firms, effective March 1st…

Everyone’s favorite lawyer Marc Dreier, founder of New York’s Dreier LLP, was indicted by a federal grand jury…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:00:50 +0000

Here are this morning’s top stories:

London’s Linklaters, the world’s second largest law firm by revenue, will eliminate 70 partners and 10% of associates. The initiative is said to be called “Linklaters New World…”

Reed Smith reports a 10% increase in gross revenue to $980 million in 2008, on the back of significant lateral expansion…

The American Lawyer has an interview with Venable partner James Hanks Jr., who was on board US Airways Flight 1549 when it landed in the Hudson River a week ago…

Skadden has announced the selection of 28 Skadden Fellows for the class of 2009, bringing to 564 the number of law school graduates and judicial clerks the firm has funded to work full-time for legal and advocacy organizations…

HR Bhardwaj, India’s justice minister, says his government has circulated draft regulations on allowing foreign law firms to practice in India…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:00:39 +0000

Happy Weekend! Here are the top stories:

Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg has cut attorneys following annual performance reviews…

Larry Stein, name partner of Dreier Stein, has joined Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif, where he will head the entertainment & media practice…

Philly’s Ballard Spahr has laid off secretarial and administrative staff, the second round of staff cuts at the firm since the summer…

Aggressive cost-cutting delivered level profits for NYC’s Pillsbury Winthrop in 2008, despite a slight drop in revenue…

Philadelphia’s Blank Rome is kicking at least 12 associates to the curb…

Boston’s Foley Hoag has cut 6% of its workforce in response to the economic meltdown…

Morning News Roundup for Saturday

Erik Even — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:00:15 +0000

This morning’s top posts:

Baker & McKenzie is firing six of its New York associates, as a result of the economic meltdown…

Kirkland & Ellis is edging some senior associates and income partners toward the door as part of its “regular annual evaluation process…”

The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly to impeach Governor Rod R. Blagojevich on the grounds of abuse of power as the state’s chief executive…

Charlotte’s Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, a 225-attorney firm, has axed 13 attorneys and 15 staffers…

Steven J. Reisman of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle has been appointed to investigate allegations that a firm and its creditors are owed up to $38.5 million from the defunct Dreier LLP…