The Shark

news! Orrick does like it said it would!

[Brian]

Some Shark readers may not regularly read Above The Law. Damn popular blog, yeah, but some days it’s also liable to scare you right out of your chosen profession. So if you missed it, bloggers there found it remarkable that, after announcing it would defer on-campus recruiting until mid-November, Orrick has started posting recruiting ads, right on time.

So much for all those whiners who say the media only reports when things go wrong. Read about Orrick’s return to campuses here.

Brian is a Cal Law editor.

not with a bang, but with a whimper: 2009 associate bonus season.

[cynthia]

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog is reporting that associate bonus season has been opened by Cravath. While the announcement is positive in one way (there are going to be bonuses this year!), the numbers truly pale in comparison to last year's.

First years (class of 2008) will receive $7,500. Second years (class of 2007) will receive $10,000. By contrast, when the class of 2007 were all a bunch of first years, they got $35,000. Let's all take a moment to reflect on the difference 365 days can make.

summer associates like the idea of keeping their jobs.

[cynthia]

If you haven't checked out the massive number crunching that's going on over at Law Shucks, you probably should.

The blog uses compiled layoff data (the Layoff Tracker) to chart the decline of the legal industry in a graphical way that's easy for everyone who is doped up on Xanax to understand.

Couple the tracker with the summer associate survey results from our sister publication The American Lawyer, and you've got an easy way to back up the following general statement: summers are happy to be at firms that haven't done layoffs. 

I've borrowed a few screencaps to show you below, but be sure to check out the full post here.

The top 10 firms according to summer associate satisfaction, of which only two have done attorney layoffs:

And the top 10 firms according to Law Shucks' layoff data, contrasted with their ranking among summers:

We here at The Shark will have more from the American Lawyer Summer Associates Survey throughout this week.

deferral extension season: indefinite winter?

[cynthia]

I've been working on updating the 2009 start date deferral table (not to be confused with the 2010 table) with all of the recent outpouring of info on start date deferral extensions and offer revocations. 

A lot of firms are pushing would-be associates back even more (we're now at, like, full body's length, rather than just arm's length). Some notables: Arent Fox, Chadbourne & Parke, Baker & McKenzie... the list goes on. 

Check out the table, which I'll endeavor to keep updated for as long as this "season" lasts. Please also email me with any updates, corrections, or thoughts of your own.

Chins up.

skadden offer day: comes and goes.

[cynthia]

In case you didn't notice, yesterday was Skadden Offer Day. The firm, responding to changes in OCI schedules at schools across the country, issued all of its offers in one day, regardless of office or campus.

I was skeptical of this tactic, and thought I smelled a ploy to get students to accept other offers, therefore limiting the Skadden pool to accommodate its shrinking summer class sizes.

So how'd Skadden Offer Day go, anyway? The AmLaw Daily reports: 

"...the firm says it is happy with the results. In fact, fewer 2Ls than usual turned down Skadden offers because they had already committed to another firm, says Howard Ellin, Skadden's hiring partner.

The firm managed to just barely escape losing all of the top law school talent to other firms, by carefully scheduling the offer day.

"Industry guidelines mandate that firms give candidates 45 days to decide whether to accept an offer. For an offer to have expired before Skadden Offer Day, a firm would have had to extend the offer in early August--before on-campus interviewing started at most schools."

Well played, Skadden. You scheduled your big holiday early enough to manage to hold on to the T14 kids, but late enough to ditch the more mediocre talent that snapped up the first offer made! You laugh in the face of death, don't you?

webinars for the deferred. you've got a lot of time on your hands, don't you?

[cynthia]

The AmLaw Daily is reporting that NALP and The Association of Pro Bono Counsel have produced a new webinar for deferred associates interested in picking up public interest fellowship work. 

"Public Interest Perspectives — An Introductory Training for Private Attorneys in Public Interest Placements" helps train biglaw refugees on the differences between firm jobs and working for organizations, to make the transition smoother for everyone involved. 

"We're working hard to make deferred associates' time at public interest placements as rewarding as it can be, so that they and their firms will see the value of time spent doing public interest work," says Vigil. "We're hoping to take them from zero to hero as quickly as possible," said Baker & McKenzie's director of pro bono Angela Vigil.

(No mention by Vigil of how many heroes they're looking to create - Baker has still not revealed its plans for hiring to its deferred associates, causing rumors of revoked offers to fly.)

The webinar is available publicly here so you, too, can learn how to parlay your biglaw dreams into an illustrious pro bono career. I'm sure the firms aren't praying you'll never try to come back or anything.

morgan lewis: shady used car dealer?

[cynthia]

Our sister pub, The Legal Intelligencer (who last week brought us the news that Dechert is no-offering half of its summer class), brings more sunshine to your day: Morgan Lewis is not giving offers in "at least one major office."

The firm, after informing all its summers of their fates, offered this further explanation of its firm-wide decision: 

"Firmwide hiring partner Eric Kraeutler said there were 102 eligible 2Ls across the country in this year's summer program. Of that group, 28, or 27.5 percent, were given offers to start as first-year associates in the fall of 2011 -- a year later than would normally be the case given the deferrals of the 2009 first-year class until the fall of 2010."

Never fear, no-offerees. Morgan Lewis is stating it will provide a letter for you to show other prospective employer that it's not personal. This reminds me of that CarFax commercial, with the "note" from the previous owner, ensuring everyone that everything is all good with the beater.

Unfortunate. Sign of the times. You know the drill.

I hope the Mayer Brown kids aren't laughing at the Morgan Lewis kids right now.

ethics committee puts kibosh on courts hiring deferred associates.

[cynthia]

Remember how I reported back in June that the Massachusetts Judicial Ethics Committee of the Supreme Judicial Court approved the hiring of deferred associates on public interest fellowships as court clerks?

There was some blowback about the policy decision, particularly the caveat that would-be clerks keep their association with biglaw firms a secret during their tenures as state employees. 

To quote one Shark commenter: 

"So SECRET payments from a law firm that may have matters before the court are not a problem, but disclosed conflicts of interest would be unethical? What a strange place Massachusetts is."

According to the Boston Globe (via The AmLaw Daily), these "safeguards" were not enough to ensure the policy's passage with the final ethics committee it came before: the state Ethics Committee. In an unpublished opinion, it recommended against the decision by the Judicial Ethics Committee, and it appears that's the final word.

dechert no offers just one more sign of a frosty recruiting season?

[cynthia]

Our sister publication out of Philadelphia, The Legal Intelligencer, has an article up (reg. req.) on the Dechert no offers you might have heard about earlier in the day on Above the Law.

To make a long-ish story short, the firm has made offers to 50% of its 2009 summer class. The remaining half have been informed that they'll have to wait until January 2010 to find out if they've got a spot at the firm.

The implications of this are pretty extensive, especially when couple with ATL's assertion that Dechert is going to be actively recruiting 3Ls.

Gina Passerella of TLI has yet another angle: 

Of the 20 or so firms she is tracking in and around the area, Lennon said only four have given offers so far. Large law firms typically want to give offers to summer associates as quickly as they can once completing evaluations and assessing practice area needs, she said, because they then have to begin recruiting on campus for next summer’s class. They want the students who received offers in the summer to act as advocates during the fall recruiting season, Lennon said. 

With some firms not hiring for next summer and others questioning the lead time between hiring summer associates and bringing them in as full-time attorneys two years later, firms are taking their time this year. 

"Now, here in the real world in 2009, I think firms generally are going to wait as long as they can to make these decisions," Lennon said.

So what's the deal, here? Playing current summers against their law school compatriots, in a fight to the death over an offer? I think ATL got it right: Dechert is trying to trade up.

superhero power of choice: signing that offer letter.

[cynthia]

From a National Law Journal commentary on fall OCI:

One of Northwestern's fearless leaders, William Chamberlain, assistant dean of law career strategy and placement, has the following nugget of wisdom for all you 2Ls entering what will no doubt be an interesting recruiting season:

"...accept your offer quickly. The key is to get a job for next summer. Smart students will not rely on NALP's 45-day guideline but rather accept their offers as soon as humanly possible. From the school side, we have dealt with all sorts of reactions by firms to the economy and are urging our students to be risk-averse. Any sense of entitlement will be fatal this fall."

Be grateful! Be conservative! Be inhumanly fast, if humanly possible! Be BigLaw.