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‘On Being a Black Lawyer’ Blogger Reaches Out to Minorities

Yolanda Young, the former Covington & Burling staff attorney who chronicled her experience there in the Huffington Post piece, “Law Firm Segregation Reminiscent of Jim Crow,” offers a new forum for minority lawyers on her blog, On Being a Black Lawyer. Young, who grew up impoverished in the Deep South…

Nov 25, 2008 5:53 PM CST

Death Penalty Expert Michael Mello Dies

Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello, a well-known national expert on the death penalty, died at his home over the weekend after a short illness. He was 51. “He was my colleague for 20 years,” Professor Joan Vogel told the Rutland Herald. “It hasn’t really sunk in to me that…

Nov 25, 2008 5:07 PM CST

Job-Seeking Lawyers Scrutinize Law Firm Finances

Job-seeking lawyers worried that their new employer could dissolve are increasingly asking for more financial information from law firms. Recruiters and hiring partners told the Recorder that job-hunting laterals, especially potential equity partners, want to know about a law firm’s financial history, capital requirements, debt levels and financing plans. Former…

Nov 25, 2008 1:49 PM CST

Year-End Associate Bonuses at Simpson Thacher Are Cut by Half

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is cutting associate year-end bonuses in half, following the lead of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. The associate bonuses range from a pro-rated $17,500 for first years to $32,500 for those with the most experience, the American Lawyer reports. Simpson Thacher chairman Philip Ruegger III told the…

Nov 25, 2008 1:24 PM CST

Despite ‘Momification’ - Michelle Obama’s White House Role May Be a Career Plus

Now that she is about to become First Lady, one might think from news coverage that Michelle Obama’s abilities as a mother and her fashion sense are her most noteworthy characteristics. But despite what some are calling the “momification” of Michelle Obama, whether her new role is a career plus…

Nov 24, 2008 6:48 PM CST

Seyfarth Shaw Hires 14 Thelen Lawyers

Seyfarth Shaw has hired 14 lawyers from the dissolving Thelen law firm in its New York office, including nine in the corporate and finance area. The firm is also hiring four lawyers whose focus is trusts and estates and one in real estate. Eight of the lawyers joining the firm…

Nov 24, 2008 6:07 PM CST

Middle East Legal Recruiters Inundated with Résumés from U.S. Lawyers

Legal résumés are pouring into recruiters’ offices from lawyers looking for work in the Middle East and Asia as law firms continue their expansion there. One legal recruiter in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, told the New York Times he has gotten so many applications from top-quality New York lawyers that…

Nov 24, 2008 1:05 PM CST

Layoffs at Big Immigration Boutique; Fragomen Says Hiring to Be Curtailed

A New York-based law firm that bills itself as the nation’s biggest immigration law firm has reportedly laid off seven or eight associates in its U.S. offices, as well as an unspecified number of staff members. The layoffs at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy were “in selective offices, it…

Nov 21, 2008 10:43 PM CST

Is a Law Degree a Liability for Nonlaw Job Seekers?

The conventional wisdom is that a law degree opens a world of job possibilities, from public relations to sales to human resources. But is it true? Not according to Stephen Sickler, managing director in the Boston office of legal recruiting firm BCG Search. He claims the idea is a myth,…

Nov 21, 2008 7:05 PM CST

Will Florida’s Top-Paid County Attorney Get a Raise?

Attorney Robert Cuevas already is the highest-paid county attorney in Florida. But some Miami-Dade commissioners are trying to give him a 9 percent raise, which would increase his salary from $290,721 to $319,000 annually, reports the Miami Herald. They also want to give the 38-year county veteran and his family…

Nov 21, 2008 4:46 PM CST

Add 11 UK Lawyers to Mayer Brown’s Attorney Layoff List

Add another 11 lawyers in Mayer Brown’s London office to the list of 33 attorneys here in the U.S. that the firm is nudging to the door. “In addition to lawyers who have left in the normal course of business, we have advised 11 lawyers and some support and administrative…

Nov 21, 2008 4:13 PM CST

Brown Rudnick Lawyers Learn of Layoffs in Two Phases

It must have been a harrowing day on Wednesday for associates and staffers at Boston-based Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels. The law firm laid off 20 lawyers and 23 staffers that day, according to a press release issued by the firm, and everyone knew it was coming, Above the Law reports.…

Nov 21, 2008 1:03 PM CST

Pay Hikes Delayed, Business-Based Bonuses Axed at Bryan Cave

Associates at Bryan Cave will have to wait three months longer than usual to learn whether they will get a pay hike. And they won’t receive bonuses under the firm’s unusual business generation program after November tallies. The firm announced the news in a memo yesterday that was posted on…

Nov 21, 2008 11:58 AM CST

Cravath Cuts 2008 Associate Bonuses, Says 2009 Bonuses Could Be Zero

Updated: In a much-awaited memo issued today by Cravath Swaine & Moore, the white-shoe New York City-based law firm told disappointed associates that they would be getting much smaller year-end bonuses in 2008 than in 2007. The really bad news, though, came lower down in the Cravath memo, according to…

Nov 21, 2008 12:50 AM CST

Squire Sanders Asks 30 Attorneys and Paralegals to Leave

Despite winning a hefty “bailout love” contract to do work for the U.S. Treasury Department recently, Squire Sanders & Dempsey is laying off 30 lawyers and paralegals. “We have completed annual reviews of all of our associates and, as a result of that process and with regret have advised some…

Nov 21, 2008 12:25 AM CST