Biglaw Perk Watch: Emergency Kits!
Although located uncomfortably close to the site of yesterday’s steam pipe explosion, Davis Polk & Wardwell has some of the nicest offices around. When we were in law school, Davis was known as “Land of the Beautiful People.” They had the most gorgeous offices, and the best-looking associates (and summer associates).
DPW also seems to have great — or at least distinctive and unique — perks. First we heard about their marriage bonus. And now, in the wake of yesterday’s calamity, we get this news:
I am an associate at Davis Polk, a few blocks from the explosion in midtown [yesterday] afternoon. We were evacuated and I took the firm-provided emergency kit as I left. No real news from the evacuation but here is something that came up as I was walking home.A friend from White and Case was having a drink at a nearby bar and I stopped on my way home. She saw my emergency kit and asked what it was. I said “you know the emergency kit that all the firms give you on your first day.” Well, needless to say she was pissed that White and Case has no such kit!
I think this would be another fun “perks” thread. So kicking it off, the Davis Polk kit has a flashlight, glow stick, emergency blanket, battery powered radio. But the real kicker is that we have this hood that you can wear in a smoke-filled room and still breathe for about a half hour.
So if a “dirty bomb” goes off in New York City someday (God forbid), bet on the Davis Polksters to emerge alive. Along with a few Milberg Weiss partners cockroaches.
Update: From our original DPW source:
“By the way, forgot to mention that besides the f’ing awesome smoke hood, the safety kit also has potassium iodide tablets to prevent radiation poisoning.”“Suck it Wachtell!”
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Was this really worth a post Lat? Are you ever depressed that this is what your once prestigious life has evolved to? Reporting on emergency kits at DPW?
Come on Lat do something worthwhile with your life
No epinephrine?
Sidley Austin's offices in the WTC were, well, you know. We get an emergency kit when we "check in"
Who else thinks that the hoods are only being passed out so that the DPW kids can bill an extra half hour before they're forced to evacuate?
winston & strawn has emergency kits. yay.
Who else thinks that the hoods are only being passed out so that the DPW kids can bill an extra half hour before they're forced to evacuate?
don't you mean"...can bill an extra half hour before they die?"
1:21, I think you're missing the irony in this post (incl. the exclamation point in the title).
Also, it should be "devolved," not "evolved" (if that is your opinion).
My guess is that Lat is having more fun writing op-eds for the New York Times, being written up in the Washington Post, and speaking at law schools around the country than being a nameless, faceless AUSA (or Biglaw associate).
Weil has the same basic kit. Flashlight, water, smoke hood all that. They claim that security will do checks to make sure you have yours but I never experienced that.
They did make me return it when I left. I asked the security guys what happens if it's not returned and they said the charge was $500.
Cravath hangs a flashlight next to each office's door. So, there's that.
Ropes & Gray has emergency kits, too.
Ours contain: a little bag of drinking water, a whistle, particle masks, light stick, and an emergency blanket all in a nifty waterproof bag.
They appeared one day in every office. I thought this was an odd, isolated event. Now I'm curious how many other firms issued these.
1:21: looks who's talkin, your the one reloading the ATL page all day
At one point at least, LW in LA gave new hires an earthquake kit. And when you think about it, earthquake kit + $35k clerkship bonus is essentially the same thing as a $50k clerkship bonus, so really, they are at market.
Get over yourself. Lat gets to chill in a starbucks all day gossiping online, while the rest of us review docs at 11pm on Saturdays, and only take breaks to read what he writes. Who has the better deal??
I thought the post was worthy given its timeliness, with the explosion in midtown yesterday.
I got your emergency kit right here.
I thought DPW's kit also contained potassium iodide tablets, in the event of a nuclear attack. (The iodine gets taken up in the thyroid gland, thereby preventing some nasty side effects of the radiation.)
10:29, is the $500 charge a punitive measure or is the smoke hood Hugo Boss?
I LOVE LAT. I AM JEALOUS OF HIM B\C 1) HIS JOB THAT HE HAS NOW IS AWESOME COMPARED TO ALL OUR BIGLAW JOBS AND 2) HE HAD A JOB AT WLRK - PROBABLY NONE OF US READING THIS BLOG NOW COULD EVER GET A JOB THERE!
LAT - KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! YOU ENTERTAIN ME.
in our break area we have a medical kit, all the generic aspirin you could want and...a defibrillator.
A post about the steam pipe explosion in NY and now this? This site has become depressingly NY centric.
1:29 = David Lat
But that doesn't invalidate his points. Add to the list being profiled in the New Yorker and the New York Times (links at the end of his Wikipedia bio):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lat
And appearing on The Charlie Rose Show:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5040663876173826383
Clearly more fun than being a Biglaw associate, even if not as lucrative.
Covington and Burling in D.C. gives them out, too.
1:38, the steam pipe explosion was national news. It was all over Drudge (even got the red text!).
1:38 makes a good point.
Ever since their excellent appearance in Casino Royale, Collin, defibrillators have replaced designer smoke hoods as the glamor emergency device of choice.
When I was at STB, shortly after 9/11 we were given a flashlight (a mini maglight, no less, and a whistle.
1:40, it may have been "national" news but it isn't even tangentially law related.
S & C gives out kits as well.
The affected neighborhood is heavy on law firms. E.g., Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher (mentioned in the NYT coverage of the incident).
If you don't like the NYC coverage, don't read the posts. I skip over all the Texas crap.
I work next door to the FBI, which is, for those of you not familiar with DC, smack dab in the middle of the White House and the Capitol. We don't have kits! I never knew anyone had kits. All we have are generic bandaids, aspirin and defibrillators in the copy/break rooms.
All of our windows have a film on the outside to give us some blast protection when the FBI is targeted. Maybe we can keep working when the blast hits!
Where's my glowstick and hood?
Atlanta gives out band-aids. CVS-brand band-aids. 2 per associate.
Collin,
I guess its punitive or something like that. I'm sure they didn't pay anything close to $500 bucks for the kit, but if they set the penalty too low nobody would care.
Man, remember all that stuff after 9/11 about offices buying parachutes and inflatable slides and stuff? A lot of that stuff was freaking sweet.
We have these kits at MoFo in New York. I've never opened it, though. Let's see what we've got:
1. 2 packets of "Emergency Drinking Water" and it's U.S. Coast Guard Approved!
2. 45 minute emergency wax flare (wind proof, rain proof and snow proof!).
3. One of those masks for your mouth and nose you see the asian tourists wearing.
4. Flashlight (normal sized) and batteries.
5. 2 light sticks.
6. 4 instant hand warmers.
7. candles and matches.
8. gauze, bandaids, scissors, saftey pins, alcohol swabs
9. Emergency poncho (not sure what makes it "emergency" but it's labelled that way on the bag)
10. Emergency water bag (you know, in case your U.S. Coast Guard Approved Emergency Drinking Water runs out, so you can collect more).
11. And the coolest of all, a 5-in-1 survival tool that has a whistle, compass, signal mirror, watertight container for matches, pills, etc and a fint bar fire starter! All in one!
Who knew?
La gente de este blog pelan, pero profundamente. Los odio! Todos! Que viva Cuba libre!
Sidley's includes lightsticks, a blanket, work gloves, some kind of weird hydration packet, judging by the instructions, a whistle, safety goggles and condoms.
Ok, I made up the goggles.
It's probably a testament to how worthless these are that it took me 15 minutes to find this for the purpose of reporting what was in there.
Greenberg Traurig in NY also has emergency kits. GT is located right above Grand Central, so it makes sense to take some precautions.
1:59(2), you're pretty screwed...
Seriously, you might want to ask someone in your office about this. Michael Chertoff has a "gut feeling" that something is gonna happen this summer.
Are the glow sticks for firm sponsored raves?
At Howrey we're all going to die (no emergency packs) which is fine with me in light of Howrey's yet-to-be-determined-but-sure-to-be-inane associate compensation system.
K&E has the same general safety package. Oh, and ours has a "survival blanket" too. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the firms buy them all the same place...
To 2:26:
Yes, that's also why we have the condoms. If we're all gonna die, may as well go out with a bang.
2:16: shouldn't you be billing?
Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.
GDC DC has emergency kits too. They contain water, a survival blanket, flashlight, a whistle and gloves (presumably for grasping hot objects?). It is all neatly tucked away in a handy dandy FANNY PACK. Yes, I said fanny pack. Maybe they figure that will help you hang on to it as you are running for your life. Of course, they did not count on fanny packs going out of style 20 years ago.
F&J gives one with a packet of drinking water. They make you return it upon leaving, but fail to check to see if you drank the water package one day when you were thirsty and too lazy to get up from your desk.
I would love to see Ted Olson and Miguel Estrada running around with fanny packs.
Simpson Thacher has the same kits, but very few people grabbed them yesterday. Most people left with wallet & BlackBerry.
Simpson Thacher's kit contains anti-radiation pills. Take that, future mutants!
I used to work at W&C, and now at DP&W. The emergency kit surpised me. During the blackout, at W&C the HR dept handed out wind up radios... all 17 of them. Then HR went home and those of us who couldn't get home slept on the street in front of the building.
Willkie has a kit as well, but it doesn't have a radio or the hood.
Curtis Mallet
Morgan Lewis
Kelley Drye Warren
All in 101 park ave right on 41st and lexington
It was horrific rocks hitting our office windows people running down the stairs
Mayhem
3:04 - was that supposed to be a Haiku?
3:04, are you back in the office today?
Time for a new LIST OF SHAME
Atlanta to emergency kits!
Latham NY gives out a kit that has a flashlight, filter mask, glow stick, emergency blanket, poncho, whistle, goggles, a bottle of water and solid ration block which seems to be good for 2 or 3 days of nutrition.
The story about the DPW emergency kits omitted an important detail.
The kits are in a handy backpack in the firm's color: an attractive medium blue.
Being safe and looking good are not mutually exclusive.
And the fact that I can't look good while being safe isn't DPW's fault. I never did learn to accessorize.
But the DPW kit doesn't have water. We'll have to look into that.
"Land of the Beautiful People"??? So where do the uglies go?
Paul Hastings.
Shearman.
You mean Paul italicizeHastingsitalicize?
Wait, MoFo has a New York office?
Our NY office has emergency kits but none of our other offices do. I am in DC so I looked into buying my own -- pricey! I bought just a smoke mask to carry on the train (may I never need to use it) and built my own office kit: backpack, water, walking shoes, flash light and cash.
We have emergency kits; we have no attractive associates.
Your mom has an emergency kit and no attractive associates
I work on the west coast in earthquake country but don't have any of this stuff. We're told to buy it all ourselves. You should have 72 hours of food and water on hand. WTF? I'm just going to load up on peanut butter crackers from the vending machine. A roll of quarters takes up less space than two boxes of Cliff Bars.
I'm shocked! Nobody has mentioned the optional parachute for jumping off of tall buildings.
Or maybe a helicopter rescue service...I bet hedge fund guys have that.
Survival kit contents check!
In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition;
four days' concentrated emergency rations;
one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills;
one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible;
one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold;
nine packs of chewing gum;
one issue of prophylactics;
three lipsticks;
three pair of nylon stockings.
Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff!
Mendes and Mount gave out emergency kits with a candy bar, a radio and dust mask. Unfortunattely, they left out one thing. . . any possibility of financial safety.
K&L Gates has a bird flu portal, for breaking news on the bird flu. And we all got 8 oz. pump bottles of Purell. Let's just say the chairman of the firm is a bit Howard Hughes-like in his feelings about germs.