Isn't litigation supposed to be hot right now?

Anyone know at which offices the laid off attorneys worked?

Milbank

McKee not be on the same list as Thacher or Cadwalader. Will and Bill totally took the high road in the whole mess.

McKee should not be on the same list as Thacher or Cadwalader. Will and Bill totally took the high road in the whole mess.

Has your source never heard of the obscure "copy and paste" feature?

edit: McKee SHOULD not be on the same list as Thacher and Cadwalader. Will and Bill totally took the high road in the whole mess.

EAPD is a third rate firm.

Why can litigation during a recession?

litigation hasn't picked up yet. In theory it picks up in a recession. It just hasn't picked up in this recession.

I hate to sound like an optimist but is it possible that the layoffs at EAPD are a natural outcome of the firms recent mergers? EAPD only came into its recent form after Edwards Angell merged with Palmer & Dodge in the Fall of 2005. More recently, the firm merged with UK firm Kendall Freeman in October 2007. While it may have taken some time, the current layoffs could just be management finally getting around to pruning some dead wood from the proverbial tree.

Sorry to ruin anyone's schadenfreude, but it makes sense.

Well, at least their surviving litigators should be plenty busy in the near future.

Why won't the dude who got canned from Milbank let it go. There were no concerted layoffs there. 3:11, you just got canned because you're not so good. Misery is not going to get any company on this one, buddy.

I heard Womble Carlyle is laying people off.

If a 500+ lawyer firm needed to drop "less than 10" attorneys as a result of the economy totally hitting the crapper, it would appear as though EAPD isn't feeling that much of a pinch. Probably a good idea to cut dead weight.

3:37: 100% screaming agreement. Transactional at Milbank not crazed but still respectably busy. Good people are still being fought over. No layoffs I have heard of (and yes, I would know).

My advice to (overly) scared people corp fin and transactional folks at big forms is to start learning how to work on securities and corp aspects of bankruptcies. Make yourself useful and you will be the last to be canned. As evidenced by Bear nearly heading into the tank (still may), lots of restructuring work is around the corner. Stay calm.

Lat,
A lawyer I know who was laid off at EAPD last friday was only offered 2 months pay. I thought 3 months was industry minimum, no? Seems like a good topic for your sleuthing.

what is the deal with Milbank?? people keep posting about lay-offs but no official word. If there have been layoffs, how many and from where?

Who the hell is EAPD?????

New York back to $125----What's going to make the difference now is not the salary but which firms will have no layoffs--that's what is going to seperate the elite from the also rans.

I knew John Hooper in law school. Good guy. What happened to him?

I guarantee not one of those laid off was from UPENN State Law in Philly. Firms know better than to lay off top ranked talent like that. Not to mention, some of those people may have taken a business class at Warden. That looks pretty good on the ole resume.

EAPD blows

3:13 - when emails like that are received you cannot copy, paste, or print the email. If you try to forward the email the original text doesn't even appear in the forward.

I too heard about the two months' severance thing. That seems low.

Lat, can't you do a posting on severance pay at those firms who've acknowledged layoffs? The "cheapo" firms should be called out on this.

2 months pay may seem low except when you consider they are getting a good chunk of change for nothing versus the regular shmo on the street getting canned...keep it in perspective aainst foilks who dont get severance...

Does anyone know what EAPD pays as a bonus? I know they are not amongst the highest, but i have no idea.

If you bill 2100 what do you get? 10? 20? 30? 0....?

GTO x10?

4:24,
What are you talking about? Lat's source said that they posted a statement about the layoffs on the firm's intranet site (not in an email) for the purpose of inhibiting forwarding. I seriously doubt that the firm's intranet site prevents copying and pasting, and there is no indication in the email that this is the case.

4:51,
"10? 20? 30?" HAHAHAHAHA. Try, 5, 6, 7 . . .

Big layoffs coming at Cadwalader. Impossible to cover up.

4:24, google "print screen button"

5:05 5, 6, 7... sounds motivating. At least they matched the market base.

They're making layoffs, but they have open positions for lit assocs in NY? This doesn't make sense unless they were using this as an excuse to dump some folks they didn't want

Out of curiosity, anyone know to which firm John Hooper moved?

5:41,
"5, 6, 7 ... sounds motivating."
I hope you're being sarcastic.

"At least they matched the market base."
Yeah, look where it got the people they had to layoff because they matched . . .

who?

How many hours to people bill for that 5K bonus? Damn.

what a crap firm

5:16 - what is your source on the CWT lay-offs?

There is only one "mancretary" in the NY office of my firm. Women should stick with what they know best--serving as secretaries--and they should move on to attorney positions once they master that skill.

I am fed up with this equal rights crap discussed on this board. I am not a sexist and fully believe that if/when women begin to perform at a level on par with their male counterparts, then they should be allowed into the partnership ranks at my firm (S&C) and at others. Until then, please stop bitchin' and label my file folders.

Thanks and happy St. Patty's Day to all!

8:50 - Anon

5:16 - another round of layoffs at cwt?

Of course there will be, CWT issued $300B of mbs last year, and are at about $8.27 worth of it this year. I'm not too good at math, but i'm going to roughly calculate that their fees have declined significantly; it's a good thing they cut their finance ranks down to 350 people, or they'd really be in trouble.

Lat - can you do some sleuthing on the rumors that another round of lay-offs is coming at CWT?

10:31 - The earlier firings will look like child's play compared to what's coming. Your calculation is apt. Think how many lawyers were involved in generating that $300B last year and you'll have a pretty good idea what's coming.

I was being sarcastic about their current ranks, but not about the downturn in business. I know people that are under 150 billable hours, and I know bankers that will all confirm there's nothing in the pipeline, and nothing coming.

Let's all remember how cadwalader became the cadwalader of today, they fired everyone that wasn't making top dollar, and replaced them with the new hot legal trend. They have a proven track record of wiping the slate clean, and starting with whatever will be the most profitable in the short term, just like an investment bank. They're rapidly expanding their *new* IP practice, and trying to hire over people to bring in Private Equity work. It seems to me it's time for another shift change at Cadwalader, you're an idiot if you didn't see it coming, did you really think that they wouldn't do it again, because you're special?

12:35 - they haven't expanded that IP group as much as they'd hoped. No one wants to go work there because of the current economic conditions.

So here's something I've been wondering. All of these things are defaulting, and people are starting to look at the documents and realize that the law firms that drafted them did such a sloppy, deficient job of producing actual the actual written agreements that no one has a clue what's actually supposed to happen. Here's my question, how long before they realize that one potential place to recover the billions lost from this faulty drafting is actual malpractice claims against the law firms. I mean, all you have to do is walk the document into court and show the gross incompetence in the drafting, then show the millions your losing because of it, and ask good ole Bobby Link to pay up and cover the losses created by his minions. And, you know, the other law firms that were thinking like greedy moneygrubbing bubble-riders, instead of doing their job and protecting their clients.

Anyone have a prediction on when securitization work will be hot again?

Ummm. Securitization will NEVER pick up again.

Between the worthless paper, the stock market crash, the hedge fund blowups, the near failure of the bond insurance market, the credit crunch the tens of thousands of layoffs in NYC and Bear Stearns being literally thrown out of their building...

I think it'll heat up again two days after never.

Hooper went to Reed Smith. Per last week's Edwards Angell blog, he may not be a loss.

Other firms facing layoffs: Every last one of the major firms in the US and Europe. This is not the same world as it was one human gestation period ago, in case nobody noticed. The winners will be those who become versitile.

You have to agree that the "one-trick ponies" that focused on securitization are done for. I mean, to be honest, they'll still have prior relationships, but most of the business end of those relationships have been, or will be fired. And unless they can train themselves to do something entirely new and different, they're not better now than a kid in law school.

12:55 - Also, they haven't expanded that IP group as much as they'd hoped because that IP group wasn't what it was touted to be. The only lingering question is who screwed who the most: Link or the IP group?