If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. From our sister site, Going Concern:

[A] judge in Seattle has allowed a revised lawsuit to proceed that lists “Washington Mutual officers and directors, underwriters, and the auditing firm Deloitte & Touche” as defendants.

The revised lawsuit was trimmed down to a “concise” 267 pages from the original 388 that the judge described as “verbose” and “disorganized”.

“Verbose” and “disorganized” would also describe many lawyers we know. On the defense side, though, it’s an all-star cast. From Am Law Litigation Daily:

The lineup for the defendants includes Simpson Thacher & Bartlett attorneys Barry Ostrager and Rob Pfister for former WaMu officers; Ronald Berenstain of Perkins Coie for former WaMu outside directors; Barry Kaplan of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati for former WaMu CEO Kerry Killinger; Peter Wald of Latham & Watkins for Deloitte; and Jonathan Dickey of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher for the underwriters.

Read more about this lawsuit, and comment, over at Going Concern.

Lawsuit Against Deloitte Gets New Life [Going Concern]

The decisions Latham & Watkins has made regarding its associates have been well documented in these pages. Because of the firm’s associate layoffs, some people forget that Latham & Watkins was one of the first firms to freeze associate salaries. Latham froze salaries way back in December of 2008.

It would be somewhat fitting if Latham became one of the first firms to unfreeze associate salaries.

For now, the firm isn’t saying anything. Latham spokespeople did not respond to our multiple requests for comment.

But multiple sources inside Latham are preparing for a thaw. And, if true, Latham could go a long way towards answering one of the most important questions we have about making associate pay raises come back again.

Details from our Latham sources after the jump.

Let’s finish off the prestigious Vault 20. Here we have some firms on the rise, and some firms that are … not.

Here is the next batch of firms:

16. WilmerHale
17. Latham & Watkins
18. Arnold & Porter
19. Jones Day
20. White & Case

Okay, before we discuss Latham and White & Case, let’s give a good cheer for WilmerHale (up one spot from last year), Arnold & Porter (up two spots from last year), and Jones Day (up four spots from last year).

The Jones Day surge is particularly impressive. You’ll remember that the firm slammed its competitors earlier this month. But it seems like the firm is walking the walk as well as talking the talk.

After the jump, you know what happens next.

Earlier this year, Latham & Watkins laid off some 400 employees (190 associates and 250 staff). This caused many to wonder about how tough times were getting at Latham.

Well, don’t shed tears for LW partners just yet. From the New York Times:

If a tourist passing along the Rue du Cloître Notre-Dame just looks up, it is not hard to glimpse, through the open windows above, the rich colors of old master paintings that have been stretched across a ceiling in Linda and Bryant Edwards’s first-floor apartment.

And from the home itself, in an elegant Haussmann building dating to 1905, the family has its own view — of the garden behind Notre Dame Cathedral….

When her husband, 54, presented her with the apartment as a gift for her 40th birthday, Mrs. Edwards envisioned a kind of “Tale of Two Cities” life, split between Paris and what was then the couple’s home in London.

The generous husband in question, Bryant Edwards, is a partner at Latham & Watkins. Last year he moved to Dubai, where he serves as managing partner of the firm’s Middle East office. The Edwardses now use their Paris apartment as a pied-à-terre when they return to the Continent.

So, the question you’re all wondering: How much did this amazing apartment cost?

American Lawyer has released its A-List for 2009. The rankings try to measure the qualities that make an elite law firm:

This list, which we launched in 2003, aims to measure and quantify the qualities that define an elite law firm, making an effort to look beyond profits. We examine four factors: revenue per lawyer, commitment to pro bono, diversity among lawyers, and associate training and satisfaction. Our formula gives more weight to the first two factors; we double a firm’s scores for revenue per lawyer and pro bono, and then add scores for diversity and associate satisfaction.

This year’s A-List? The elite of the elite? The top three firms are:

1. Munger, Tolles & Olson
2. Hughes Hubbard & Reed
3. Latham & Watkins

I’ll pause to give laid off Latham associates an opportunity to finish screaming. Please return after the jump.

Lost in yesterday’s Quinn kerfuffle was the fact that Skadden has officially deferred its class of 2010 associates to 2011. That move will help stem the influx of fresh talent into Skadden,

But what about the all of the talent leaving Skadden? Friday, we learned that David Fox and Daniel Wolf were leaving Skadden for Kirkland & Ellis. Today, the word is that restructuring partner D.J. (Jan) Baker is leaving Skadden for Latham & Watkins. AmLaw reports:

The lateral move comes on the heels of two lateral departures from Skadden’s M&A practice reported on Friday — partners David Fox and Daniel Wolf have joined Kirkland & Ellis.

But Skadden executive partner Eric Friedman sees no connection between Baker’s lateral move and that of Fox and Wolf. When asked whether the three departures allude to any larger issues at Skadden, Friedman simply responds, “none whatsoever.”

Anybody in the mood for some positive spin? Let’s take a look at some after the jump.

There’s a pretty interesting glitch happening right now over at NALP (here at ATL, we know something about “technical difficulties” — we’re working on ours). Even though the new numbers haven’t been made public yet, if you know what you’re doing you can get a sneak peak at the 2009 NALP numbers.

We’re not going to tell you how to do it, but we’ve done it and we’ve obtained some pretty interesting numbers to report about the New York summer programs at the top 20 firms as ranked by Vault. We’ll give you some numbers about the V10 today. Tomorrow we’ll expand our look to the Vault 20.

Getting an offer at one of the top nine firms in the land (the NALP glitch didn’t work for S&C) was considerably more difficult this year than last year. We compares the number of summer associate offers extended to 2Ls in 2007, with the expected numbers for that same group in 2008. Overall 2Ls offers were down a whopping 20% at the top 10 firms. And you have to wonder what percentage of those summer jobs are going to turn into full-time offers for employment.

For 1Ls, it gets even worse. We explain that and some other highlights, after the jump.

* AIG turned in the list of bonus recipients to New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday—let the games begin. Just kidding, I too fear for the safety of heavily compensated AIG executives—there is nothing scarier than an angry progressive. [The Los Angeles Times]

* Dispensers of medical marijuana have room to breathe after Attorney General Eric Holder announced that federal authorities would cease raiding their operations. [The New York Times]

* Attorney General Eric Holder issued guidelines to federal agencies after The White House advised them to release their records to the public. [The Washington Post]

* A 3-judge federal appeals panel is considering whether or not to re-instate Madoff’s bail—springing him from jail until sentencing in June. [Newsday]

* Albert Hu, a Silicon Valley hedge fund manager conned clients by saying he was represented by prominent law firms like Heller Ehrman and Shaw Pittman; he was arrested in Hong Kong, and charged with defrauding millions from investors. [The National Law Journal]

* Another sad tale of an associate whose offer has been put on hold—his employer Latham & Watkins is asking incoming attorney’s to defer their start dates. [The National Law Journal]

It’s March. For those new to the game, March is when we traditionally get all kinds of data on last year’s profits at major law firms. The American Lawyer has been putting out profit numbers from individual firms for a couple of weeks. Today, The Lawyer gives us an overview of the top 30 firms in terms of global revenue:

Of the top 30 firms, eight posted flat or reduced incomes, while 19 saw a reduction in average profit per equity partner (PEP).

Skadden secured the top spot with $2.2 billion in global revenue in 2008. That’s just a little bit more than the firm earned last year.

Baker & McKenzie was a surprising number two. But there’s one huge caveat to Baker’s revenue numbers:

Despite the apparent ­vindication of Bakers’ longstanding global strategy, the firm’s delight at securing the number two spot could be short-lived. Bakers has a 30 June year-end, meaning its most recent fiscal year avoided the harshest months of the recession and the corresponding impact on deal flow.

This is excellent news for John McCain.

More revenue numbers after the jump.

This instant reaction to Latham’s layoffs is that the moves herald a paradigm shift among top law firms. The Faculty Lounge offers this analysis:

[A] massive layoff like this breaks most of the remaining market stigma around Big Firm layoffs. As I discussed previously, top tier firms have long been afraid of laying off associates for fear that rising 2L’s from Harvard et al would not accept their offers….

There is a small upside to this layoff - the significant severance packages may set an industry standard. But the flip side is that these layoffs may make other big firms feel that severance packages are the vitural equivalent of continued employment - that they take away most of the stigmatic sting of the act.

Latham could also be setting a precedent in the way it is handling its incoming first years. Just after the firm announced the layoffs, Latham sent out an email to incoming first years offering them a $62,000 stipend (plus the standard $13,000 Bar Exam stipend) for deferring their start date until October, 2010:

We are also offering an alternative for those who are interested in further deferring their start date until October 18, 2010. This Deferral Program provides an opportunity to use the intervening period to work at a public service organization or pursue academic, political or other interests.

It could be a good deal for some people.

But is Latham really a trendsetter? We explore after the jump.

Records are being set this morning at Latham & Watkins. At 8:00 a.m. Eastern time, managing partner Bob Dell sent out an email announcing that the firm is laying off 190 associates and 250 staff. These numbers are on top of any “stealth layoffs” that may have previously occurred at the firm in the past year.

Four hundred forty employees — 190 associates, 250 staff — is, as far as we know, more than any one law firm has ever laid off (not counting dissolutions). Latham is also the first Vault top ten firm to conduct major layoffs.

But Latham is also setting another record, of a more positive nature. Consistent with what we reported yesterday, the firm is offering “a comprehensive separation package, including payment of six months salary (up to total severance of $100,000) plus six months of continued medical coverage (through August 31, 2009).” This is the most generous severance package that any major law firm has given departing employees (see this table).

That will definitely soften the blow. But one LW source has a question:

No mention on any partner shifts — did they really grossly overshoot the number of associates and staff they needed for the economy we ended up with, but nail the number of partners needed just right?

According to Dell’s email, the cuts constitute approximately 12 percent of associates and 10 percent of paralegals and support staff. One LW tipster, however, tells us that in terms of U.S. associates being laid off, the number may be closer to 20 percent.

The full email from Robert Dell, plus more, after the jump.

Management at Latham & Watkins continues to be incommunicado regarding the firm’s impending layoffs that we reported yesterday. Nonetheless, Above the Law has come by some information that could be positive for sleepless Latham associates.

Multiple sources have told ATL that Latham could be offering a six month severance package to the attorneys the firm is about to fire.

Of course, we don’t want to get everybody’s hopes up. As one source says:

I’d be shocked if that actually happens, given how bastard-y Latham been lately, but who knows?

But there are persistent rumors that Latham will try to combat the overwhelmingly negative press the firm has received by offering a soft (ish) landing to the departed.

Of course, the most humane thing to do at this point would be for Latham to make a public announcement and euthanize terrified associates.

Commenters and tipsters weigh in after the jump.

There have been a lot of rumors about impending layoffs at Latham & Watkins. Major layoffs. The firm has not responded to our multiple requests for comment, but here is the best information we’ve been able to collect over the past few days.

We’re hearing that at least 70 - 150 people will be laid off from Latham. We believe that it is all going to go down this Friday.

The layoffs will primarily affect the offices in New York, Chicago, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Conference rooms have been booked in all of those cities for Friday the 27th. The conference room schedule, which is available online for all Latham associates to see, is how most people are finding out about the layoffs coming at the end of this week. A tipster reports:

The online conference scheduler for Latham’s NY office has multiple rooms in the conference center checked out for all of Friday to Dave Gordon (L&W NY’s office managing partner), with multiple adjacent conference rooms checked out to the head of HR, as well as the head of the technology department. This is clearly not a typical occurrence.

We understand that partners in the New York office have been very open about the fact that a large number of people will be let go, and first-years are far from safe.

And while LW doesn’t seem to want to talk about this publicly, firm management has already decided on which people will be let go. The list will be given to the full partnership sometime tomorrow.

Why is Latham being silent about layoffs that everybody already seems to know about? We offer some historical context after the jump.

There was no LEWW last Friday because last week’s wedding pages were even bleaker than the Biglaw employment news. We’ve bounced back nicely, though, because Valentine’s Day fell on a Saturday this year, making this week’s weddings section a February feast of premium nuptial news.

We present three outstanding couples for your consideration:

1. Parisa Sabeti and Ted Zagat

2. Jessica Holzer and Hans Nichols

3. Kendall Burman and Eric Volkman

Check out these newlyweds’ résumés and pictures, after the jump.

When we first reported on the Latham & Watkins market shattering salary freeze, we noted that the situation must be particularly tough at Latham for them to take such a drastic measure. Back in December, we wrote:

Challenging economic times is one thing. Deflation? That is a different problem altogether. After the 2007 raises, a fourth-year L&W associate made $210,000. Today, rising fourth-years are looking at $185,000.

Today, AmLaw Daily reports that business at Latham might really be as bad as it appears:

Latham & Watkins saw its profits drop 21 percent last year, one of the biggest falls so far reported by an Am Law 100 firm. Profits per equity partner fell from $2.27 million in 2007 to $1.8 million in 2008.

Well, at least nobody can accuse Latham of hoarding profits.

After the jump, it now seems clear that we should have expected this all along.

We got a report last night that Latham & Watkins was losing two more IP partners to Quinn Emanuel. We’ve been able to confirm with sources at Quinn that the firm has in fact added Sean Pak and Dave Nelson. Both partners were patent litigators with Latham.

Our sources at Latham are worried that this is even more bad news for the firm:

This is on top of the NY IP partners all leaving last year. Expect several associates to follow. Right now LW has no IP practice in NY, and soon to have no substantial IP practice in Chicago. Rats leaving the sinking ship?

But is the Latham ship sinking? One tipster has no special information, but is worried nonetheless:

Rumors are flying within the firm that we’re going to announce layoffs soon…. I have no clue if the rumors are true but would love to hear everyone’s commentary.

After the jump, we get into some of the flying rumors.

Readers, commenters, and tipsters have all demanded that we run a post addressing the “stealth layoffs” that might be taking place at Latham & Watkins.

The firm has remained steadfast in its contention that no layoffs have happened at Latham & Watkins. They claim no dismissals for economic reasons, or anything out of the ordinary course of business. A firm spokesperson told ATL:

Consistent with our standard practice at the end of each year, we have completed our associate review process. We counsel our associates at the completion of our review process each year, and in those conferences discuss topics such as job performance, compensation and career tracks. Our decisions relating to associate departures were performance related and part of our usual year-end process, not part of an economic layoff.

But how many associate departures have there been? Based on information from our sources, the number of cuts is all over the map. ATL has received reports from tipsters in New York, Chicago, Silicon Valley, and L.A. that Latham has been conducting stealth layoffs. But because of the way they are being carried out, nobody knows just how many associates have been let go over the past few weeks.

Tipsters report that the process has every artifice of “performance review” cuts, but those same tipsters claim the cuts are economic based. Against the backdrop of the firm statement, after the jump we post some of the tipsters’ reports.

As we noted in yesterday’s Morning Docket, even the New York Times has taken note of the salary freeze trend at law firms. The Times reached out to Above The Law’s own David Lat for the story:

Although many associates are angry about the freezes, others are relieved, said David Lat, founding editor of AboveTheLaw.com, a blog about law firms and the profession.

“There is this sense that firms didn’t act prudently during the boom and now they are getting religion, and that it’s better late than never,” Mr. Lat said. “Many associates we have spoken to think the freeze probably saved jobs.”

At the beginning of the month, we did a round-up of firms that have frozen 2009 salary rates at 2008 levels. That list was 16 firms long. Since then, quite a few other firms have announced freezes. Due to frequent requests, we’re updating the round-up list since the number of firms with freezes (that we know of) has more than doubled, to 33 32. Check out the as-comprehensive-as-we-can-make-it list, after the jump.

Recently announced salary freezes include “solid ice freezes” at Blank Rome and Townsend and Townsend and Crew; and “Slurpee freezes” at Bingham McCutchen, Fish & Richardson, and Texan firm Andrews Kurth.

Memorandums, as well as a new list of all firms with “solid ice” and “Slurpee” freezes, after the jump.

Latham & Watkins might be leading the charge for salary freezes, but that’s not going to stop the firm from paying out associate bonuses. Right?

Latham is not a lockstep bonus firm. As a tipster explains it:

Our bonuses are not lock-step- so those people working their tails off usually do end up doing better than market … It’s usually those who are at the threshold (1900 hours) who do worse than market or get no bonus at all.

Well bonus information just went out and it looks like those hours thresholds have shifted. Latham goes through great (and ultimately futile) lengths to make sure that the firm’s bonus information doesn’t appear in the press. A tipster explains:

The way they announced them was via an email with a link in it that took you to a page that listed both your specific bonus, as well as an “un-cut-and-pasteable” bonus memo.

After the jump, we post the first screenshot of the Latham bonus structure.

Superstar litigatrix Kathryn Ruemmler, a litigation partner at Latham & Watkins and an Enron prosecutor before that, has been picked to serve as Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Obama Justice Department. That title is a mouthful, but lawyers inside the Beltway know it’s a Big Deal.

The revolving door between the DOJ and Latham swings again. Ruemmler has traded places with another fierce female litigator: Alice Fisher, who rejoined the firm after heading up the Criminal Division.

As for Ruemmler, the government’s gain is Latham’s loss. Says one LW tipster: “She’s a really good lawyer, and a genuinely nice person. We’re very sorry to lose her.”

Kathy Ruemmler isn’t just a genial genius; she’s stylish, too. From the WSJ Law Blog, reporting on a day of the Ken Lay trial:

Speaking of footwear, the boldest fashion statement of the day — possibly rivaling O’Melveny paralegal Bill Evans’s goth getup for the gutsiest sartorial move of the week — came from the government’s Ruemmler. The deputy director of the Enron Task Force, who won convictions against four Merrill Lynch bankers in the 2004 Nigerian Barge case, paired a conservative gray suit with stunning 4-inch bright pink stiletto spikes.

Litigatrix indeed. Just because you work for the DOJ doesn’t mean you have to shop at DSW.

There’s a lot of diversity in Obama’s Department picks so far. Eric Holder, nominated to serve as Attorney General, is African-Amercan. Elena Kagan and Dawn Johnsen, nominated to serve as, respectively, Solicitor General and head of the Office of Legal Counsel, are women.

The full memo about Ruemmler’s move, after the jump.