The Supreme Court decided it wants no part of the Redskins case, and Quinn remains victorious over Native American activists who want to change the team’s racially charged moniker. The WSJ Law blog reports:

The Redskins on Monday got a bit of good news from the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined cert filed by Native American activists who claim the Redskins’ team name is so offensive that it does not deserve trademark protection. The ruling essentially lets stand a lower court ruling that the activists waited too long to bring the challenge.

Mmmm … laches.

Regular Above the Law readers know that this case sparked some internal controversy at Quinn Emanuel when a then-associate at the firm took offense to Robert Raskopf’s celebratory lower court victory email.

The associate argued that Quinn was on the wrong side of history, but it appears the firm is on the right side of the law.

Ed. note: This post has been updated from the original version. Please see below.

The only thing worse than being tied to your BlackBerry at all hours is missing something important because you were not tied to your BlackBerry the hour you were needed.

Wait, this just in. There is something worse than missing a crucial request because you weren’t checking your BlackBerry. That would be when the partner you are working for emails all of the firm’s associates reminding them to compulsively check their BlackBerries because of your mistake.

Welcome to the world of a Quinn Emanuel associate. The associate apparently didn’t send a fax because he hadn’t been checking emails after business hours. QE partner Bill Urquhart decided to use the incident as a teaching moment for the entire firm:

From: A William Urquhart.
To: Attorneys.
Time: 9:21 a.m.
Re: CHECK YOU [sic] EMAILS OFTEN

Now more than ever there are many talented lawyers and law firms competing for our business. Doing really good legal work is not enough. Clients expect that and well they should given what we charge for our services You must all realize that we are in a service business. In this day and age of faxes, emails, internet, etc. clients expect you to be accessible 24\7. Of course, that is something of an exaggeration—but not much.

LESSON NUMBER ONE: You should check your emails early and often. That not only means when you are in the office, it also means after you leave the office as well. Unless you have very good reason not to (for example when you are asleep, in court or in a tunnel), you should be checking your emails every hour. One of the last things you should do before you retire for the night is to check your email. That is why we give you blackberries. I can assure you that all of our clients expect you to be checking your emails often. I am not asking you to do something we do not do ourselves. I can assure you that John Quinn, Peter Calamari, Mike Carlinsky, Faith Gay, Fred Lorig, etc. all check their emails often.

Yesterday I was working with a relatively new associate on a project which both he and I knew was a rush. It was for a relatively new client whom we were trying to impress. The associate did a nice job under pressure. Before I left the office at about 7:30 I sent an email to this associate asking him to perform a task—fax a draft letter for review and comment. I assumed the task was done. Turns out the associate left the office and did not check his emails until this morning. I assumed the task had been completed. It had not been. In this case it was no harm no foul, but I think we can all imagine scenarios when this could be a disaster.

CORRECTION: The original version of this post had a line in the blockquote that was not in the Urquhart email. (It was actually commentary on the email from a source.) That line has been removed. I apologize for posting an incorrect version of the email.

That’s harsh. But is it fair?

We are fighting two wars, the economy is in the toilet, and the assassinations of Biggie and Tupac remain unsolved, but our elected leaders have spent a lot of time concerning themselves with soda (a.k.a: pop). Literally, the President of the United States is concerned about this.

Here in New York, wealthy overlord mayor Michael Bloomberg has an entire ad campaign running against soda. It’s probably just a precursor to the soda tax that is often talked about.

As a meat-eating smoker who detests physical activity and enjoys it when cows are fed beer, I’m immune to the so-called “doctors” and their calls for basic health. To me, taxing soft drinks is a violation of the social compact.

But in Biglaw, the war against soda is on. Foley & Lardner has already taken up arms against soft drinks. And it looks like Quinn Emanuel will be next.

Details after the jump.

Who can forget Quinn Emanuel’s victory in the 17-year-long dispute over the name “Redskins”? Above the Law readers will remember Robert Raskopf’s happy victory email … and the first-year associate who had a problem with the firm’s representation of the Washington Football club. The first year was (eek!) fired for reasons unrelated to his disagreement with the firm’s position.

But is the firm’s position as strong as Raskopf thought? The Blog of the Legal Times reports that the Redskins case has made it all the way to the Supreme Court:

The long-running dispute over the appropriateness of the “Redskins” name for the Washington D.C. NFL football franchise reached the Supreme Court today. Philip Mause, partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath in D.C., representing a group of Native Americans offended by the name, filed a petition for certiorari in the case titled Susan Harjo v. Pro-Football, Inc.

Was Raskopf’s victory email premature? More details, plus an UPDATE about the Native Americans’ game plan if SCOTUS doesn’t want to play, after the jump.

You see partners spinning off from bigger firms to start their own shops all the time. We’ve covered some of these high-profile partners that are still taking the risk during the recession, like the Skadden partners who formed BuckleySandler, or the Boies, Schiller partners who formed Stone & Magnanini.

But starting your own firm isn’t the exclusive domain of partners. Associates start their own shops all the time, even in this market. Last week, we learned that two Quinn Emanuel associates were taking the plunge and forming their own firm, Colt Wallerstein LLP:

Colt Wallerstein is founded by Doug Colt and Tom Wallerstein, two former Quinn Emanuel attorneys. Claude Stern, the managing partner of Quinn’s Silicon Valley office, said of the pair: “For years, I have worked closely with both Doug and Tom. I have trusted them with my clients’ most sensitive information and they have excelled in managing complex, sophisticated, and difficult commercial litigation. Doug and Tom are terrific, client-focused lawyers with a keen sense of the practical.”

These two attorneys weren’t laid off from Quinn. They say they were on partnership track at a firm where profits per partner march ever upwards. So you have to ask, “Why the hell would you leave a stable, well-paying job in the middle of a recession? Do you also enjoy looking gift horses in the mouth?”

After the jump, Wallerstein answers some of our questions.

LEWW is fascinated by ATL’s Douchiest Law School contest. Official results haven’t been announced yet, but based on our preliminary read, Yale seems to have notched a decisive first-round victory over the University of Texas, and it looks like Harvard has trounced UCLA. Stanford Law School, however, appears to have been decisively out-douched by lowly Georgetown. Conclusion: The relationship between douchiness and prestige is not linear.

This week’s weddings feature two YLS grads and two SLS grads, so these lawyer newlyweds are undeniably prestigious. But are they also representative of their respective institutions’ reputations for d-baggery? We’ll let you make the call.

Here are the couples:

1. Wendy Katz and Matthew Waxman

2. Megan Wall-Wolff and Joshua Younger

3. Julia Kripke and Matthew Kellogg

Read all about these couples and vote for your favorite, after the jump.

You can still call yourself prestigious if you work at the firms that make up today’s fall recruiting open thread. But once you are outside of the Vault top 20, people start talking about “firm culture” at least as much as they talk about prestige.

Here’s the next batch:

21. Shearman & Sterling
22. O’Melveny & Myers
23. Quinn Emanuel
24. Ropes & Gray
25. Hogan & Hartson
26. Clifford Chance
27. Morrison & Foerster
28. Mayer Brown
29. Linklaters
30. Boies Schiller & Flexner

The slide continues for Shearman & Sterling. The firm was ranked #19 last year, and is down two spots this year. Is there any specific reason for the fall?

After the jump, let’s look at the firms rising up through the rankings.

If you are an incoming first year at Quinn Emanuel’s San Francisco or Silicon Valley office, you are probably on the final stretch of your CA bar exam preparations. If so, please stop reading this post right now. We don’t want to put any extra pressure on you guys.

For everybody else, you might be interested to know that Quinn Emanuel has deferred half of its incoming first year class in those two offices until January 2010.

As we understand it, the firm is not offering any kind of deferral stipend for the affected incoming associates.

Tipsters have been critical of the firm’s decision:

This is a double whammy. First, they hadn’t been deferred at all, were planning on starting in two months, so this is late notice. And second, telling people one week before the bar?!?!? that’s cold.

Well, it’s better than being told between the first and second day of the bar exam.

After the jump, Quinn Emanuel’s managing partner, John Quinn, explains the reason for this decision.

LEWW often hears complaints about the elitism and snobbery of the NYT’s wedding coverage (and, by extension, our coverage of the coverage). “What about all the couples who didn’t meet at Harvard?” critics cry.

In response, we’d like to point you to this Vows column from mid-June. Roughly twice a year, the NYT covers the wedding of what it presumably considers “average Americans,” seeking thereby to demonstrate that its weddings sections isn’t only for privileged Ivy Leaguers and their wealthy parents. This one, for example, features a pregnant bride and at least one electronic monitoring bracelet. Enjoy.

And now, this week’s legal eagle finalist couples (six people, six Harvard degrees, zero ankle bracelets):

1. Katherine Zeisel and Joshua Salzman

2. Maria Gambale and Zachary Taylor

3. Karen Milkosky and Patrick Curran

Check out these couples’ résumés and photos, after the jump.

Yesterday, we reported on an associate at Quinn Emanuel who had strong views about the firm’s recent victory in the Pro Football v. Harjo case, in which the D.C. Circuit upheld the Washington Redskins trademark in the moniker “Redskins.” We, along with many readers, speculated about whether the first-year associate would be able to hold onto his job after yesterday’s publicity.

We are now able to report that the Quinn associate was let go from the firm yesterday — but not because of the various “reply-all” emails.

Instead, the associate was let go because he failed the California bar exam. For a second time.

(Thus, as noted in the comments, any email indiscretions by him essentially amounted to harmless error.)

The firm declined to comment about individual personnel matters, but multiple sources report that it is the standing policy of Quinn Emanuel to part ways with associates who fail the bar multiple times.

But we shouldn’t necessarily look at the emails as an attempt to go out in a “blaze of glory.” As we understand it, the associate sent the first reply-all email — the one that was not meant to “rouse some rabble or down some debbies or outcrunch some crunchies” — before he found out that he failed the bar for a second time.

As for the rest of the emails, that might be a different story. More details, and a colorful “no comment” from the associate himself, after the jump.

Here’s a post devoted to the perils of “Reply All” and idealism among first-year associates. Brought to you by the attorneys of Quinn Emanuel.

The firm just celebrated a victory in its Washington Redskins case, reports the Washington Post:

A federal appeals court yesterday handed the Washington Redskins another victory in their long-running legal dispute with Native American activists over the team’s name.

The appeals court did not address whether the name was offensive but upheld a federal judge’s ruling last year that a Native American man had waited too long to challenge six Redskins trademarks.

AmLaw Daily reports that Quinn attorney Robert Raskopf, who has been working on the case for as long it has been since the Redskins have seen a Superbowl stadium, was pretty psyched about the victory:

Raskopf was in a good mood when we spoke with him about the appellate win. He’s been on the case since it started 17 years ago. “It’s a great win for the team,” said Raskopf, who had help from Quinn partner Sanford Weisburst on the brief. “I’m so happy for the Redskins and their fans.”

Raskopf was so happy on Friday that he sent out a firm-wide victory e-mail. But not everybody was thrilled. After bouncing around the firm and racking up some responses, the victory chain made its way to our inbox via a tipster:

This is too good not to share. This was sent to all Quinn attorneys.
—-
The First Year Associate Who Shat All Over Raskopf’s Victory Email OR The First Year Associate Who Repurposed the Redskins

After the jump, see the chain that culminates in a (soon-to-be-fired?) first-year associate’s plea for idealistic litigation at Quinn.

Back in January, we interviewed siblings Victor Jih, a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, and Tammy Jih, an associate at Quinn Emanuel, who starred on this season’s Amazing Race. Little did we know in January that we were talking to this season’s race winners. Last night, the Jihs beat out some cheerleaders and a deaf kid and his mom to win the Amazing Race prize.

(For the uninitiated, the Amazing Race is a reality TV show where teams of two race around the world in the hopes of winning $1 million.)

Not everyone is thrilled for the Harvard Law grads. The Chicago Sun-Times is asking whether the Mandarin-speaking Chinese-American siblings had an unfair advantage in China. And the Associated Press called the finish of the race “heartbreaking:”

Luke Adams, 22, just graduated as the valedictorian of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, and raced with his mother Margie, 50. They were in the lead heading into the last competition, which involved picking out surfboards with insignias representing every leg of their trip. Luke started fast but couldn’t get the last one right.

As he was frustrated, Victor Jih completed his task and headed into a taxi for the finish line.

Maybe the AP would be happier for the twins if they realized how tough lawyers have it these days. Or maybe not. Regardless, we bet that $500k bonus feels pretty good to each sibling. We checked in with them via e-mail, but got just a brief reply from Tammy:

Thanks for watching the show! Sorry we could not respond earlier. I have not been on the internet, but I am assuming you have already written your article. Sorry for the delayed response, but we have had a busy last 24 hours, as I am sure you can imagine!

Actually, we’ve been delinquent in watching the show regularly this season, but we got reviews from folks who have. The reviews and a photo of the Jihs in (admittedly-conservative) beach attire, after the jump.

Akin Gump is dealing with another partner defection. AmLaw Daily is reporting that a big time litigator is leaving Akin Gump for Quinn Emanuel:

Andrew Rossman, former cohead of litigation at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, kept bumping into lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges on various cases, and came away impressed every time.

So Rossman, who has lived in and around New York city for his entire life, decided to leave Akin Gump this week to take a spot in Quinn’s growing New York office.

Rossman was more impressed with the Quinn lawyers he “kept bumping into” than his colleagues he worked with every day at Akin Gump? Ouch.

Some sort of an exodus seems to be taking place at Akin. The firm lost 17% of its partners last year.

More details after the jump.

A couple of layoffs, potential layoffs, and staff layoffs came in under the radar yesterday, so let’s get to it.

There was an all associates meeting a Mintz Levin Tuesday. The reports coming out of the meeting indicate that Mintz Levin management “admitted that they had been conducting stealth layoffs” over the past few months.

If you admit to stealth layoffs, are they still stealth?

While you ponder that metaphysical problem, our sources also reported the specific number of people that had been stealthily fired. But when we asked Mintz Levin spokespeople if stealth layoffs had occurred, we were told that our sources were incorrect. According to a Mintz Levin spokesperson:

The recent all associate meeting which happened on Tuesday is a regularly scheduled meeting that occurs after the end of the firm’s fiscal year, which occurred Saturday March 28th.

So maybe everything is okay over at Mintz.

After the jump, some confirmed layoff news.

We’ve collected a number of layoff reports coming out of Quinn Emanuel the past couple of days. Overall, the numbers are a lot lower than what we’ve been seeing coming out of California. But it appears that some layoffs have occurred.

Our sources report that 6 people from the firm’s Silicon Valley office have been informed that they will be let go in the next couple of months. Multiple independent sources also report that 20 - 25 people have been let go from the firm’s Los Angeles office since the first of the year.

But when we reached out to John Quinn, he adamantly denied the reports from our tipsters:

A handful of people have been let go for lack of work. 25 is wildly inaccurate.

The sources we spoke with report various reasons for the layoffs. Some cite performance, others claim to have made their hours, still others said they were casualties of the economy.

Whatever the official number of layoffs, it does appear that Quinn has kept the amount of cuts down as compared to other firms headquartered on the west coast. You’ve got to take the good news where you can get it.

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of law firm layoffs

On Sunday night, the third episode of this season’s Amazing Race aired. Biglaw sibling team Victor and Tammy Jih, who came in first the previous week, barely avoided being eliminated.

(We interviewed the Jihs last month. Victor Jih is a partner at O’Melveny and Myers, while Tammy Jih is an associate at Quinn Emanuel. )

On Sunday, on the reality TV show where teams race around the world completing challenges, Tammy and Victor had to head to Romania to do gymnastics and go hiking. They struggled at both. Tammy had some issues with the balance beam and floor routine during the gymnastics challenge, complaining that she “can’t cartwheel.” Victor, um, consoled her by telling her afterward, “I think your brain just froze.”

The next challenge was hiking to some coffins — yeah, the show loves cultural stereotypes, with gypsies, gymnastics, and Transylvania references featured prominently in Romania — and Victor took the lead as trail guide, perhaps because Tammy’s brain was still frozen from cartwheeling. He proceeded to follow the wrong markers. They got terribly lost. “Look, we’re doing so great,” says Victor optimistically. “This sucks,” Tammy replies.

After much wandering, Victor finally acknowledges he’s led them astray by kneeling, sobbing, and asking Tammy to take over. Biglaw partner. Sobbing. Handing control over to the midlevel associate.

She leads them back down the mountain, and to the coffins. Victor, still very upset, drags a coffin haphazardly down the hill, saying, “I don’t care if I die.” They finish far behind all but one of the other teams (who got stuck in Amsterdam). When they discover they’re still in the race, Victor cries some more. See the video, and more episode highlights, after the jump.

Last week, John B. Quinn, managing partner of Quinn Emanuel, gave his “state of the firm” address. Quinn’s address made some associates feel better and more secure. Other associates were angry. But if you are interested in how partners really think, the address was pretty interesting.

Quinn takes questions during this annual address, and this year the questions quickly turned to Quinn Emanuel’s bonus structure. Quinn paid Cravath-level bonuses for associates that hit 2100 hours (while giving more money to associates who far exceeded that target).

But Quinn also showed a significant surge in profits per partner, up 11 percent from last year. So associates wondered why more of that money didn’t trickle down to the associate level. According to tipsters, John Quinn told the gathering:

He said that we could have afforded to pay the higher bonuses, and we could afford to increase everyone’s salary by 10 to 15 thousand a year, but that doing so just doesn’t make strong business sense.

When we contacted Mr. Quinn, he reiterated his position that the market, not profit numbers, sets the level for associate bonuses:

i also said that the amount of associate bonuses—for all firms, not just ours—is driven by the market, which is very efficient. and of course it’s a business decision. firms don’t base bonuses, or salaries for that matter, on “what can we afford”, but on the market. we are no different.

Of course, Quinn Emanuel isn’t the only game in town. After the jump, we learn that Mr. Quinn won’t hold it against you if you feel you can get a better deal than what his firm is offering.

Nobody needs to worry about Quinn Emanuel dissolving. Check out Quinn’s profit numbers as reported by AmLaw and The Lawyer:

In tough times, it’s good to specialize in bet-the-company litigation. Revenue at 400-lawyer Quinn Emanuel Urquardt Oliver & Hedges was $441.9 million in 2008, up 15 percent from 2007’s $384.5 million.

Profits jumped 10 percent, from $237.5 million in 2007 to $260 million last year. Profits per partner—already near the top of the Am Law 100 in 2007—rose 11 percent to $3.3 million. Quinn Emanuel has 78 equity partners.

In December, we reported that Quinn Emanuel’s bonus structure was very good for high billers but not so good for people low on hours.

After the jump, tipsters weigh in about Quinn’s 11% PPP increase.

Starting February 15th, you’ll be able to spend your Sunday nights watching hottie Biglaw siblings Victor and Tammy Jih go global as they compete for $1 million in the Amazing Race.

As noted yesterday, Victor Jih, 35, is a partner at O’Melveny and Myers, while Tammy Jih, 26, is an associate at Quinn Emanuel. We had a three-way with them yesterday, and asked about trading Biglaw for reality TV, how they got on the show, spending 4 weeks Blackberry-less, and whether Victor really thinks Africa is a country.

Victor may be the senior Biglaw member of the family, but Tammy always jumps in first to answer questions. Check out the interview, after the jump.

The Amazing Race is a reality TV show where teams of two race around the world in the hopes of winning $1 million. The 14th season of the show debuts on February 15th, and will star hot legal siblings, Victor and Tammy Jih.

Victor Jih, 35, is a partner at O’Melveny and Myers, while Tammy Jih, 26, is an associate at Quinn Emanuel. In this CBS video clip, Tammy says she hasn’t “had exactly the same life experience that Victor has had.” We think she just means in terms of length of time spent in Biglaw. Both Jihs went to Stanford undergrad and Harvard Law School, and now work as attorneys in California.

According to their bios on the CBS site:

Tammy is a litigator who believes that her ability to keep a cool head under pressure, especially with little or no sleep, will lead to success on the Race. Her biggest pet peeve with her brother is that he’s a bit of a control freak…

Victor is a partner at his law firm and works as a corporate litigator. He is running the Race to see if he and his sister can co-exist in a hyper-competitive situation without driving each other crazy.

We’re going to be catching up with the Jihs in an interview later today. If you have questions you’d like us to ask the hottie reality TV stars, beyond their practice groups and relationship statuses, send us an e-mail with the subject “Amazing Race.”

Check out a video clip of the two, as well as a little info on who they’re up against, after the jump.