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Dewey losing parking, seamless web, westlaw access
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Date: May 1st, 2012 2:43 PM |
Date: May 1st, 2012 2:47 PM i mean, is there anyone even pretending that the place isn't going to collapse? i wouldn't even come in. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 2:48 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:34 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:26 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 2:48 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 3:21 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 2:48 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:06 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 5:52 PM
wholly shit. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:02 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:04 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:05 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:07 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:08 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:08 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:10 PM
If you have service partners or senior associates in between, you will have a harder time being indispenible to the new firm who will have their own associates happy to take on the extra work. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:11 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:35 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:27 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:34 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:42 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:24 PM
nothing makes client more nervous about stability than people dropping off deal at the 11th hour because partner heading for the doors |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:06 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:08 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:50 PM |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 10:25 AM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:09 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:12 PM
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:30 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:32 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:37 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:28 PM |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 8:15 AM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 6:42 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:24 PM
basically even though the bills have been paid, all third party vendors are cancelling them in anticipation that the last months bill is going to be part of the unsecured creditors pool and that the client charges to those bills will not be applied to the bills after bankruptcy. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:30 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:39 PM
I could see poor service partners who have not been paid all year getting clawed back and shooting up the place. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:47 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:29 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:29 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:39 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:47 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:50 PM
We have received a number of questions regarding our Empire BlueCross Blue Shield medical coverage. Owing to a payment routing issue involving the agent and the insurer, an administrative issue has resulted in a suspension of medical coverage. I can assure you that the firm has paid its premium and is actively working with the insurer to restore full coverage to partners and employees as soon as practicable. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:54 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:58 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:01 PM
I'm not sure that the service provider suspending medical coverage is considered a qualified life event. That means as of this moment, if an associate has a pregnant wife that is about to deliver a baby, they do not have medical insurance. I would assume that if benefits are restored, Blue Cross would retroactively apply benefits so there is not a lapse in coverage (that is how qualified life events work)... but if they are just saying "fuck you broke mofo's we're getting out of here," many people might be fucked right now. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:20 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:21 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:23 PM
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsbankruptcy.html |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:26 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 9:38 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 9:47 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:44 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:23 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:12 PM *is diagnosed with aggressive cancer tomorrow* |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:54 PM
*gives birth in April 2012*
*gets laid off in May 2012*
*receives unpaid hospital bill for $240,000 in June 2012* |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:58 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:13 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:59 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 7:53 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:12 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:14 PM |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 12:14 AM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:15 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:17 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:17 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:33 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:48 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 8:56 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 9:45 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 9:57 PM |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 7:50 AM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:09 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:11 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:17 PM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303916904577377851289934704.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:28 PM
The law firm, which employs more than 1,000 lawyers, is struggling to cope with heavy debts and the loss of dozens of partners. It is considering a number of options for preserving jobs, such as transferring practice groups to other firms, even as a bankruptcy filing looms as a possible last resort. Two Dewey associate attorneys said they learned Tuesday that their medical coverage had been canceled as of April 1 because of nonpayment by the firm. Dewey said that the coverage was temporarily suspended due to a "payment routing issue," and would be restored.
Last week, the firm canceled its 2012 summer associates program, traditionally a pipeline for future hires.
One of the firm's lawyers described the scene inside Dewey's Manhattan headquarters Tuesday as "chaos," adding that many lawyers spent the morning backing up emails and contact lists and boxing up their papers and personal effects.
"It is like the moment right before the movers come, when everything's piled up and you can't get into your living room," he said. The lawyer added that while dissolution or bankruptcy wasn't imminent, people "definitely are seeing the writing on the wall—and preparing for it."
If Dewey doesn't survive, many of its partners, junior lawyers, paralegals and secretaries could face unemployment. The nation's legal industry shed 2,700 jobs last year, and lost another 1,100 in the first quarter of 2012, according to Department of Labor statistics. The law firm's leaders sent out a memorandum to its partners Monday evening advising them to look elsewhere for work even as the firm seeks arrangements with other firms.
"There are no plans to file for bankruptcy," a Dewey spokesman said Tuesday afternoon. "Having said that, we understand and appreciate the concerns of partners, associates and staff. That is one of the reasons we sent the email [Monday]: to let partners know that if they so desired, we were relieving them of their fiduciary duty, and they were free to look for other positions."
Stuart Saft, the former head of Dewey's global real-estate department, who started Tuesday as co-chair of Holland & Knight LLP's New York real-estate practice, said rival firms started calling him six weeks ago, but he didn't want to leave until he was able to bring his entire practice group with him—including associates, paralegals and assistants. Mr. Saft said that morale fell sharply when some partners left solo; it was unclear how many staffers he was able to take with him to Holland & Knight.
The financial crisis and the resulting global recession brought about a new, leaner era for law firms. Lawyers were laid off en masse, and many have yet to find new jobs.
Dewey & LeBoeuf, created by the 2007 merger of two old-line law firms, Dewey Ballantine LLP and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP, had another problem: Its leaders' ambitious goal to turn it into an elite Wall Street firm, fueled partly by compensation promises that became unsustainable.
Not everyone will suffer equally if Dewey doesn't survive. Many Dewey higher-ups, including those who enjoyed some of the compensation guarantees, likely will find other well-paying jobs soon. Martin Bienenstock, head of the firm's restructuring practice, is considered a top bankruptcy attorney, and would likely be poised to find another position soon, given the demand for his services.
Mr. Bienenstock bills more than $1,000 an hour, according to rate data compiled from public documents by Valeo Partners, a Washington consulting firm.
Things will likely be tougher for the legions of rank-and-file employees in Dewey's offices throughout the world—from Rome to Johannesburg to Beijing. Many of the firm's partners are owed backpay, and potentially face long legal battles to recoup the money due them.
Legal experts say that when a law firm goes under, current and former partners who put money into the firm in the form of capital shares go to the back of the recovery line—behind secured creditors such as banks, trade creditors like equipment-rental companies and anybody else owed money by the firm.
Bankruptcy trustees also often pursue partners, and the law firms they later join, to recoup money. Few current and former Dewey partners have wanted to publicly discuss the firm's situation, partly because they fear any comments could be used against them in litigation.
Lawyers have to put money into a firm when they become partners: at Dewey, those so-called capital contributions ranged from $100,000 to more than $500,000, according to ex-partners. "They fund the business, and they are the last to get money out of the law firm," said Robert Hillman, a professor of law at UC Davis School of Law. "Usually in a bankruptcy situation, there is not enough money to go around."
For that reason, "a lot of us are going to be playing both offense and defense," said one former partner who left the firm earlier this year. He said he would likely be pressing to recover his nearly $200,000 in capital while fending off claims by Dewey creditors. "I don't expect people to feel sorry for us, but I'm expecting a long and difficult process."
To help cushion the blow to support staff and junior lawyers who might soon be unemployed, former Dewey partner John Altorelli, who is now practicing at DLA Piper LLP, is reaching out to his fellow former partners to raise money for staffers who might soon find themselves unemployed. Mr. Altorellihas pledged to give $10,000, and is asking other former partners to do the same.
Mr. Altorelli is also asking other law firms to take on one or two of the law students who were slated to start work at Dewey later this month as summer associates. Also at risk are any pension-benefit payments to retired partners that come out of the firm's current profits, instead of from a dedicated fund. If a firm folds, there is no money to pay such benefits, though many law firms offer 401(k) and other supplemental plans. Retired partners and their survivors are concerned about their pension benefits, which for some represent a substantial portion of their income, said David Bicks, a 79-year-old retired partner and pension recipient, who joined LeBoeuf decades before the merger.
"These lawyers were instrumental in building a great institution," said Mr. Bicks, who is now of counsel at the firm and is advocating for retirees. He said that many have expressed "disbelief" at the straits the firm now finds itself in. |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:33 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 11:50 PM |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 12:33 AM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 11:09 PM
ORLY? |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 11:12 PM |
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Date: May 1st, 2012 10:29 PM |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 10:32 AM
btw, how do you "lose parking"? |
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Date: May 2nd, 2012 10:55 AM |