Posts under ‘Legal Recruiting’

Heller Ehrman may soon be no more.
The latest round of merger talks with Mayer Brown ended Monday.  A Mayer Brown statement cited client and practice conflicts which could not be resolved.
Partners were told Wednesday that dissolution was one of the options for the firm and management understood that partners would begin talking to other firms. [...]

 
Most corporate law firms rely on financial institutions as the bedrock clients on which they are built.  Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America have sent a wave of anxiety through New York’s top law firms.  This news, along with the earlier demise of Bear Stearns and probable imminent [...]

 It’s clear that the only winners in the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy will be lawyers.  The bankruptcy will probably occupy over 100 lawyers working for Lehman and claims by the creditors will provide work for thousands of bankruptcy attorneys. 
Lehman’s Chapter 11 filing, the biggest one in history, names Harvey R. Miller and Shai [...]

Yale Law Women has taken its latest look at law firms’ policies. Releasing its third annual survey on family-friendly firms, the student group cites the 10 best at helping lawyers strike a work-life balance. Some results were heartening. The group found, for example, that the firms are giving men an average of eight weeks of [...]

 
While firms in many other cities are laying off lawyers, large law firms in Chicago are facing a talent shortage.
From The National Law Journal:
“National law firms have rushed into Chicago during the past decade, especially in the past three years, but many are finding now that their collective arrival is fueling intense competition to fill [...]

From the Law Librarian Blog:
Bankruptcy filings in federal courts rose by 28.9 percent according to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. There were 967,831 bankruptcy cases filed during the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2008, compared to 751,056 cases the previous 12 months.   Historic data on bankruptcy filings is available [...]

Not every law firm is suffering from declining revenues, facing layoffs or contemplating mergers to shore up their firms.  At least one is doing it the old fashioned way – adding more lawyers.
Chicago based Arnstein & Lehr is looking to double its Florida attorney headcount and expand its Chicago office from 93 to 120 lawyers.
The [...]

Any of the recent stories on law firm mergers can be summarized as “firm X seeks merger in wake of partner exodus.”
As anyone can tell you, bargaining from a position of weakness is not a good strategy.  Too often mergers are seen as recourse for a failing firm and look more like acts of desperation [...]

Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner is the latest firm seeking a merger to shore up the firm in the wake of significant partner departures.
According to sources, Thelen and Nixon Peabody may have an agreement pending.  Thelen is not trying to keep its merger aspirations secret, but won’t comment on specifics.  A Thelen spokes man [...]

If you think layoffs are just for factory workers you haven’t been reading the legal news lately.  Firms large and small are laying off associates left and right, and it’s not just under producing associates.  If your firm has gone through a round of layoffs, or if you think they are headed in that direction, [...]