Sept. 25 Update: Heller to dissolve.
As we (and many sites) mentioned a few days ago, amid the chaos and woe besetting Heller Ehrman this week, a Heller staffer created a blog as a resource for colleagues who are expecting to soon and suddenly be unemployed.
Today we talked to “Heller Drone,” the anonymous creator of Heller Highwater, about why he created it (‘cause it’s needed) and what it’s been like (craaaaazy) in the four days since it was created.
“We needed to be proactive, and we also needed to let management know we know what’s going on,” he said. (He wishes to remain anonymous, though he gave us confirmation of his identity and employment at Heller).
“It was never a riff on management, really,” the Drone said. The point was to provide staffers with a resource. The site lists unemployment resources, 401(k) info and more. It’s an admirable effort, but not much surprise that this guy would recognize the need for such a site. The Drone is a veteran of Brobeck, the Bay Area’s most recent major law firm implosion.
The Drone told us his blog has scored more than 15,000 hits since it went live on Monday, when news broke that Heller’s merger talks with Mayer Brown collapsed and a large group of partners was leaving for Covington & Burling.
Since then, everyone in the firm has been pretty resigned to the idea that they should start looking for new jobs.
“No one’s doing any work,” he said.
Despite the understandable amount of angst surrounding Heller’s high-profile turmoil, the Drone keeps the blog focused on useful information and supportive messages, absolutely forbidding gossip, snark and bitter recrimination. Surprisingly, he says he’s only had to delete one comment so far.
“I just wanted the person to know it was okay to be angry,” he said. “But I also wanted the person to know to take it to Above the Law.”
— Niraj Chokshi
Hey..."he" is a "staffer", "veteran of Brobeck". You just outed the guy!
Posted by: Hellbent | September 19, 2008 at 09:25 AM
We cleared that description with Heller Drone prior to writing the post. If you're looking for a male Brobeck vet at Heller, there's quite the line-up to deal with.
Posted by: Niraj Chokshi | September 19, 2008 at 10:33 AM
That's good...the blog is getting more onlookers than a car crash.
Posted by: Hellbent | September 19, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Car crash? We prefer shipwreck, or "maritime mishap" if you must. But you are right - "too disgusting to contemplate, to compelling to ignore" is what we feel too.
Niraj cleared all with me when we chatted.
Heller Drone
Cruise Director
Posted by: Heller Drone | September 19, 2008 at 01:32 PM
The blood will continue to flow as more firms trim their ranks and find themselves without clients.
http://endofesq.com/?p=189
Posted by: caretaker | September 22, 2008 at 06:16 AM