Legal Pad

Orrick Rumored to Be Considering Merger with UK's SJ Berwin

[Petra Pasternak]

Is Orrick shopping around for a merger in the United Kingdom?

The Lawyer, a UK legal publication, says Orrick has become the frontrunner in talks with SJ Berwin after Goodwin Procter and Proskauer Rose allegedly pulled out of early merger talks.

A delegation from SJ Berwin traveled to the U.S. to meet with Orrick in New York on Tuesday, April 13, according to The Lawyer, which cited “numerous” unnamed sources.

Legal Week, another UK publication, describes SJ Berwin as an upper-mid-market London practice “famed for its robust, entrepreneurial style,” which some define as flavored by an “eat what you kill” approach. The 600-lawyer SJ Berwin has had its woes from the recession, according to Legal Week, taking a hard hit from a slowdown in property and private equity work.

The British press is notorious for running with the slightest of tips –- but Orrick’s also shown an appetite for growth in London. The firm took on a new lease there last year, and its website now lists 55 lawyers in London, almost triple the headcount in 2002.

An Orrick spokesman said the firm doesn’t comment on rumors and speculation. If you happen to have any intel, please email us.

Deferred Associate Stays Upbeat, But Shows Some Wistfulness

[Cynthia Foster]

When Andrew Andinger was deferred from Orrick, he entered into the "whirlwind process" of finding a public interest outfit where he could spend the year. He landed at the Public Interest Law Project in Oakland and has been blogging about his experience over at The Am Law Daily.

Andinger is a pretty upbeat guy, judging from his posts, and has a positively rosy outlook on his experience. In one post, he mused on the contrast between Orrick and PILP, but settled on calling them both "great work environments... both comfortable, interesting spaces populated by cool, creative people."

This week, though, I got the impression that he might be feeling a little left out of the biglaw buzz, especially when talking to his non-deferred friends.

"Over coffee and lunch, or at the occasional happy hour, they’ve told me about big research projects, drafting intricate documents, fast-paced deals that go late in the night, and helping a team prepare for trial."

Andinger's column is ongoing, and I've found it to be a sweet read and probably particularly interesting to those who are deferred themselves.

Ropes Takes More Space, Orrick's on the Cheapside

Ropes & Gray is banking on growing in San Francisco. The firm is doubling its office space, moving from One Embarcadero to Three Embarcadero early next year.

The lease, signed last week, covers 50,000 square feet on two floors.

Ropes & Gray has 37 attorneys in the San Francisco office, which was established in 2001. Ropes & Gray’s Silicon Valley office houses 25 attorneys.

Orrick is not moving in San Francisco, but it is in other markets, in ways we thought were interesting.

In London this week, the firm is moving its office to a new part of town called “Cheapside.” Apparently, the Brits find nothing objectionable about the word.

Also, in New York next April, the firm is moving from 666 Fifth Avenue to the Black Rock building where Wachtell Lipton and CBS are headquartered. The firm is saving money with the move, with outgoing tenant UBS paying for renovations, and a $70 per square-foot-rate that’s cheaper than what it was paying on its 15-year-old lease on Fifth Avenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.

— Amanda Royal

Orrick Tackles China's Debut Antitrust Trial

The Chinese are taking a few cues from the antitrust playbooks of American technology companies, with a little help from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Orrick is advising Baidu, China’s largest search engine, in its defense against a customer’s claim it was blacklisted on the site’s key word advertising service.

We checked in with Ted Henneberry at Orrick to find out why an American firm is helping on the first big antitrust case in China between two Chinese companies.

“It’s pretty much a Wild, Wild West. Its virgin territory,” Henneberry said. “We got involved because there’s virtually no antitrust laws in China.”

Really? None? … After the jump.

Orrick Moves OCI Later, And Tells Current Summers Their Offers Will Be Deferred to '12

Updated: With a link to the memo, below.

Orrick has worked out a way to unclog a logjam of new associates coming through its pipeline: With its fall 2009 class already bumped to join the firm in January or March of 2010 or even 2011, Orrick has decided its current summers who get offers won’t be joining until January 2012.

The firm is also saying it will recruit from campuses starting in November and running through March, instead of the traditional late summer OCI season.

It made both announcements in a memo to law school deans and assistant deans yesterday, which was posted on Above the Law this morning.

“With the fall on-campus recruiting season about to begin, and with many law students needing to make plans and commitments for their future, we knew we had to deal with the issue promptly,” Silicon Valley Orrick partner Stephen Venuto wrote. “Therefore, we decided it was in the best interests of our existing summer associates and fellows, our upcoming new associate classes as well as those students we plan to recruit in the future to make and announce both of these decisions now.”

In a recent story in one of our sister publications, The National Law Journal, it seemed that other firms were advocating this kind of move, too. That all makes you wonder, when will the deferring end?

We’ll have a full story on Orrick’s recruiting change, and reactions to it, tonight on CalLaw.com.

—  Petra Pasternak

Welcoming Lockstep's Demise

A quick followup on Orrick’s news yesterday that it’s dumping lockstep. We reached out to Susan Hackett at the Association of Corporate Counsel to see what she had to say about it.

The ACC launched an initiative last year called the Value Challenge, an effort to get law firms to … um ... they don’t put it this way, but it’s basically to get law firms to stop overcharging for stuff they could do more cheaply.

Corporate counsel like seeing the moves Orrick is making because it’s pretty much how they’ve been doing things for a long time.

“We are really supportive of firms that are considering performance-based comp throughout their ranks,” Hackett wrote in an e-mail.

“It would allow much greater freedom for associates and partners who would like to be judged on their contributions (and paid accordingly), rather than being told they can’t be valuable unless they generate a big stack of hours. Most clients I know who are watching these issues really laud firms who make this move — it is consistent with the corporate model that they also employ in their workplaces and which encourages evaluation, productivity, profitability, and efficiency, all based on performance and not on hours logged.”

(Note to associates: None of this means you’ll actually work fewer hours, of course.)

— Amanda Royal
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Orrick: Associate-Track Change You Can Believe In?

Orrick has put out an announcement of its “new talent model” today, not long after Howrey announced its new training model that cuts younger associates’ salaries but promises better development opportunities. Orrick’s move comes only a day after a survey of in-house departments found the widespread perception that law firms are not interested in change.

We’ve reported on Orrick’s new talent model and its planned departure from lockstep a few times, but now Orrick has announced some details. The press release is below. We’ll chew it over later this afternoon on Cal Law, and in tomorrow’s Recorder.

Press release after the jump.

Photo/Audio Slideshow: Lawyers Swim from Alcatraz

Four San Francisco Orrick partners decided to start the day by plunging into the cold Bay waters on Friday, May 15, to raise money for charity.

Jim Kramer, who completed his third crossing from Alcatraz to San Francisco, convinced Larry Low, Fred Holden Jr. and Ray Ellis to join him on the early morning adventure in the 52-degree, choppy waters.

The four raised more than $4,000 from clients and partners for the San Diego-based nonprofit Challenged Athletes Foundation. The organization supports people with disabilities to compete in various sporting events.

— Jason Doiy

Orrick's 2 Percent Layoff Distinction

We’re working on the Orrick layoffs, and what looks clear at first blush — 100 associates, 200 staffers pinkslipped — turns out to be a little murky.

It’s unclear what percentage of Orrick’s associate workforce got sent home today. The firm announced it had cut 100 associates, and says it had 712. That makes a 14 percent reduction. But the firm calls it 12 percent, by adding 95 of counsel to swell its non-partner ranks to 807.

Why count of counsels, we asked — were any of them shown the door? The firm has told us that the “100 associates” number actually included of counsel. Legal Pad has been asking all morning how many of counsel were let go, but the firm continues to hedge.

What’s the big deal over a perception of 2 percent? Twelve percent is the amount by which Latham & Watkins reduced its associate ranks on Friday — at that point the largest reduction by any U.S.-based firm. Orrick’s math gives it a tie rather than setting a new record.

Big firms always want to be seen to be on the cutting edge, but not when they’re cutting jobs.

— Amanda Royal

Orrick Freezes Associate Salaries

UPDATED: Associates at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe will not be receiving raises in 2009, according to a memo sent Monday morning from chairman Ralph Baxter.

“Our decision is part of an overall effort we are making as a firm to adapt to the radically changed business environment in which we will operate in 2009,” Baxter wrote. “As we all know, the world economy is experiencing unprecedented volatility and uncertainty and it seems clear that these challenges will continue into the New Year. In these times, we must rethink our traditional way of doing things and adjust our approach to reflect the reality facing our industry and our clients. This includes reassessing our compensation policies at all levels of our firm.”

The move comes less than two weeks after Latham & Watkins said it would freeze associates salaries at 2008 levels. Consultants said at the time that it could start a trend because Latham is considered a market leader.

“I don’t know of any firm that is not taking this economic downturn very, very seriously,” said consultant Rich Gary of Gary Advisors. "This is the time of year that firms budget and plan for the new year and a lot of budgeting decisions get made."

After the jump, more from Gary, plus the full memo: