Skadden Insider

Conde Nasty!

2008-11-09T19:29:00.000-05:00

Although it's not Skadden related, we thought we'd mention that New York office neighbor Conde Nast is saying bye-bye to a bunch of its employees -- 5% of each magazine's staff -- as well as instituting an additional 5% cut to each publication's non-payroll budget.

Poor Men's Vogue!

Bonus talk

2008-10-11T21:11:00.004-05:00

We heard Executive Partner Bob Sheehan tell us a few weeks ago -- at what was probably the best attended Attorney Lunch in firm history -- that the firm's business is strong and that billable hours are essentially the same compared to the same period last year.

If billable hours are roughly the same as last year, does that mean that bonuses will be about the same too?

Skadden Tower

2008-10-02T09:32:00.002-05:00

With Conde Nast looking to move out of Four Times Square as early as 2015, is Skadden going to grab the naming rights (and take more floors)?

We love babies (and their working moms)!

2008-08-17T10:41:00.003-05:00

We learned this week that Skadden was named one of the 50 Best Law Firms for Women by Working Mother because of its flexible Return From Maternity program. According to New York partner Maura Barry Grinalds, Skadden is tops for its standard maternity-related policies and because of its willingness to let her negotiate her own, including an extended maternity leave and "an ever-fluctuating part-time schedule." (Are extended maternity leaves and "ever-fluctuating" flex-time schedules something all Skadden women can negotiate?)

But if Skadden is so great for women (and particularly women returning from maternity leave) and the firm's work-life policies are so great, then why did the firm fail to crack Vault's Best 20 Law Firms for Diversity or Best 20 Law Firms to Work For? Yes, Skadden was toward the top of the Law Firm Prestige rankings (#4 again -- congratulations to us!), but what gives with the other (kindler, gentler) categories? We have a gym, yoga classes and even free flu shots. On Thursdays we get free lunch. Every ten years or so there is a big party, sometimes on a famous island. And then there's the car service!

So where is the love in the rankings?

Summer of '08

2008-08-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

Skadden summer camp is almost over for the year, so we think it's time to share some stories. Feel free to post your favorite summer memory or story in the comments.

No names please.

Living beyond your means?

2008-07-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

This is an easy one to respond to:

When do first-year associates get promoted to second-year? I want a raise, dammit!

The raise comes in January, although the new first years arrive in September.

If things are a little tight right now, eat a little extra at the Attorney Lunch and take home a doggie bag.

Sign the damn things out, ok?

2008-07-16T17:59:00.002-05:00

Is it us or have there been an awful lot of books missing from the New York Office library?

The "MISSING LIBRARY BOOK" e-mails seem to have overtaken the plentiful "Blood Drive" missives as second only to the onslaught of pro bono e-mails.

Or do the books come in third, with the Yankee/Mets fundraiser e-mails mixed in there?

Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses

2008-05-30T09:56:00.001-05:00

We're looking forward to the week-long 60th Anniversary celebration, and particularly the June 5 shin-dig on Ellis Island, open to all New York office lawyers and summer associates and their guests.

Hello?! What's more fun than 900 lawyers on an Island???

Speaking of guests, one of the insiders is happily hitched and is bringing their other half to the big party. The other insider is not, despite being so damn eligible, currently with anyone.

So who should the single insider bring?

Maybe we'll leave it up to you to decide. Despite our fear in running another poll, we want your help in figuring out who the single insider should ask to the party. Our current choices are:

1) Super duper uber legal blogger David Lat.

2) Skadden alum and former First Lady of New York, Silda Spitzer.

3) Party animal and alleged kleptomaniac Lindsey Lohan.

4) The Flik employee of the month for May.

5) A randomly selected person that responds to a Craigslist ad seeking a date.

6) Some New York socialite who will be able to get us on Page Six.

7) And, what the hell, Jonas!

Vote for your favorite in the upper left of this page.

Summer Associates, please note: Transportation by boat is being provided between Manhattan and Ellis Island. Please don't swim home.

Small print: We reserve the right to go alone.

Ah, the smells of Summer

2008-05-29T09:35:00.001-05:00

With most of the 2008 Summer Associate class hard at work already, we thought we'd pass on some advice as to how not to be the subject of an Insider blog post.

First, please read the Top 10 from last year.

Then, try to remember these additional points:

1) Don't order bottle service at the club you go to after an event and then submit the receipt for reimbursement. Or, if you do, try to keep the Cristal to a minimum.

2) No booze in the Skadden lemonade, please.

3) If you use the gym, please put your delicates in a locker and don't "shower" in a sink.

Follow these simple rules and do a little work and you'll survive the summer and probably get a job offer. Just ask Jonas how easy it is (who recently got hitched!).

Our new bosses

2008-05-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

We know we're not reporting anything new, but here is the list of Skadden's new partners (effective April 1, 2008):

David P. Armstrong, Banking & Institutional Investing (Toronto)
Michael Beinus, Tax (Los Angeles)
Michal Berkner, Corporate (London)
John M. Caccia, Investment Management (New York)
Margaret R. Cohen, Mergers & Acquisitions (Boston)
William B. Conway Jr., Energy Regulatory (Washington, D.C.)
Peter J. Coulton, Banking & Institutional Investing (London)
Steven J. Daniels, Mergers & Acquisitions (Wilmington)
Daniel Dusek, Mergers & Acquisitions (New York)
Adam M. Endick, Real Estate (New York)
Pamela Lawrence Endreny, Tax (New York)
Matthew P. Hendrickson, Antitrust (New York)
Ian G. John, Antitrust (New York)
Alexey V. Kiyashko, Corporate (Moscow)
David F. Levy, Tax (Chicago)
Bruce Macaulay, Litigation / Arbitration (London)
Peter B. Morrison, Litigation (Los Angeles)
Patrick J. Nash, Jr., Corporate Restructuring (Chicago)
Timothy G. Nelson, Litigation (New York)
Andrea L. Nicolas, Corporate Finance (New York)
Jeffrey A. Pade, Intellectual Property & Technology (Washington, D.C.)
Amr Razzak, Corporate (Palo Alto)
Eric B. Sensenbrenner, Tax (Washington, D.C.)
Christopher J. Ulery, Mergers & Acquisitions (Washington, D.C.)
Ingrid Vandenborre, European Community (Brussels)

The question of the day is who will be the first to let his or her new partnership go to their head?

The alternate question of the day is who should have made partner but didn't?

50 was nifty, but 60 is fine

2008-04-01T11:59:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday dear Skadden, happy birthday to us! Yes, April 1 is the Firm's birthday (or anniversary as some say).

From Executive Partner Bob Sheehan:

Congratulations to all of us on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Firm [April 1, 1948], and thanks to Marshall Skadden, Les Arps and John Slate for having the temerity to launch what has come to be the finest law firm in the land.

We all know about the big 60th bash to be held in June on Ellis Island, but we hear there is a fancier party planned for the partners in the coming weeks at one of the big museums in New York. Will the partner video be unveiled then?

P.S. We hear new partners will be announced Wednesday or Thursday.

Not so hot

2008-02-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

Damn, we feel like we were called to the Vice Principal's office today and had our knuckles wrapped. In case you don't know what we mean, read what all US lawyers received via e-mail from Henry P. Baer:

The Firm recognizes that blogs are prevalent in today's culture and that blogs about Skadden are to be expected. Nonetheless, we believe that the "contests" on one of these blogs is inappropriate and does not reflect our values and standards of behavior. Numerous attorneys at the Firm have expressed their concern and, in some cases, embarrassment at such contests. We urge the authors of the blog to consider both the privacy and feelings of the affected attorneys and to discontinue the contests.

We don't want to assume too much but we're guessing that he was talking about us.

A few things in response:

1) With limited exception, we used publicly available photos of each nominee. When asked by one nominee to remove a photo submitted by someone very close to her, we did. Had anyone asked to be removed from the contest, we would have obliged. No one did. In fact, one nominee wrote and told us they realized the poll was some just some "silly fun." We must note, though, that pictures on Facebook or MySpace are, in our opinion, fair game and not an invasion of anyone's privacy.

2) The contest, although sophomoric, was done all in good fun. We're sorry if anyone was embarassed by it. We wish you had just chuckled, rolled your eyes or merely clicked away.

3) We're not quite sure what Skadden's "values" are (or, for that matter, the Firm's "standards of behavior"). That sounds like an open-thread item if we've ever heard one.

While we take our tongue lashing under consideration, we'll suspend nominations for the Hottest Male Associate (we've received quite a few already). Maybe we'll even run a poll as to whether we should continue.

Maybe we'll finally get to posting all those comments we've received via e-mail. Or maybe we'll finally get around to chatting about the 60th Anniversary party.

Talk about embarrassing!

Up next: The Men

2008-02-04T22:51:00.001-05:00

The votes are in:

2008-02-04T21:59:00.002-05:00

Summer in Chicago

2008-02-04T14:28:00.000-05:00

We recently received the following e-mail from a 2008 Chicago summer associate:

I have watching this post on Above the Law closely since it was put up yesterday regarding the summer recruiting process. Specifically, ATL reports that Skadden Chicago received 55 acceptances for summer associate positions, up from 29 last year. I checked an email sent out to all Skadden Chicago summers and confirmed a recipient count of 53. As a future Skadden Chicago summer, this seems a little disconcerting, as many people in the comments yesterday discussed. More commentators than not thought that Skadden (and other Biglaw firms) would continue to make 100% of offers at the end of the summer in order to maintain their reputation. Even if this turns out to be true, however, I am worried that the summers are going to feel that they are in competition with one another for full time offers, making the atmosphere this summer less than desirable. After all, this was supposed to be the last real "summer of George" before the real world sets in. I'm wondering if you don't want to put something up on SI to elicit comments from people that might actually know what they are talking about, rather than god-knows-who in the comments at ATL. Just a thought.

So, does anyone know what they're talking about? Did Chicago hire too many 2Ls? Is the office that busy (or that empty) that there is a need for 53 or so new associates in the fall of 2009? We don't know, but we encourage comments and e-mails if you have any thoughts or information.

What specifics we we can offer to our new e-mail pal is the following:

1) Watch who you send e-mails to.

2) Lay off the Cristal (or at least pay for it yourself).

3) Don't feel the need to compete with your fellow summer associates. It's a fairly collegial place and there is no reason summer associates should be out to one-up each other. Instead, be personable, do the work you're assigned to the best of your ability (and don't piss off the support staff). Oh, and have a little fun while you're there -- Chicago is nice in July.

Another Hottest Update

2008-01-31T23:17:00.003-05:00

Hottest Update

2008-01-31T00:06:00.002-05:00

Hottest Female Associate

2008-01-27T11:17:00.001-05:00

Not just hot. Skadden hot.

2008-01-07T22:48:00.000-05:00

With the Skadden Insider about to celebrate it's first bithday (or is it anniversary?), we think it's time to have a little fun with this blog. We'll keep commenting on the rumors we hear (even if they are on the old side). In fact, we still owe you some info on the upcoming 60th Skadden Anniversary party.

But in the meantime, we're starting a superficial and essentially shallow "Skadden Hot" series.
And the women go first.

So readers, fellow Skadden employees and anyone else who might know one or two of the 2000 firm lawyers, it's time to submit your nominations for Skadden's "Hottest Female Associate."

The rules are simple: Nominations must be of current Skadden female associates from any of the firm's offices. If you can send us a picture or a link to a Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, etc. page even better (we'll even take the pictures from the Slate). Nominations will close January 22, 2008 and the voting will begin. Please e-mail nominations to us at skaddeninsider-at-gmail-dot-com (please don't post them in the comments). All e-mails will be kept confidential, so feel free to nominate yourself!

Once we have a female winner, we'll move onto the male associates, female partners and male partners. We should be done with those just in time for the hottest summer associate poll in May.

We're sure we'll catch a little hell for this, but since we're going to be covering men, women, associates and partners we don't really care what people say.

Let the nominations begin.

Bem-vindo ao Brasil, Skadden?

2008-01-05T09:51:00.000-05:00

We received an anonymous e-mail tip that Skadden may open an office in Brazil, likely in São Paulo, sometime in 2008. We heard it will be an energy and/or project finance based office but with the firm's growing business in Brazil and elsewhere in South America it will quickly become a full service outpost.

Post a comment (or send an e-mail) if you have any other information or if you can confirm what we've heard.

Carnival here we come!

They like us! They really like us!

2007-12-01T18:42:00.001-05:00

Imagine that our little blog has been selected by the ABA Journal as one of the 100 best websites for lawyers, by lawyers. Yes, despite our infrequent updates -- and the less-than-professional few who leave little nasty comments for us -- we're one of the legal blogs selected for the list and placed in the gossip category (along with our blogging idol David Lat and his Above the Law).

And how does the ABA Journal describe us:

The Insider doesn’t often speak, but when he/she does, it’s worth paying attention, especially for those who crave law firm gossip and a voyeur’s peek at one of the largest firms in the world.

That's almost as good as when Above the Law described us as "delicious."

We know we don't update often (remember -- we do have day jobs), but we do try to offer you the inside Skadden gossip that no one else publishes. So if you could find it in your heart to toss us a vote, we swear we'll give you some new juicey tidbits soon.

No vodka in the Skadden lemonade

2007-11-26T23:13:00.000-05:00

Why does there always have to be someone who gets sh*tfaced, runs naked down the hall and pukes in the reception area flower pots and ruins it for the rest of us. From New York office guru Wally Schwartz:

Since our 4 Times Square office is located in such close proximity to New York City's New Year's Eve celebration many employees have rung in the New Year by viewing the festivities from our offices. For the most part these gatherings have been enjoyable and appropriate. However, during last year's celebration there were several problems caused by an excessive number of guests, and, in some cases, excessive drinking. In order to avoid such problems this year, and to create an environment where employees can enjoy the festivities safely with their families and friends, the following policies are being implemented for this year's celebration:

Each employee is limited to inviting a maximum of three guests, each of whom must be registered with security by December 30, 2007. Upon registration, the employee will be provided with a guest pass for each registrant.

Guests must be accompanied, or met, by their Skadden host in order to be admitted.
No alcohol will be permitted.

We'll sign your guests in for $50. For another $25 you can drink the booze in our offices.

Claire Flom

2007-11-25T23:04:00.000-05:00

Claire Flom, wife to partner and uber lawyer Joe Flom, passed away on Saturday. The following message from Executive Partner Bob Sheehan was sent to all Skadden personnel today:

It is with sadness that I advise you that Claire Flom, Joe's wife, passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. Claire has always been a part of the Firm, ever encouraging us to succeed in making our mark on our profession and our society. We will miss her.

We extend our sympathies to Joe, to her daughter . . . and to their sons . . . .

Our thoughts are with Mr. Flom and his family.

Bonus blather

2007-11-20T00:46:00.000-05:00

By now we think everyone knows each others bonuses but figure, for official Skadden Insider history, that we should compile and official list. If you work at Skadden and would like to share your class year's payment, shoot us an e-mail at skaddeninsider-at-gmail-dot-com. We'll try to publish a comprehensive list.

We received a few bonus-related e-mails this past week. The first is just a simple observation -- how the firm lock us out of Employee Self Service a few days before the bonus is paid so that we can't check how much we're getting in advance. For those of you who never realized this, your paychecks usually hit ESS a few days early. The bonus is the same way. We guess this gives them a few extra days to let the people who weren't "reasonably busy" that they aren't getting the full payment.

The second e-mail had a little more meat to it. Lost in all the associate bonus talk is what, if anything, will the firm dole out to staff attorneys? Skadden, like other firms, employs a group of lawyers who are not associates but perform junior associate-type tasks such as document review. Some firms call them "contract attorneys." At Skadden, they're "staff attorneys."

So what do staff attorneys get paid? How many hours do they work? And how big is their bonus going to be this year?

Well, from one source (and this is unconfirmed) we've heard that staff attorneys make about half what a first-year associate makes, work similar hours (2000 give or take), and received a bonus last year of between $5,000 and $7,000. Our source told us that there are several staff attorneys who are disgruntled over the (great) disparity in pay and bonus when there isn't much of a disparity in hours.

Are these numbers unfair or is an $80,000 salary and $7,000 bonus the market rate for this type of position? We just don't know (and must admit, we had to ask around for a little more information about the staff attorney position -- its seems to be heavily litigation based). But the market seems to control the salary and bonus structure in big law firms. If the market gets tight for staff attorneys, their price will no doubt rise.

What do you think?

Bonus watch

2007-11-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

We admit it . . . we've heard sh*t about bonuses so far -- aside from overhearing two partners talk about how much an additional bonus, if paid, would cost each of them.

What have you all heard?

Skadden Rx

2007-10-30T21:45:00.000-05:00

Before we discuss whether Skadden will come close to matching Cravath's double special big bonus, we thought we'd clean out our in-box:

Got any info on the most recent episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm? It featured a character named Dr. Flom, and a pharmacy called "Skadden." When the camera showed a close-up shot of a prescription label from the pharmacy, the word "Skadden" was even written in what looked very, very much like our logo - bright red rectangle with white lettering inside, in our font. Seems like a little too much to be a coincidence. I'm in the NY office, and I figured this would probably be an LA thing if there is any connection. Do we represent them? Or do you know of some other connection?

We didn't see the most recent episode, where there was a character named Dr. Flomm, but we do remember a few seasons ago when Matt DeCaro played a character by the name Dr. Skadden in the episode "Kamikaze Bingo."

We're not sure what the connection is to Curb Your Enthusiasm (if any at all) but the firm does have a friend of sorts with HBO's series Entourage (no, not Mark Wahlberg).

In any event, wouldn't it be cool to have a Skadden pharmacy? Put it right next to the gym and we'd all be able to get our pills so easily.

Blah blah blah

2007-10-14T00:37:00.000-05:00

Wow . . . we got a few e-mail smackdowns for being so quiet lately and not commenting on the new "associate task force" and the 2000 lawyer milestone. Aside from having a day job -- which you're all aware of -- and the fact that neither of us blog from the office (you think we're crazy?), it's sometimes difficult to scoop our blogging yogi David Lat over at Above the Law.

So get off our backs.

If you don't . . . we're not going to share the new rumors about Skadden's 60th Anniversary Party and the partner video being made.

Calling you out in LA

2007-10-13T23:36:00.000-05:00

We were just checking out a few multi-colored e-mails from a "Gay Colleague" (that was in the subject line) in the LA office. Although the topic of the e-mails -- gathering support for the Skadden LA AIDS Walk team -- was a worthy one, it seems that the tone (and colors) raised some eyebrows around the water cooler.

Why?

Well, according to our source, the e-mails weren't well received by everyone because "they are pretty aggressive and unprofessional. just the tone of voice, the five thousand colors, the naming of names of who contributed and who didn't." Our source continued: "and of course, some ignorant fools are going around saying, "i don't go around calling myself the 'straight associate'! anyway it was pretty funny. it was a gay gay gay friday." [As an aside, if this wasn't so Skadden High School, we'd probably take the "straight associate" to task for his comment -- it's not like our "Gay Colleague" was dropping his sexuality in on a conversation about a real estate closing.]

Although we were a little surprised by the second e-mail that did name some names on who was faster with writing checks, nothing in them shocked the conscience. And in fact, the e-mails did remind those who received them of some of the startling facts about HIV and AIDS (his colors, not ours):

In Los Angeles, 52,000 children, women and men are HIV positive.
More than one million Americans are HIV positive and over 500,000 have died from AIDS.
39.5 million people are HIV positive worldwide - most of whom are likely to die over the next 10 years or so.
More than 25 million people have died from AIDS or AIDS related diseases.
The most recent UNAIDS/WHO estimates show that, in 2006 alone, 4.3 million people were newly infected with HIV.
In the U.S. 77% of those with AIDS are male, 33% are female.
In the U.S., HIV infection kills more African-American men in the age group 25-44 than any other disease and 67% of American women diagnosed with AIDS in 2004 were African American.

We won't reproduce all of the e-mails, but we'll give you a taste by showing you the last one we saw (again . . . his colors):

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "M,D" <DM@skadden.com>
To: "EVERYONE LAC DL" <mailto:DL@skadden.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:09:19 -0400
Subject: Will and Grace

...and D.

Like Ginger Rogers retracing her steps - backwards and in heels - I give to you the initial email launching the LA Office's 2007 AIDS Walk Team effort!

Give to AV or give to the Skadden LA Team - it all goes to the same great cause.

And if you want to join in the walk with us on Sunday October 21st, please give JM a shout.

Thank you! Thank you!

There aren't many times where you see Ginger Rogers get a shout out in a Skadden e-mail.

We encourage anyone reading to support the Skadden LA AIDS Walk team.

Why we don't post more often

2007-09-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

Want to know why we don't post more often?

Well, it's a few reasons . . . one being that we need our readers and co-workers to let us in on some of the firm gossip. The more e-mails you send, the more posts we'll do.

A summer to remember?

2007-08-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well, was it? Maybe.

We did get a lot of free lemonade. And we did have a record number of summer associates this year, including "Cristal Boy," one of Above the Law's Summer Associates of the Day. Hey, he isn't Jonas, but we'll take it.

And we did have our first cover model summer associate this year. Chika chika yeah!

There was also the young lady who insisted on wearing the dark thongs with her light colored pants (yes . . . everyone noticed). And the gentleman who kept leaving his underwear laying around the men's locker room in the gym (a bizarre practice).

Pretty tame overall.

But maybe we missed it. Please fill us in if we did (e-mail in the sidebar).

Oh . . . and we're about to hit 20,000 hits. Thanks for stopping by!

Blushing from all the attention

2007-08-14T22:10:00.000-05:00

As some recent comments highlight, we've been pretty quiet since Hillary stopped by in June for her bargain basement lunch with lawyers. It is summer afterall -- our biggest concern is sneaking out early on Friday and making it to the Hamptons in time for happy hour, not updating the blog.

But the summer is winding down, so we thought we'd dust off the keyboard and post a few things before we head out of town for Labor Day.

But before we get to that, we just can't pass up letting you all know how special we feel as a result of the National Law Journal's shout out in its Law Firms Get Their Share of Attention From Bloggers article on August 7, 2007. Not only did we get a mention, but we appeared in the same sentence (and before!!!!) our favorite law blog, Above the Law (and ATL was kind enough to give us yet another link).

Wayne and Garth put it best: We're not worthy!

Hillary in da house!

2007-06-04T12:32:00.000-05:00

If you didn't think the initial "Hillary Clinton at Skadden" e-mail was over the top -- with all the talk about "her human qualities, her being there when friends and family are sick, her interest in the latest news about friends and their kids, her self-deprecating sense of humor, her devotion to and pride in her family" and so on -- you have to agree that today's "Hillary is a bargain at $500" e-mail was slightly ridiculous. Here's what the e-mail, inviting associates to the Hillary lunch today at 1:45, said in part:

This is truly a unique opportunity to meet Hillary, hear her ideas and ask her questions in an intimate setting. It is also an opportunity to join some Skadden partners who have generously supported Hillary's campaign in showing support from the firm.

While some have suggested that $500 is expensive, for a chance like this, it is truly a bargain. At a typical campaign event, you'd pay $250 to join a thousand other people and hear the Senator speak from across a crowded ballroom. This is a rare chance for quality personal time with Hillary and a special opportunity to get to know her as a candidate and a person. Plus, as I mentioned above, it is also a chance to join with the partners who have made substantial personal contributions for this event to show
support from Skadden.

Was there such a low response from New York office associates that Hillary's Skadden crew needed to make the case that $500 was getting Hillary on the cheap? It sounds a bit desperate.

(We're not being political. We like Hillary and may vote for her. But we call it like we see it, and these e-mails were a bit much.)

Another bottle of Cristal, please

2007-05-31T22:03:00.000-05:00

It's not quite a Jonas, and it certainly doesn't rise to the level of choking a partner, but the first story we've heard about one of this year's crop of summer associates reminds us of the inevitable mistakes one will make when he or she (he in this case) drinks too much.

Last week a certain New York Office summer associate decided it was appropriate to expense his bar tab from a post-welcome party night out with a few fellow soon-to-be-3Ls. We're sure the boys had a blast, given that the bar bill included several bottles of Cristal. The fearless leader of the group -- you know, the one who actually had the balls to submit the multi-hundred dollar bill for reimbursement -- got a bit of a lecture about judgment and appropriate expenses. The biggest mistake the boys made, we hear, is that they failed to bring any lawyers with them. Dumb. Always insulate yourselves with an associate or two (or if the bar bill is $900, 20 lawyers) and never, never, never put your credit card down.

Pissing in the wind

2007-05-23T23:09:00.000-05:00

Our offices aren't on the east side of the building . . . thankfully.

(Is that from a fellow Skadden blogger, or a Conde Nasty?)

Summer is here

2007-05-18T22:07:00.000-05:00

A survival guide of sorts for this years Summer Associates (some Skadden lore of sorts).

10. Don't pick up your date for the Rockefeller Center event on the subway.

9. Don't have sex on your officemate's desk and forget to lock the door.

8. When Mr. Flom is speaking at a summer associate lunch, don't come in late, sit at one of the front tables and then leave before he's finished his talk.

7. Don't take a car home from Scores and bill it to the firm.

6. Don't out your friend via a reply-to-all e-mail mistake to the entire office. (see also # 1 below)

5. Don't smack the ass of another summer associate and then turn to your pals and say "I'm gonna hit that before August" while a woman partner is sitting within earshot.

4. Women, when in the gym, don't pull a Brandi Chastain and wear just your sports bra while running on the treadmill. (If you do, you'll be asked to change and be the talk of the office).

3. Men, when in the gym, no one cares about the biceps you were able to build while working out in the frat house. (In other words, don't wear sleeveless shirts -- you'll be asked to change).

2. Don't choke a partner at the 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

1. Don't pull a Jonas -- be careful who you e-mail.

(feel free to leave some others in the comments)

Next Partners?

2007-05-18T21:32:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else noticed that the associates and counsel on the New York Office's Summer Associate Committee pretty much all make partner when their year comes up?

You must feel pretty good if you get an invite to sit on that committee.

Criticism is good

2007-04-06T11:17:00.000-05:00

We received a bit of criticism in a comment to the Happy Birthday Skadden post for not offering our guesses, top 10 list, baseless conclusions etc. on who would make partner this year. We're really just getting this underway, so please be patient. Remember, we have day jobs too.

And feel free to pass your predictions, gossip, etc. along. We can't do this alone.

So what about Counsel?

New Partners

2007-04-06T11:02:00.000-05:00

(We know we're late)

On April 4, 2007, the firm announced that the following attorneys have become partners of the Firm:

Gregory S. Bailey -- Mass Torts (Insurance (Chicago)
Joseph L. Barloon -- Litigation (Washington, DC)
Glen S. Bernstein -- Energy Regulatory (Washington, DC)
Pascal Bine -- Corporate (Paris)
Jamie L. Boucher -- Banking Regulatory (Washington, DC)
Jeffrey A. Brill -- Mergers & Acquisitions (New York)
Chris L. Dickerson -- Corporate Restructuring (Chicago)
Anthony Dreyer -- Intellectual Property/Sports Law (New York)
Jeffrey Gerrish -- International Trade (Washington, DC)
Maura Barry Grinalds -- Litigation (New York)
Peter X. Huang -- Corporate (Beijing)
Paul J. (P.J.) Huff, Jr. -- Real Estate (Tokyo)
David Ingles -- Financial Institutions Group (New York)
Dmitri V. Kovalenko -- Corporate (Moscow)
Paul S. Kraske -- Energy Infrastructure (Washington, DC)
Edward Lam -- Corporate (Hong Kong)
Shaun W. Lascelles -- Corporate (London)
John H. Lyons -- Antitrust (Washington, DC)
Ron E. Meisler -- Corporate Restructuring (Chicago)
Amy S. Park -- Litigation (Bay Area)
Anand S. Raman -- Litigation (Washington, DC)
Noelle M. Reed -- Litigation (Houston)
David E. Schwartz -- Labor (New York)
Danny Tricot -- Corporate (London)
Rossie E. Turman, III -- Banking & Institutional Investing (New York)
Joseph (Yossi) Vebman -- Derivatives (New York)
Jennifer C. Voss -- Litigation (Wilmington)
Richard C. Witzel, Jr. -- Corporate (Chicago)
Kenneth M. Wolff -- Mergers & Acquisitions (New York)

Happy Birthday Skadden

2007-04-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

Today marks the 59th anniversary of the firm's founding by Marshall Skadden, Les Arps and John Slate. Good job boys!

As is tradition, the firm names new partners promoted from its associate and counsel ranks on the firm's anniversay (actually, it's effective on the firm's anniversary but new partners are not announced until the Wednesday after April 1).

So who makes partner on Wednesday?

YouTube is a no-no

2007-03-30T12:26:00.000-05:00

So what did you all think about the e-mail technology lecture we received the other day from Peter Lesser, the firm's director of "global technology"? You know, the one where we were essentially scolded for using "bandwith hog" websites such as MySpace, YouTube, Yahoo Music, etc.

Beware what you watch. ;-)

Jonas has left the building

2007-03-30T11:37:00.000-05:00

We're sad to see that Skadden's former summer associate celebrity, Jonas Blank, has left the firm. You'll remember Jonas (Duke undergrad, Harvard Law) from the summer of 2003 when he mistakenly sent an e-mail meant for his friend Melissa to an in-house distribution list of about 40 attorneys. To refresh your recollection:

“I’m busy doing jack shit. Went to a nice 2hr sushi lunch today at Sushi Zen. Nice place. Spent the rest of the day typing e-mails and bullshitting with people.” Jonas did, unfortunately, have a bit of work to take care of (corporate-finance deal; yawn), so he needed to “peruse these materials and not be a fuckup.” But he couldn’t complain; he was, after all, a summer associate. He signed off, “So yeah, Corporate Love hasn’t worn off yet… . But just give me time.”

Of course the e-mail was forwarded (quickly) and it made the rounds through the legal community. Skadden thought of scolding those of us who sent it on to friends outside the firm until they realized that some partners had done it as well. Jonas quickly sent an apology (with a spelling error in it) and forever more became part of big firm summer associate lore.

The e-mail of course didn't affect his career with Skadden. He was offered a job and spent a few years at the firm. But on March 23, 2007, he left. Sometime in April he starts as an associate at Richards, Kibbe & Orbe in New York.

Good luck Jonas.

Update:

We forgot to mention what Jonas wrote in his farewell e-mail: "This has been an experience I will never forget. Thank you to everyone who made it possible."

Oh Jonas, you made it a pretty interesting experience all by yourself.

And thanks to the shoutout from David at Above the Law, one of our first website visits every day.

Finally, we stole the pic above from Jonas's Friendster profile. We thought it was appropriate given that it contains a few other former Skadden associates.

So so social

2007-03-15T22:40:00.000-05:00

In addition to promoting collegiality through hot cocoa, Skadden's New York office now has monthly "floor socials" or, as we like to call them, monthly "quasi-forced socialization with people who never speak to you, make eye contact with you in the elevator, or hold the door for you (if they can get away with it without seeming like total cads)" gatherings.

We're not 100% sure what prompted the socials (the first one being in January) or what the true purpose of them is. A kindler, gentler Skadden? Since they are organized by the legal recruiting department, we think it must have something to do with retention/morale issues and a general hope that we will all feel warm and fuzzy every day at work.

The food and booze is, of course, provided by Flik -- the cafeteria and food service vendor for the New York office. Flik rarely gets things right (we'll have to post on the horrendous dinners they serve now and the ridiculous prices they charge for certain things). But this month they at least provided decent beer.

One month to partnership

2007-03-02T01:05:00.000-05:00

New partners will be announced in about a month, on April 1, 2007 (the anniversary of the firm's founding and Aprils Fools Day).

Let's do some handicapping -- who do you think will be promoted this year?

Drop your choices in the comments or send us an email at skaddeninsider@gmail.com

Huttner's departure

2007-03-02T00:04:00.000-05:00

In a comment to a previous post, someone asked when we would discuss the lateral move of 20 or so lawyers from Cadwalader to Skadden about a month ago. Well, we don't know much about that move (aside from what we've read), but what did get our attention was New York IP partner Connie Huttner's departure on Monday for the New York office of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC.

This is what we've heard so far -- and please note that none of it has been confirmed (if you can confirm it, shoot us an e-mail or post a comment) -- about Huttner's departure. Sometime prior to Monday, Connie had told people at Skadden that she was leaving the firm and retiring. But then out of the blue certain partners and associates in her department received an e-mail from her informing them that she was moving firms and soliciting them to leave Skadden with her. As soon as that e-mail hit the upper ranks at Skadden, Connie was out.

But why did Connie leave? If you have any ideas . . . send us an email or leave a comment.

RIP: Dhananjai Shivakumar

2007-03-01T23:48:00.000-05:00

Dhananjai Shivakumar, a counsel in the Chicago office, passed away suddenly a few days ago.

We didn't know Dan personally but he was a well-respected colleague and a well-respected lawyer. He came to Skadden a few years ago after several years with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York.

He is survived by, among others, a wife and two children.

We offer his family our deepest condolences.

Skadden does the bump

2007-01-24T23:00:00.000-05:00

So we were both right and wrong in our predictions. Skadden did announce raises today after the conclusion of the partnership lunch (right!). It was announced by e-mail -- a first (wrong!). They matched from 2006 through 1999 (right!) But failed to give the classes of 1998 and senior the $10,000 extra that other firms have coughed up (right!). Such is life for our colleagues on the upper end of the scale. Sorry guys.

Anyway, over at Above the Law (hey David . . . take the associate names off the e-mail), some of the commenters have been wondering what the "salary for most associates" language means. Does Skadden treat some people differently than others? Well, the answer, from what we have been able to figure out, is both yes and no.Skadden generally treats all associates within a class the same. That changes if they want to get rid of you or if they see early on that you've got partnership potential. We've heard stories (and confirmed) that people who are asked to leave after their November review (they give you 3-4 months to find a new job) don't get bumped up in salary when the new year rolls around. We've also heard rumors (but have yet to confirm) that a certain select few within a class will get a private bump up in salary (or off-cycle bonuses) in order to convince them that Skadden is the place to be and that partnership is indeed in their future.

Then there are the more senior years where the firm essentially has the lawyers by the balls. It's a "we'll pay you what we want and you'll like it" kind of thing. It doesn't happen often, but there are "special" arrangements where certain more senior associates make less in salary and bonus than others of comprable years of service.

Skadden's salary salvo

2007-01-23T23:18:00.000-05:00

There's no need for us to recount the details of the Simpson Thacher salary increase announced Monday or the rush to match the raise by some of the other big New York firms -- Above The Law has it all -- but our prediction is that Skadden will step up to the plate and show us the money tomorrow after the decision is announced at the weekly partnership lunch. Then it will be reduced to a memo delivered to each lawyer, sometime late in the day. Don't expect an e-mail laying out the new salaries for each class year. Skadden just doesn't do it that way. Instead, we'll have to piece the scale together through e-mails and phone calls recounitng what your friends' memos say.

But at the end of the day, it will be a match (except for maybe the more senior classes which Skadden sometimes low balls).

Coo-Coo for Cocoa

2007-01-16T23:33:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to show the kindler, gentler side of the firm, and give us all a little something to keep us warm on a cold day, Skadden's New York office has instituted "Hot Cocoa Day" on "any weekeday on which the morning temperature hits a chilly 30 degrees or below." That means FREE hot cocoa in the cafeteria between 8:00 and 10:00.

Given that tomorrow's high is supposed to be under 30, it looks like we'll be seeing you on 37 in the morning. Just cross your fingers that Flik doesn't f**k this up.

Skadden Insider

2007-01-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Skadden Insider, a blog created to collect and pass along (and sometimes comment on) the gossip and news making its way through the halls of a certain law firm's offices. Whether its New York, Boston, Washington DC or Palo Alto, Skadden Insider will be your place to read the latest. And that's where you come in. We need your assistance in compiling the gossip and reporting the firm news. So please pass it along -- the e-mails, the rumors, the news, etc. -- to skaddeninsider@gmail.com and we'll post it (as long as it isn't something that will get us sued). And no worries, we don't ever use names of sources.

Oh, and please take note of the following: Skadden Insider is not affiliated in any way with that big law firm.