Brobeck Summer Associates
 

What summer associates begin in March? Rarely do they start before May (need to wait until the school year is over, after all). I think most of those given offers for Summer '03 were screwed. The partners wouldn't know them from Adam as they hadn't worked with them at all. Some may have contacted MLB to see if perhaps MLB - SF and PA may need some help but with the whole 'dissolution' thing, MLB doesn't have any obligation to them. The associates who were summers in '02 were also pretty much screwed and needed to find new employment starting in the fall. Some have been able to find landing pads, many are still looking.

C(really sucky out there)deuced

Brobeck Summer Associates
 

It's been pointed out to me offline that you probably were referring to those whose start dates were deferred to March?

In that case, they're all probably SOL (again, the partners at Brobeck likely remember very few of them) and they should have been looking around as soon as they were told they were deferred. That is a really really bad sign and if they were really thinking, they'd read between the lines and see that it was more likely than not that they'd never start.

C(the world is an unfair place)deuced

The Greedy IP Board is reporting the following regarding Skjerven Morrill :

"As part of their plan to terminate the 401(k) plan, Skjerven is withholding a portion of each remaining plan participants' account to pay 'Administrative' costs for terminating the plan. "

Brobeck Summer Associates
 

I guess I just have a distorted view--I kept reading announcements about so-and-so joining this firm and that firm, MLB picking up a ton of them, etc....it just didn't sound like it was that bad...plus my friends all found jobs too, that's probably the main reason. I had just thought that it was the staff and the junior associates who were having the most difficulty.

Brobeck Summer Associates
 

Oh, no doubt. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise.

And I wasn't suggesting sympathy for any unemployed, heavily encumbered former BPH partners. Just giving the spiteful among us a little glimmer of hope.

Yahoo/Hotmail
 

After checking the site, it was pretty obvious that the vast majority of them had a pretty soft landing and that only several of them had sketchy contact information posted.

Don't know any of the yahoo/hotmail types and couldn't speculate as to why they might not be working.

AM(what's annoying is how many of them ARE working)M

PMs
 

I am not complaining about the fact we can only have 15 pm's because I am a huge fan of these boards and have not been the most popular girl at the party by any stretch.

But some of the more popular kids cannot receive pm's because their boxes are full again. I know we're all busy billing but, gosh!

AM(clean out your box)M

PMs
 

<cough>

At least take me to dinner first. Romance is so dead these days.

;)

Clean out your....
 

OK, I deserved that.

Thanks for the giggle.

Box clutter
 

Good lord, I've stumbled onto the Fashion Board.

PM's and FB
 

Well, where have you been, Sidd?

It's been, well, not as fun without you around.

AM(strangely hot for Sidd, still....)M

Box clutter
 

Shhh...someone might hear you. I've long since given up on actually finding some information of value on these boards (juicy lawfirm gossip aside), and now I'm all about the entertainment value.

Brobeck Summer Associates
 

For all of you trashing the summer associates for taking the Brobeck offers, let's not forget that the market was pretty tight in late 01' and all of 02'. It's wasn't like the good old days when I came out and people were splitting between two or three firms in any given summer. Granted, in hindsight the writing was on the wall but put yourself in the position of a 2L or 3L back then. Would you have ever imagined that a firm with the distinguished history of Brobeck would collapse(I know I may get flamed for that last line, but what the hell)? The type of vision that people expect of law students should also apply to the hundreds of first,second, and third year associates that were also canned from Brobeck, Cooley, Wilson, VLG, etc. These people were much more marketable (at least one or two years of work experience) than these summer associates and many of them tried to hang on to the bitter end. I guarantee you they didn't stay because they wanted to be a "team" player. It's the market stupid.

I know its fun to ridicule the less fortunate among us but lest we forget we are all only an executive meeting away from landing on our asses.

Brobeck Summers et al.
 

Yeah, it was a tight market. And I don't think all those who took offers there were idiots by any means.

There was at least one poster before, though, who had an offer at Brobeck among offers at other firms. When some of us said he/she may want to really consider those other offers because Brobeck didn't look too stable, the cacophony from poster saying the law student was an idiot not to take the Brobeck offer was rather dense. For those who were on the inside and still saying, "come on in, the water is fine," they really should have been able to see the writing on the wall just from the departures and the very public fighting among the partners (that is always a bad sign, no matter where you are).

Speaking only for myself (other posters can defend their own statements ... they're big boys), I have a lot of sympathy for those who thought they had jobs but those offers were revoked, torn away and are now non-existent. I think it sucks that many are now adrift and are having a difficult time finding employment. It simply is an unfair world.

C(hope they all landed well, but suspect they didn't, mostly due to a lack of any loyalty by BPH partners to the summers they had recruited)deuced

edited because my abysmally poor grammar obscured any point i was trying to make [/i]

Brobeck Summer Associates
 

Read the posts more closely. People are not (generally, anyway) trashing people for accepting offers at Brobeck. One poster, however, solicited the opinion of this board about whether em should go to Brobeck or pursue other offers, and when people suggested that Brobeck would be a dangerous choice, em got very up in arms. It was the classic "please give me advice....but how dare you tell me not to do what I'm planning to do!"

As to the position that law students were in, believe me, I sympathize. I'm one of those who graduated in the last recession, having summered at a falling (since fallen) firm, who had no offer as a 3L. Which, I believe, I told the erstwhile Brobeck summer associate.

Those with no choice had, well, no choice. Those who did, and made the wrong choice, are in bad straights, and it's sad. Certainly I don't expect law students to have great insight into the market or to have been able to predict that Brobeck would collapse -- in fact, some of my own GPs, people who've practiced for 15 years or more, thought I was off the deep end when, shortly after the Tower exodus, I said Brobeck would collapse. And, of course, there's the time-delay issue. 2Ls who accepted offers at BPH in the fall of 99 (when lots of people thought BPH was THE PLACE TO BE) worked in summer of 2000, graduated in spring 2001, and expected to have jobs in fall of 2001. In other words, by the time they got from square A to square B, the world had changed, dramatically.

This book "Be Careful Who You SLAPP" seems to bring controversy wherever I see it mentioned. New to this message board I find but one posting promoting it soon followed by a 'moderator' threatening the poster for spamming!!

Just so I learn the rules too - is it appropriate to discuss the merits of this book on this message board or do I too run the risk of being censored for referring to a book that is the subject of unlawful censorship?

By the way, I'm in no way connected with the Orrick and/or Pillsbury Winthrop law firms, both of which still face contempt of court.

Thank you!

Brobeck Summers et al.
 

I heard from a source (I don't know how reliable) that none of the summers have even recieved any formal notification of the firm's dissolution and the consequential revocation of offers. If the partners of my firm laid me off and didn't have the decency to send me a letter or call, I would be pissed (at the least). This is especially true if they found another job before I had a chance to receive the standard:

"We have appreciated your commitment to Big, Big and Bigger, but due to unforseen circumstances your services are no longer needed. As I move on to a brighter future, I wanted to let you know that it was nice while it lasted. Feel free to call me between the hour of 12 and 1 (am or pm) at my new firm listed on the former Big, Big and Bigger website. Cheer up though, you could have been a POW in Vietnam."

[edited by mod after clearing with Sidd]

Gas, Grass or Ass - no one advertises for free
 

But you clearly stand to profit from sales of the book, no?

not7yS

Just let it go.
 

I'm going to ask the regulars on this board to please trust me, and not engage this person and his or her socks. My objection to the prior post was not about advertising. The advertising of a self-published book doesn't particularly bother me at all, although other mods and admins may differ. I have seen the dispute between the authors of this book and their former employers have a terrible effect on other message boards, and I don't want it to happen here. I'm happy to explain off-line, but I would ask that you all leave it alone here.

If you think Gardener was bad, you haven't seen anything. That's what I'm saying.

Just let it go.
 

Word.

Just let it go.
 

So how about 'dem Giants?

not7yS

Brobeck Summers et al.
 

Sadly, I'm not that surprised that no one has written to them. Wouldn't be surprised if no one even thought to save the databases with their names in it to let them know that they don't have employment. It's pretty obnoxious, and the partners likely figure that all of the summers have heard of the dissolution through the grapevine and assume they don't have a job (as the entity hiring them no longer exists). Rather bad form not to send a note expressing some (even feigned) dismay and apology about the situation.

C(perhaps I should write a book on law firm etiquette... nah, it would gather too much dust)deuced

My point was not to 'advertise' a book. I don't particularly care about the book in question. My point is simply to discuss the reasons two giant law firms, the Orrick and the Pillsbury Winthrop would go to to censor a book, a self-published book at that.

I hardly think the authors of the book believe that they will get rich from advertising it here or elsewhere. For those who have written a book, I dare say it is not done for the money. Besides if anyone is concerned about the authors making a financial killing I think they can still read the book and not contribute to the sales simply by borrowing it from a library.

Again, I have no affiliation with Orrick or Pillsbury Winthrop.

Troll
 

Do you have any idea whatsoever what an injunction is?

I suggest that 1) you and all your socks take heed; and 2) everybody else on the board support TS in deleting all future posts from this troll and all of em's socks.

I find you tiresome.


Added by T.S.:
I haven't deleted any posts yet without the express consent of the author, and at this point I hope not to.

Just let it go.
 

Well, you know what I do when I want to change the topic, I break into song. Here's a little ditty I drummed up just today:



Sung to the tune of Beastie Boy's Paul Revere
by Seven of Nine

Now here's a little story - I've got to tell
About three bad GAs - you know so well
It started way back in history
With me (Seven of Nine) and Cee-Two-E-D.

I started out my morning with a lot to fear,
Just me, my patents and a quart of beer
Rolling in the land, kickin' up sand
Flinty's posse on my tail cause I'm in demand

One lonely Borg Drone I be
All by myself without nobody
The Partners' beat me down with their I.P. bat
The Printer's serving pork - the pricks are getting fat
Looking for a girl - I ran into a guy
Named schouten sixty-six, that's Deutsch for "Fucked a Pie"

He told a little story, that sounded well rehearsed
'Bout SLAPPing biglaw firms, and snatching from their purse
Malt Liquour's in my hand, and Schouten's on my tip
His voice was hoarse, his throat was dry, he asked me for a sip.
His breath was really stank
Like rotten moldy brie
I smacked his chops and kicked his ass and said "Get off of me.

Now Sidney Finch rolls in, he's ready to have fun
He licked his lips and cracked a smile and whipped out his shotgun.
Quick on the draw, I looked on with dread.
He put the gat to Schout's head and this is what he said:

"Now my name is Sidney Finch - and usually I'm chill
But now you know what time it is? Tt's time to get ill.
Now what do we have here? An outlaw and a queer?
I run this land you understand - I make myself clear?

Just about then we saw Flinty Flint pass.
Unlike the famed GC he was no Jackass.
Flinty grabbed the Schout and started freaking at the dude:
"Listen Svinehound freak, we're going to punish you!"
They did it like this, they did it like that.
They did it with a wiffle ball bat."

Now, Schout sixty six, it's time for you to go.
Remove your self and books, ok, you dirty little ho?

Noone here cares, about your silly clapp.
And never come back or we'll give YOU such a SLAPP!

Seven

Heller Ehrman
 

Post edited for reasons as follows:


I was contacted yesterday by Heller because the firm was concerned about some information posted by someone on our site. Heller felt the information was defamatory in nature. They asked me if I would consider removing it.

In return, I expressed my concern that we do not engage in censorship on this site, and I needed more information before we could consider such a course of action.

Heller explained to me that the person in question is an ex-employee, quite disgruntled, who has been spamming legal sites throughout the Internet with false information. They explained what was going on, told me what was false.

I conducted some research of my own, and I was able to verify some of Heller's claims. I personally can verify that Heller never threatened us in making its request, yet the individual has claimed Heller threatens ISPs when it tells them to remove information.

Because of the extreme nature of the situation, because we do not want lawtalkers.com to be used in a campaign of defamation, we have decided that the appropriate course of action is to delete the posts.

I want you to know, both Slave and I, who made this decision in consultation with one another, did so only after very seriously considering the ramifications. We don't do it lightly. However, we felt it was the right thing to do, in this limited case.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me or Slave directly.


Thank you for your understanding.

Leagl

JOB
 

If you or anybody you know is looking for a job in BIGLAW real estate, send me a private message. My firm is hiring.

Heller site
 

Is it just me, or is there something not appealing about going to a Yahoo chat room to watch you talk to yourself?


C2(OTOH, everyone seems to enjoy watching me talk to my socks here)Slothrop

Picking Up?
 

I wonder if we have passed the bottom yet. My firm is going to put out an offer to a first year, and we have been debating for a while if there's enough work to keep someone busy, and concluded the answer is yes. It seems like there is a slow upturn now.

Anyone who works with VCs? Are they spending money yet?

[deleted]
 

[deleted]

This was a TOS violation. Cut it out.

Just let it go.
 

To the poster who asked about whether the lyrics of this song were appropriate for this board.

They certainly are not out of bounds. The freedom to post such things is one of the reasons the community came here from FindLaw. Such lyrics are to be encouraged, unless they lack humor or other redeeming social value.

Picking Up?
 

Not really. I have one or two clients that have been moderately active throughout the downturn, but the general level is still dissappointing.

Just let it go.
 

I heart Seven of Nine, even though she looks more like Two of Two.

http://www.startreksite.com/crews/seven.jpg

http://www.geekgirl101.org/fun/southtrek/Seven.png

Picking Up?
 

They're still spending money, just in certain sectors. Software? Nope. Most VCs I know say they get a million business plans for software but are reluctant to put money in anyof them. They are more likely to invest in life sciences (biotech, pharma or med devices). But even then it depends on the purpose of the fund, the stage the company is at, and the realistic probability that the company's product will pass obtain FDA approval.

C(no more biz plans on napkins, thank god)deuced

Picking Up?
 

That makes sense - we focus on biotech. And even that seems to be more closely related to clinical uses than it was a few years ago, when any old piece of DNA was enough to launch a company.

Bechtel
 

Bechtel just won a big contract to help rebuild Iraq. Anyone know who does their legal work?

Bechtel
 

Kenneth Starr?

And the Raiders.
 

More fun-sounding legal work with a local twist. The Raiders are suing to keep the Bucs and the Panthers from wearing their uniforms in California. The Bucs' logo is too similar, and the Panthers stole their colors. Or so they say.

http://www.raiders.com/images/banner...erandblack.gif

And the Raiders.
 

Jesus, Al Davis seems like one bitter, petty, unhappy fellow. No offense to the Raider Nation...but the guy is always suing. You would think he has plenty to be thankful for and could lighten up. I guess I'm naive.