Last week, Cravath kicked off bonus season for their associates and now Weil Gotschal (with over 1,200 attorneys) has announced that associates “will be paid 2010 bonuses that are commensurate with bonuses paid by peer firms.” So we're guessing that means it's going to exactly match Cravath, unless another firm decides to best them. We doubt that will happen, but we'd love to see a bonus war! Let's see some escalation! Moving on, here is the Weil Gotschal bonus memo in it's glorious, tepid entirety. more ›

Cravath just released their year-end bonuses for associates and it's looking...a lot like last year. Or this. Kicking off bonus season, the firm will be handing out $7,500 to first year associates. Given how much more firms have been billing, this payoff looks pretty sallow. Above The Law expects profits for partners to go up, however. That interlude of joy is just for the partners however, with this sad distinction for associates being drawn: more ›

Alan Rosenfeld, a creepy butt-watching ex-teacher who was booted from the classroom in 2001, is actually a multimillionaire, thanks to a side business he runs from the Department of Education's infamous Rubber Room. For almost a decade he's collected double salaries, using his days in the Rubber Room to advise clients of his law practice. After yesterday's NY Post expose, the city is finally moving to fire him. "Conducting a business while working for the city is a serious violation of conflict-of-interest law," said DOE spokesman David Cantor. "We'll ask the special commissioner to investigate. If he recommends termination, we'll move to terminate." more ›

Law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore has offered incoming associates $80,000 to defer their start date by a year—and not to work for a year. Plus, Cravath will pay up to $1,000/month in student loans and health insurance. Bloomberg News, which calls Cravath one of the country's most profitable law firms but notes its revenue is down 55% so far (vs. same period last year), adds, "Cravath, whose clients include Citigroup Inc., Time Warner Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., is also requiring its current summer associates who are offered full-time jobs to accept $65,000 to defer their start date from October 2010 for a year." Above the Law notes how Harvard Law School immediately sent out a note to its rising third-year students, with suggestions on what to do (hello, judicial clerkship). Earlier this year, Skadden Arps offered associates $80,000 for a year of paid leave. more ›

A lower Manhattan law firm is in hot water today after a Daily News reporter stumbled upon six dumpsters on the sidewalk behind their office piled with confidential documents. The files tossed out by Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon mostly dated back to the 1990s and included addresses, medical records and Social Security numbers for clients. Passers-by were observed digging through the documents, and former clients of the law firm were appalled when the Daily News rang them up, using the personal information from the files. One 62-year-old woman who sued her landlord in 1997 was shocked to learn that her Social Security number, medical records and contact information were in the trash: "I don't let nobody have my Social Security number. Now I don't know who else has my papers. They should be held accountable. That's why they have shredders." A partner at the firm says the documents were discarded as they prepare to change offices, and blames the "licensed and bonded company" they hired to dispose of everything in a proper manner. Sounds like they went with the same company that tossed Citi Habitats clients' confidential documents out on the street in January. more ›

The arrest of prominent Manhattan lawyer Marc Dreier in Canada last week appears to be just the tip of the iceberg: On Sunday night, Dreier was arrested by U.S. authorities at LaGuardia airport, accused of "a $100 million fraud scheme". The NY Times says the feds "portray[ed] his recent undertakings as more high-stakes grifting than high-end lawyering." more ›

A well-known lawyer who founded a law firm to fight for women's issues has been sued by an office manager who claims he sexually harassed her. Lisa Brockington says that Jack Tuckner, of Tuckner, Sipser, Weinstock & Sipser (whose firm URL is womensrightsny.com), is a "chauvinist masquerading as a woman's advocate." more ›