The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Morgan Lewis to Cut 2010 Summer Program, Break Lockstep

Citing less demand for legal work, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius Chairman Francis Milone announced in a firmwide video conference that the firm would not be conducting on-campus interviews during the fall of 2009 and will be eliminating its 2010 summer associate program.

Milone also said the firm will be moving away from lockstep compensation, opting for a merit-based system instead.

Morgan Lewis has already deferred the start dates for this year's class of first-year associates from October 2009 until October 2010. The firm has also previously announced that the start dates on any offers extended to the 2009 summer associates would be pushed back until 2011. So far all deferred associates will receive stipends of up to $60,000 while working in government and public interest positions.

"We're running our own business and focusing relentlessly on client relationships," Milone said in a statement. "Doing so responsibly means continuing to reduce expenses, committing to the people in whom we are already invested, and looking at compensation across the board to ensure our structure matches the reality the entire legal industry must face."

Morgan Lewis also sent a letter from the firmwide hiring partner to law school deans announcing the changes:

Dear Law School Deans, Placement Deans and Heads of Career Services:

We are contacting you about our plans for fall recruiting.

As you know, as a result of economic conditions, Morgan Lewis decided in March 2009 to defer the start dates for our entering associates from October 2009 until October 2010. We simultaneously decided that any offers extended to our 2009 Summer Associates would be for start dates during 2011.

All of our deferred associates have elected to participate in the Morgan Lewis Fellowship Program, under which they will receive stipends of up to $60,000 while working in government and public interest positions.  The response to the Fellowship Program from our deferred students, our clients and the public interest community has been overwhelmingly positive.

We are in the midst of a very successful Summer Associate Program, and plan to extend offers to as many of our 2009 Summer Associates as possible. However, like other firms, we continue to experience reduced demand for services in some areas of practice and lower levels of associate attrition than in past years.  We, therefore, unfortunately are presented with a situation in which any hiring that we do this fall for a 2010 Summer Associate Program would reduce the number of offers we would be able to extend to our 2009 Summer Associates.

Given the unique circumstances of the current year, Morgan Lewis has decided that we will not conduct any on-campus interviewing during the fall of 2009 and that we will not have a 2010 Summer Associate Program.  We continue to be committed to law school recruiting and entry level hiring.  However, our highest priority is to provide opportunities for our existing associates and 2009 Summer Associates.

We are grateful for the law school relationships that we have developed over many years.  In the coming months, we intend to build on those relationships and to find other ways to contribute to the success of your students, including the members of the Class of 2011.  We would welcome your thoughts and suggestions as to how we can best support your school and students.  We also hope to open a dialogue with law schools and industry groups, with a view toward improving the on-campus recruiting process by, among other things, re-assessing the timing of on-campus interviews and the existing rules requiring law firms to hold offers open for extended time periods.

Sometime this week, either I or one of our Office Hiring Partners will contact you by telephone to discuss these matters.  In the meanwhile, please do not hesitate to contact me or Karen Amatangelo-Block, Firmwide Director of Attorney Recruiting (202-739-6177), or any of your usual Morgan Lewis contacts.  We deeply value our relationships with you and your students, and look forward to working with you in the coming year.

With best regards,

Eric Kraeutler
Firmwide Hiring Partner

Longtime Senate Staffer, Steptoe Lobbyist Dead at 68

W. Proctor Jones, a longtime Senate staff member turned energy lobbyist, succumbed to lung cancer at his home near Flint Hill, Va. on Tuesday. He was 68.

Jones came to Washington in 1960 as an intern for Sen. Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.), rising to become Russell’s special assistant. He then joined the staff of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

He served as the staff director of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, as well as staff director of the full Committee on Appropriations. He was the principal Senate staff member handling appropriations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Energy, the water resource functions of the Department of Interior and several other federal agencies. Jones retired from the Senate in 1997 as clerk of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

Jones was known in Congress and in the scientific community as a fierce advocate for basic-science funding and for his skills at navigating a tight spending climate and the legislative calendar to achieve his goals. At staff level, he spearheaded efforts to provide funds for high-energy physics research initiatives such as the superconducting supercollider, the Stanford Linear Accelerator, and the National Ignition Facility.

At the time of his death, Jones was a senior government affairs adviser at Steptoe & Johnson. He had been a partner at Johnston & Associates, a public affairs consulting company founded by former Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), before it was acquired by Steptoe.

"Proctor was the quintessential Senate staffer. When I handled a bill on the floor, people would approach Proctor with questions because, first, they knew he had the answer, but also because they knew they could trust him," Johnston says. "He just knew it all."

Former AG Alberto Gonzales Joins Texas Tech Faculty

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is going into academia, taking a post as a visiting professor in the political science department of Texas Tech University effective August 1, the university announced today.

Gonzales will be teaching a junior-level special topics course, “Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch,” according to a statement from the university. Gonzales is also expected to guest lecture to classes across the campus. The Austin American Statesman first published the Gonzales hiring this afternoon. Click here for the statement from the university.

Gonzales, a Texas native who resigned as attorney general in August 2007 amid controversy over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys, will assist Texas Tech University and Angelo State University “with recruiting and retaining first generation and underrepresented students,” according to Texas Tech statement.

“His own upbringing in Houston as part of a migrant family with eight children makes him qualified to tell underrepresented Texas students that college is possible,” Texas Tech chancellor Kent Hance said in a statement. The interim dean of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences said in a statement that Gonzales brings a “rich perspective of the executive branch and issues and challenges facing our nation.”

Kmiec Chosen for Ambassador to Malta

Douglas Kmiec, the conservative Pepperdine University law professor and prominent supporter of President Barack Obama, is likely headed to the Mediterranean.

The White House said today that Obama has chosen Kmiec as the new ambassador to Malta, the archipelago nation south of Italy. Though originally a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, Kmiec has been a high-profile defender of the Obama administration and its personnel choices. He recently has come to the defense of Dawn Johnsen, nominated to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, even as Republicans have held up Johnsen’s nomination because of her views on abortion and national security.

Kmiec was a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan administration. At the end of his second term, Reagan appointed Kmiec to lead the office, which advises the executive branch on the legality of a wide variety of policies. Kmiec was dean of Catholic University’s law school from 2001 to 2003, and he was a longtime professor at the University of Notre Dame’s law school.

The White House notes that he has some experience working abroad: Kmiec was a Fulbright Fellow in Asia in 1987, lecturing in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

Ambassadorships require Senate confirmation.

Arnold & Porter Adds Lobbyist in D.C.

Arnold & Porter’s Washington office has picked up David Pore as a senior policy and legislative adviser.

Prior to joining the Am Law 100 firm, Pore was a lawyer with Hance Scarborough in Austin, Texas, a firm co-founded by former Rep. Kent Hance (R-Texas). Pore’s practice focused on representing trade associations, businesses, local governments, and economic development groups in state and federal legislative and regulatory matters.

Pore is currently registered to lobby on behalf of Amarillo Biosciences and Boyd Gaming Corp.

“David’s background as a practicing attorney and his years of experience on the Hill will be of tremendous value to our clients,” said Jim Turner, head of Arnold & Porter’s legislative and public policy group. “His skills in lobbying, legislative, and regulatory matters, as well as congressional investigations, will strengthen our capabilities in this area."

Morgan Lewis Partner Jumps Ship for Pillsbury

After 14 years at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, James Glasgow has joined Pillsbury's energy practice as a partner.

Glasgow's practice focuses on transactions involving nuclear fuel and international nuclear commerce, constructing and operating nuclear power plants and other energy facilities.

Glasgow says he made the move to rejoin some of the lawyers he worked with at Morgan Lewis before they left the firm in 2000. "I saw it was a way to keep working with old friends and colleagues to pursue an excellent opportunity," Glasgow says, citing Pillsbury energy partners Charles Peterson and George Borovas as two examples of people he is looking forward to working with again.

As Legal Times reported last year, nuclear practices have been going gangbusters lately, and with a new regulatory regime in place, Glasgow says he only expects it to become more busy. "I do expect there to be growth in actual nuclear power programs around the world. It's not a flash in the pan idea," Glasgow says. "The United States is going to become more interested in engaging with these countries on 'cradle to grave' management of their nuclear fuel."

He says he has wasted no time in getting to work now that he is at Pillsbury, foregoing the usual new-job orientation process in order to keep up with client matters. "I'm probably behind on my training, but work comes first." he says.

King & Spalding Snags Former No. 2 in the SG's Office

King & Spalding is having quite a bit of success when it comes to recruiting out of the Solicitor General's Office.

In November, the firm landed former SG Paul Clement to oversee the expansion of the firm's appellate practice. And today, King & Spalding announced that it had added Daryl Joseffer, who served as deputy principal solicitor general under former Solicitor General Gregory Garre, as a partner in its appellate practice.

Joseffer, 38, worked in the Solicitor General's Office for about four and a half years, first as an assistant solicitor general and then in the political position of the SG's principal deputy. During his time in the SG's office, he argued 11 cases in front of the high court, including Microsoft v. AT&T; Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd.; Warner-Lambert Co. v. Kent; Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc.; and BP America v. Burton. His term expired in January.

Joseffer says he enjoyed his time in the SG’s office, but now that he has had about five months off to hang out with his 3-year-old daughter and his 6-week-old son, he is looking forward to working with Clement to build the firm’s practice. For him, the idea of working with Clement was the primary reason he opted to join King & Spalding.

“I’m pretty impressed with how much Paul has been able to build in the few months since he was working here while I was at home playing with my kids,” Joseffer says.

Since November, the practice has grown to include four partners; two associates, one who clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and one who clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and another associate who will be joining the practice once her clerkship with Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit finishes in the fall.

The firm has also been retained in two cases going before the Supreme Court next term. The firm will argue on behalf of the civil rights petitioners in Kenny A. v Purdue and Pottawattamie County v. Harrington. Joseffer will not be arguing them though, as he is barred from appearing in cases involving the Solicitor General’s Office for at least a year.

Joseffer, a Harvard law graduate, also served as a clerk for Judge Jerry Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which he says provided him with a rather well-rounded introduction to what it means to be a clerk for a court that sits in New Orleans.

“Not only was Judge Smith the best boss you could ever ask for, but we used to get these fat per diems to go down to New Orleans from Houston. Let’s just say the clerks on the 5th Circuit ate like kings,” Joseffer says. “And it was on the government’s dime too,” he adds, laughing.

Howrey Introduces Apprenticeship Program for Associates

Starting this fall, Howrey will begin selling recruits on a new program at the firm in which associates will spend their first two years serving as “apprentices” before taking on significant client work.

As part of the two-year program, associates will spend the majority of their time at the litigation-heavy firm attending training seminars where they will learn the practical skills of lawyering, said managing partner Robert Ruyak in an interview. 

During their first year at the firm, associates will take classes on legal writing and research and will work on pro bono projects to give them hands-on experience without charging clients. In the second year of the program, associates will be embedded at client sites for several months at a reduced billing rate of between $150 and $200 an hour. They will also continue to take classes on litigation skills such as trial tactics, cross examination, and mediation and arbitration.

Howrey started working on the program about two years ago when the firm decided it was going to move away from lockstep compensation for its associates. (In January, the firm did away with its lockstep model for associates, instead paying them based on measured levels of competency.) To hammer out the details, Howrey hired a consultant and discussed the program with partners and associates. The firm announced the change to partners in a meeting at noon and to associates in a meeting at 2 p.m. today.

Ruyak compares the new program to medical residency and accounting secondment, in which younger accountants are placed with clients for a period of time to learn how their businesses work.

“The old model is broken,” Ruyak said. “You’re bringing on these extremely bright individuals and letting them waste their careers buried in documents where they aren’t really learning the practical skills it takes to be a lawyer.”

The firm will be recruiting a smaller class this year, he said, with the goal of making sure that the associates who are hired are joining the firm for the long haul. In the first year, the firm will hire 20 associates and then bring on another 10 from judicial clerkships or from U.S. attorney’s offices during the second year. “Clerkships and the U.S. attorney’s office are great because you’re learning how trials work. You’re learning what the rules are,” Ruyak said. “But there just aren’t enough clerkships to go around because there are only so many federal judges. This allows us to give associates the experience they need in a much more organized fashion than the way most firms use younger lawyers.”

Ruyak said the firm plans to pay associates slightly more than the $80,000 or so they would be making as a clerk but less than the $160,000 many top law firms currently pay. From now on, when associates join the firm, they will be paid $100,000 in salary with an additional $25,000 to, in most cases, help pay off loans from their last semester of law school. During the second year, that amount goes up to $125,000 with an additional $25,000 bonus if they finish the program successfully. Ruyak added that the firm will not be changing any other pay levels.

The reduced pay will also have the benefit of “weeding out the lawyers who are only in it for the money and not to be trial lawyers,” Ruyak said. The people hired under the apprenticeship program will report to the firm earlier than usual, in September 2010, for orientation and training.

While associates will be paid less in their first two years, Ruyak said the new approach is not a way to save the firm money. In fact, he said, it’s going to cost between $3 million and $4 million to implement once training costs and the unbilled hours the associates work are thrown in.

“The way we see it though is that it’s going to cost more in the beginning because we’re creating something from scratch, but once we get going and we start having a group of young, experienced lawyers coming out ready to handle client matters, we’re going to turn a profit much more quickly than we would under the old model,” Ruyak said.

He said that the firm would spend that same amount to train associates anyway, only it would be spread out across seven years. “This way, we just get it out of the way in the beginning.”

So far, clients have responded to the change positively, Ruyak said, and many have offered to have first- and second-year associates join them for a few months to learn the ropes of their business. He says the firm has also been speaking with federal appellate judges about having associates serve as extra clerks with them for several months.

Ruyak said that it’s easier for a firm that does primarily litigation to implement an apprenticeship program, but he sees it as the future for the profession. “Law firms are way behind on this kind of thing. Other professions like medicine have been doing this for years. The way we have been doing things simply doesn’t make sense."

Bingham McCutchen Picks Up Top Antitrust Lawyer From DOJ

Bingham McCutchen has added Hill Welford, former chief of staff of the Antitrust Division at the Justice Department, to its antitrust and trade regulation practice group in Washington. Wellford will start as a partner next week.

Wellford joined the DOJ in 2004 after working as a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Washington office. He rose to chief of staff of the Antitrust Division after serving as counsel to the assistant attorney general for antitrust and as an attorney in the division’s legal policy section.

At Bingham, Wellford says he will advise clients on antitrust issues stemming from technology and intellectual property matters in the United States and abroad — an area he expects to become increasingly active. The firm currently has 70 antitrust attorneys in the United States, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

“There have been a number of major developments lately especially in China and India in terms of antitrust enforcement,” Wellford says. “I’m excited to be joining a firm that has a known presence in areas of the world where some of the most vibrant antitrust issues are being discussed.”

Jones Day Continues Landing Laterals

The Washington office of Jones Day has had a couple of big additions in recent weeks.

Last week, Jones Day announced that partner Ronald Johnson had joined the firm from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Johnson focuses his practice on representing railroads in litigation and regulatory matters. Prior to Johnson’s move, Lily Claffee, former general counsel of the Commerce Department, joined the firm as a partner in its government regulation practice. Claffee is also a former deputy general counsel at the Treasury Department.

At Jones Day, Claffee focuses her practice on financial regulation and litigation, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States issues, export control and other national security matters.

The addition of Claffee and Johnson comes as part of a recent hiring binge at the firm. In late May, Jones Day swiped a seven-lawyer bankruptcy practice from Kirkland & Ellis for its Los Angeles and New York offices. That move left Kirkland & Ellis with only three restructuring lawyers in Los Angeles. Jones Day has also added three labor and employment lawyers in Washington since March.

The firm had a solid if not astonishing year in 2008. According to this year’s Am Law 100, Jones Day posted a 6.9 percent increase in gross revenue, bringing it to $1.54 billion firmwide. Profits per equity partner climbed 3.2 percent to $810,000. The firm has 227 lawyers in Washington.