Discussion of Firms and Life in SF/SV

[Tyrone Slothrop]

The Chronicle reminds us that 10 years ago today, a gunman walked into the offices of Pettit & Martin and started shooting. He killed eight people and wounded six. Pettit & Martin ultimately didn't survive as a firm, although its veterans are at many other firms.

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Article on firm revenue and PPP

The more I think about it, the more I realize that lawyers make an insane amount of money. What the hell do you do with $2.9 M a year? Or even $400k/yr? That's a lot of scratch. I guess I won't know until I get there myself and have to support a mistress, her drug habit, the inevitable divorce, child support, and the obligatory Mercedes or BMW.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Flinty_McFlint
The more I think about it, the more I realize that lawyers make an insane amount of money. What the hell do you do with $2.9 M a year? Or even $400k/yr? That's a lot of scratch.

Weren't you just discussing this?

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Weren't you just discussing this?

Ty, I gamble because I have no money, not because I have too much of it. Once I hit that lottery and quit my day job, no more gambling for me.....I'm touched though, and slightly creeped out, that you had enough recall to remember what I was blabbering about on the FB.

Flinty

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by Flinty_McFlint
What the hell do you do with $2.9 M a year? Or even $400k/yr?

Small thinker.


Sidd(greed is its own reward)Finch

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Small thinker.

Buy a fixer-upper on the Peninsula?

[Flinty_McFlint]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
Small thinker.


Sidd(greed is its own reward)Finch

Man, your descent into the dark side of partnership was fast, padawan. Seductive the dark side, is.

Fine, I'd blow $400K on Pisco Sours and pedicures, are you happy now?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Threads
Buy a fixer-upper on the Peninsula?

Now, let's not be cynical. It's $2.9M a year, not $2.9M in cash. Even at a 50% effective tax rate on the entire sum, and with a .40 qualifying ratio, that still leaves $48,333 a month for PITI after income taxes --- not a princely sum, I admit, but it should get you into San Carlos or maybe some up-and-coming areas of Menlo Park. And you'll have $72,500 in monthly after-tax income with which you can fix up that house, by, say, moving it across the border into Palo Alto.

At the end of the FY, you should have enough left over to gild the swimming pool, or stock the menagerie with this season's color of tigers. (Sidd tells me white is so 2002.)

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by Flinty_McFlint
Man, your descent into the dark side of partnership was fast, padawan. Seductive the dark side, is.

You're not the first person to say something along those lines.

I think the first was the GA I slapped for doing pro bono work.

Sidd(you're not volunteering YOUR time, you're volunteering MY money!)Finch

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
I think the first was the GA I slapped for doing pro bono work.

Easy enough to dump those hungry mouths when work is thin, too. After all - YOU - are the one bringing in the work, so YOU deserve to fill your plate first.

Right?

(might as well include some reverse stealth layoffs - dumping the deadwood under guise of harsh economic times)

[Sidd Finch]

Originally posted by Threads
Easy enough to dump those hungry mouths when work is thin, too. After all - YOU - are the one bringing in the work, so YOU deserve to fill your plate first.

I do hope you realize that my tongue is firmly in my fingers when I type my "greedy GP" posts.

Originally posted by Sidd Finch
I do hope you realize that my tongue is firmly in my fingers when I type my "greedy GP" posts.

No worries, dearie.

I'm an outcast from Biglaw anyway - not an associate and not a partner. Sort of an "of counsel" position. Decent hours and money, but no chance for bringing in more than I can bill.

Keeping client relationships and a flow of work coming in for one person isn't easy, so I don't envy the partners that have to keep a group happy.

[leagleaze]

Recently Fenwick has been exploring the possibility of closing its DC office. It states however that the rest of the firm is doing well.

"Fenwick & West is looking at closing its 17-year-old Washington, D.C., outpost as the firm struggles to maneuver the continuing downturn in corporate work.

Just days after the firm announced a salary freeze for most of its 250 staff members, Mountain View-based Fenwick is mulling whether to pull the plug on its capital outpost. "

Subscription required article from law.com http://www.law.com/jsp/pubarticleCA...d=1056139931252


Our thoughts are with the 14 attorneys in the DC Fenwick office as well as the staff that works there. Don't hesitate to post here for help or to PM one of the Admins if you would like us to post something on your behalf.

(Also posted on the DC board)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Article in the San Francisco Business Times about firms building nanotechnology practices.

Law firms think small, bet big with nanotech
Eric Young

An increasing number of corporate attorneys are betting they will enjoy big business from some exceedingly small particles.

Two law firms with a significant Bay Area presence have set up practice groups focusing on nanotechnology, the science of developing materials at the atomic and molecular level in order to give them special electrical and chemical properties. The two firms -- Howrey Simon Arnold & White LLP and Pillsbury Winthrop LLP -- join a number of others in the Bay Area, including Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich LLP, Fenwick & West LLP and Townsend & Townsend & Crew LLP, whose counselors focus increasingly on deals stemming from this emerging scientific field.

What sets these nanotechnology practice groups apart from most other practice groups at large law firms is the high standard placed not only on legal knowledge but scientific acuity as well. Law firms seek attorneys with science backgrounds -- including physics, electrical engineering, biochemistry and chemistry -- which help give counselors a full grasp of the issues surrounding development and protection of nanotechnology-related issues.

. . . .

Arter & Hadden is toast.

Altheimer & Gray is also toast.

And Fenwick & West has a worrisome case of the collywobbles.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue . . . .