The biggest firms (firms with most local counsel) in Vegas

In Business Las Vegas has released its new list of the biggest law firms in Vegas, measuring "biggest" by the number of local counsel. And the top five firms for quantity of local counsel are:

1. Lionel Sawyer (60 attorneys, 30 partners)

2. Lewis and Roca (48 attorneys, 20 partners)

3. Greenberg Traurig (43 attorneys, 17 partners)

4. Lewis Brisbois (41 attorneys, 15 partners)

5. Snell & Wilmer (40 attorneys, 11 partners)

Congratulations to the top five. Always nice to have pitchers in the bullpen when your starter gets tired.

On a side note: Really, Lionel Sawyer? Your firm is made up of 50% partners? I'm all for rewarding talent, but how rewarding is a 30 way split of end of year earnings?

The firm formerly known as KKBRF does some stealing of its own

Oh Snap! Tired of being known as the firm that got served by Greenberg Traurig, the firm formerly known as Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario showed this week that it has some moves of its own.

[WWL really should come up with a symbol for their new name . . . you know, like when Prince wasn't Prince before he became Prince again. For now, WWL will use TFFKAKKBRF as an acronym for Kummer Kaempfer]

After having its talent raided by Greenberg Traurig a few weeks back, TFFKAKKBRF went out and did some stealing of its own. (LV Business Press [last pgph of story onGT]) The firm took Business Litigation Super Lawyer and Gaming Commission Chair Peter Bernhard and attorney Georganne Bradley from the Las Vegas office of Bullivant Houser Bailey.

Damnnnnn. TFFKAKKBRF got served by GT, but then turned around and served up BHB. Oh, it's on now! We got a dance off, y'all.

KKBRF follow up

We had a lot of comments posted to the last post about Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario ("KKBRF"), so here is a follow up with details from the Las Vegas Sun:

• founding partner Thomas Kummeris is resigning for a job at Greenberg Traurig


• Managing Partner Michael Bonner is also out the door and over to Greenberg Traurig

The Sun also reports that "[s]everal staffers, lawyers and partners, including Bonner, will leave the firm in June" to join Greenberg Traurig, "which already had about 30 lawyers in Nevada". (LV Sun). KKBRF will now be steered by partner Bob Gronauer, who will become managing partner.

Apparently the split happened due to partner disagreements that led to the failed KKBRF merger with Greenberg Traurig.

Update (5/29/09): The split appears to be over the scope of KKBRF's practice:

“Some partners believed it would be in their best interest to join a large international firm where they would be exposed to a variety of cases throughout the United States,” said Bob Gronauer, who will take over as managing partner of Kummer Kaempfer. “There’s another group of partners who are of the opinion that they would chose to continue to represent clients in Nevada and regionally as Kummer Kaempfer has always done.” (LV Sun)

What's Going On At KKBRF?

We've posted a few times about Nevada-based Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario, and chatter about the firm is picking up again.

According to rumors, Michael Bonner is making the jump to Greenberg Traurig, and he is taking a good portion of KKBRF's transactional associates with him.

Could this be the end result of the rumored merger between GT and KKBRF, or is KKBRF simply beginning to collapse? We know they recently lost one partner to Fox Rothschild, days after an event she was appearing at was pimped on the firm's blog. Things certainly don't look good.

An announcement from KKBRF is expected early this week. If you know anything, feel free to enlighten us in the comments.

(Thanks to our commenters & tipsters)

Who's on Top?

Las Vegas Business Press released its picks for the "Top 10 Lawyers of Southern Nevada's business community." According to LVBP, its "choices were made through a vigorous culling of sources both inside and outside the area's close-knit legal community." However, for some reason, those who won last year were ineligible for this year's "honor." Whatever ... here's the list:

• In-House Counsel: Paul Ades, MGM Mirage
• Securities: Michael Bonner, KKBRF (Rumored to be moving to GT)
• Gaming: Mark Clayton, Lionel Sawyer
• Labor: Kathleen England, England Law Office
• Real Estate: Barry Goold, Goold Patterson Ales & Day
• Bankruptcy: Gerald Gordon, Gordon Silver
• Construction: Dennis Haney, Santoro Driggs
• Intellectual Property: Lauri Thompson, Greenberg Traurig
• White Collar Criminal Defense: Richard Wright, Wright Standish & Winckler
• Elder Statesman: Joseph Brown, Jones Vargas

Congratulations to all!

(LVBP)

Valley Layoff Watch, Part 5

This week we offer you a potpourri of layoff & salary-cut rumors from firms in the Valley.

First, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck gave associates (in Denver) a choice between deeper job cuts and higher salaries, or deeper salary cuts and fewer job losses. The associates opted for the salary cuts, and reportedly saved eight jobs. (Yeah, right.) The firm still cut 15 associates and 22 staff members. Rumor has it that their Las Vegas office only lost one attorney.

Next, Greenberg Traurig decided to cut salaries for summer associates and first year attorneys by 10%. Yet another sign that the rumored merger with KKBRF is likely toast.

Speaking of our friends at Kummer Kaempfer, recent comments in this post point to more bad news for the firm. It all started with this:

KKBRF is at it again! A large amount of the firms top lawyers are bailing and leaving the rest of the firm to fend for themselves. Top dog Michael Bonner along with several others will be going to Greenberg Traurig after all. There will only be like 12 attorneys left in the whole "mega firm" and who will suffer...the support staff who will be let go.

That was followed up by a commenter who said that Tom Kummer may be leaving the firm as well. Good luck to all of you KKBRF associates if this is true.

Finally, we got a random comment yesterday on a very old post that simply said: "The bloom is off the rose ... attorneys are leaving [Holland & Hart] not by their own choice." We're not the gardening type, so we don't really get the euphemism ... but it sure doesn't sound good.

(Denver Business Journal; ATL)

Rumor Monday

We are looking for confirmations/denials regarding the following rumors, feel free enlighten us in the comments:

• Rumor #1: The Heavy Hitter may have just gone through a round of layoffs. (We have a hard time believing this one, as it appears that plaintiff's firms are doing just fine in this economy.)

• Rumor #2: The traffic ticket busting firms in town may be planning to finance a campaign against Chief Judge Ann Zimmerman when she comes up for election. Apparently, the mystery candidate being touted has plenty of money on his own, and is expected to be well-backed besides. This likely has to do with the Judge's rumored smack-down on ticket-busting firms.

• Rumor #3: According to an anonymous commenter, the KKBRF - GT merger is officially off. The same commenter adds that one KKBRF litigation partner and two transactional partners are leaving to start their own firm (these attorneys, apparently, were not part of KKBRF's recent bloodbath). Also, KKBRF's governmental affairs group may or may not be leaving in April, depending on which anonymous commenter you believe.

Let us know if you have any information.

UPDATE

• Rumor #4: Jones Vargas has recently rescinded offers to its 2L summer associates. This has been confirmed. We are awaiting a response from Jones Vargas with details. Apparently, summers received a letter in late February indicating that, because of the poor economy, the firm was withdrawing their offers of employment. Nice of them to leave their summers with plenty of time to find alternative placements. Very classy, JV.

Thanks, tipsters!

Layoff Watch, Part II

We started receiving tips yesterday that KKBRF has recently made some major cuts. According to the tips, the layoffs started in their Reno office on Wednesday with one partner and one associate being cut loose. On Thursday, they reportedly laid off three transactional attorneys and "at least" two litigation attorneys, plus staff. 

Apparently, no one is sure if the (rumored) cuts are related to the (rumored) merger with Greenberg Traurig, or if the economy is to blame. Either way it sucks. This is truly a sad state of affairs, and our hearts go out to our fellow colleagues. Please post any denials, confirmations or further information in the comments. 

UPDATE:

We received a follow up tip with the final body count: 

4 - Litigation attorneys (2 from Vegas, 2 from Reno)
4 - Transactional attorneys (one very pregnant)
1 - Government Affairs attorney
All related staff

We also received news from one of our tipsters regarding the post-massacre meeting:

"There was a firm wide meeting at the end of the day where they said that the remaining attorneys who had not been laid off would be the firm going forward, and if we merge with GT, this will generally be our firm merging (interesting use of the word "generally" by managing partner Mike Bonner, I overheard some litigation attorneys really parsing his language on that issue...lawyers are nerds). They also said that some partners will be leaving on their own terms by April, no word on which partners. The general justification for the layoffs was the poor economy, though they noted that we have lots of money in the bank after a pretty good year last year. This year is going to be tough.
There is a lot of speculation amongst the remaining associates that more layoffs could occur, and also that a number of partners will split and open a new firm."

SECOND UPDATE  (2/20/08):

Looks like the LV Sun (finally) got around to reporting this. Many thanks to you tipsters for the scoop.

According to the Sun, the total body count was "at least nine attorneys" plus three to four support staff. The Sun was also able to get a quote from the firm:

“We did have some reductions,” firm spokeswoman Diane Gibes said. “Like so many companies across the country we were affected by the economic downturn. It’s unfortunate, but we felt we needed a leaner structure.”

"[W]e felt we needed a leaner structure?" We're sure that makes those of you who ended up on the wrong end of a pink slip feel awesome.

(Thanks for the tips, Anonymous.) 

Valley Layoff Watch

We've held back on posting anything about firm layoffs during these times because, up until now, all we've heard are rumors here and there concerning the occasional "cutback." Well, according to Las Vegas Business Press, it's officially time to start giving this topic some lip service:

Layoffs and firm failures are increasingly hitting the valley as attorneys feel the economic downturn's effects. At least nine more Las Vegas lawyers and other legal professionals have quietly received pink slips in recent months as cash-strapped clients walked away from their bills.

The article focuses primarily on Adams & Rocheleau and Smith Forsberg's layoffs/closings, but Bullivant Houser's trimming of its Vegas office is also mentioned. Additionally, over in the forums, we've heard rumblings of possible cuts from Lewis & Roca, Santoro Driggs, and Greenberg Traurig. We can only wonder how successful Boyd's on campus interviews were this past fall.

So, are these cutbacks really a result of the current economic conditions, or are these firms just using the economy to justify cutting loose some dead weight? Many firms in the Valley have instituted hiring freezes, but are these firms just playing it safe? We know of at least one area of law that is loving this climate: bankruptcy.

So, how about it commenters. Is it time to start panicking, or are lawyers in the valley by and large recession-proof? Let us know your thoughts.

(LV Business Press, LV Sun)

Question of the day ...

Previously on WWL we posted about a rumored merger between IP pimp Greenberg Traurig and Kummer Kaempfer Bonner Renshaw & Ferrario. After the post, nothing.

The rumor appeared to be confirmed by the reportedly large number of KKBRF associates present at a September 2nd GT open house, but there has yet to be an announcement. So, what's going on? Is GT getting cold feet? Has the free-falling economy put talks on hold? Both KKBRF and GT associates appear to be in the dark, anyone care to shed a little light here?

Friday Roundup

Domestic battery charges have been dropped against Assemlywoman Allen after her husband convinced the judge that he stabbed himself in the arm with a steak knife. [nope, not kidding] (Review-Journal)

Harmful Error covers the election race for Clark County Dist. Ct. Dept. 23 (Judge Halverson's old seat) between incumbent [and national joke] Elizabeth Halverson, Jason Landess and Stefany Miley. (Harmful Error)

The defendants in the China Bank criminal trial must be thrilled with their choice of counsel. The Nevada Supreme Court suspended one of the defense lawyers, Mitchell Posin, for one year. However, the Supreme Court later modified its order, allowing Posin to continue trying the case after Judge Pro and the defense lawyers said in court that the suspension could wreak havoc on the slow-moving trial. (Las Vegas Sun)

Congratulations to Anne Loraditch, Micaela Rustia, Brett Axelrod and Bob Olson. Greenberg Traurig just hired Brett Axelrod and Bob Olson as shareholders and Anne Loraditch and Micaela Rustia as associates in its Las Vegas office. (Review-Journal)

And congrats to Jeffrey Albregts, hired by Santoro, Driggs, Walch as a partner. (Review-Journal)

Merger Rumor Mill--Kummer Kaempfer

After Hale Lane merged with Holland & Hart this week, giving Holland & Hart a super-charged Nevada presence, rumors are circulating that international giant Greenberg Traurig is merging with growing Nevada corporate law titan Kummer Kaempfer. (Greedy Wild West Board)

Anyone out there have details or confirmation?