Lewis Brisbois, Now With 25% Less Fat!

Word on the street is that local insurance defense firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith just lost a quarter of their associates and one partner to Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker. You may remember Lewis Brisbois as one of the firms on the defense end of The Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada case.

The Las Vegas managing partner of Wilson Elser has reportedly been replaced by a partner from Lewis Brisbois. We are still working on getting the name of the former Lewis Brisbois partner/now managing partner for Wilson Elser. If you know who he/she is, or what happened, let us know in the comments. We want details people!

(Thanks, LE!)

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)

Ask The Shark Pimp - Part 3: The Finale

And now for the final installment of out interview with Jordan "Shark Pimp" Ross:

Do you think the recent BigLaw layoffs will send a flood of ivy league grads to Nevada in search of jobs? If so, how will this affect the legal market in Vegas?

Not that many. We have no reciprocity in Nevada and getting someone to move to Las Vegas is damn hard. Trust me; I know this better than anyone else.

What advice would you give to Boyd 1Ls, 2Ls, and 3Ls with regards to landing a job? Who is the most screwed out of that group?

3L’s are the most screwed if they're asking, because so much of what you need to do is too late by then. Listen carefully, here’s what you need to do, none of which is exciting or secret: 1) Stay sober. Drunk and stoned will not help your g.p.a. one bit. The nerd who thinks you’re an irresponsible jerk who parties too much will probably be in better shape than you at graduation. 2) Study like your life depends on it. I can not tell you how much your class rank counts and at Boyd if you place below the top 15% you don’t get ranked on your transcript (which I think is politically correct nonsense). So if you graduate in the top 16% for all a potential employer knows you graduated at the bottom of the class. 3) You need to do everything you can to summer between your 2nd and 3rd year. Job offers at graduation are much higher for this group. In general you need to work like a slave in a salt mine and be out in the legal community.

Do you still have attorneys coming to you looking to lateral, or is it mostly attorneys who have been laid off?

Both. If you have a job, do everything you can to hold on to it. Making a lateral move without a book of business is virtually impossible right now, so after you do everything your firm wants you to do each week, spend another 10-20 hours a week marketing to potential new clients.

In your opinion, what are the top 5 firms in town (taking into account salary, quality of life, benefits, and billables, if applicable)? The bottom 5?

The Shark Pimp fears nothing and no one. He answers questions with no care for the opinion or feelings of others leaving death, blood and destruction in his wake. Except those questions. What, are you nuts? Here’s your answers – the best firms are my clients, the worst firms aren’t.

Have associates lost the ability to negotiate for salary with firms?

They never really had it to begin with. Urban myth. Remember the boiler room in the movie Glengarry, Glen Ross? Leads are for closers. Well in legal salary negotiations, negotiations are for people with book. No book of business, no negotiation. Have a nice day.

We'd like to thank Mr. Ross for his time and frankness in responding to these questions. 

(Ross Legal Search, LLC)

Ask The Shark Pimp - Part 2: Feisty!

Today we continue with Part 2 of our interview with legal headhunter Jordan Ross:

Question 4:

Can you talk about negotiating pay with small firms that may not have set salary grades for incoming employees?

You can but unless you have something really valuable to bring to the table in this market, probably not, especially if you’re a junior associate. Keep in mind Boyd Law just put 142 competitors for your job onto the market.

How do you determine what is reasonable?

For a high volume commercial job it should at least be on a par with what Associates in the Civil Division of the Clark County District Attorneys Office earn. For general commercial jobs it’s reasonable to expect to be no more than 20% from the bottom of the salary range for your class among general commercial firms. For consumer jobs, I honestly don’t know how salary ranges are determined. But again, in this market, I wouldn’t push my luck. Be glad you paycheck doesn’t bounce.

Question 5:
What is your opinion of this article (from ATL):

Someone asked me about this recently. How many ways can I express how skuzzy and sleazy it is for a recruiter to take money from a candidate? And this is the Shark Pimp speaking, kids. No recruiter who belongs to NALSC (National Association of Legal Search Consultants) would do this; it’s a blatant violation of the NALSC Code of Ethics. Even without that, it’s an obvious conflict of interest in that the recruiter has a fiduciary duty to his or her clients; how can the client trust a candidate that’s promised the recruiter a kickback? And no professional search consultant in any industry with any dignity or respectability takes payment from a candidate. Even employment agencies that deal with non-exempt employees don’t do that except amongst the lowest of bottom feeders. If you are tempted to do this, you might consider paying a professional career counselor, but good ones are few and far between and they’re primarily of value to executives, not professionals.

Question 6:
How is your business model holding up under current economic conditions?

Fine, thanks for asking. From one perspective it hasn’t changed much for me personally. There is virtually no demand for candidates from search firms for Associates right now. I recently placed an Associate a few months ago, but frankly this was the first Associate I placed in over six years other than some Associates who came with a Partner or were outplaced (neither of which I’m compensated for). My practice has for many years, been predominately Partners and Of Counsel.

Has your fee changed at all due to the current economic climate?

No. Hey, you know what, let me say that again. No.

Stay tuned for our final installment of the Shark Pimp Trilogy, and feel free to post any follow-ups in the comments.

(Ross Legal Search, LLC)

Ask The Shark Pimp - Part 1: He's Alive!

Remember back in February when we asked you to submit your questions about the Nevada legal market for Jordan Ross (a.k.a. "The Shark Pimp") to answer? Well, we have finally received his responses, so all of you unemployed associates who were waiting for these answers may now continue your job searches. Here is Part 1 of our 3-month interview:

I’m glad to have another answer and question interview here at Wild Wild Law. I only regret that the circumstances couldn’t be better. I apologize for taking so long to get back to all the loyal readers here. I’ve been buried in work just trying to keep even with the market. The same is true of all professionals in this stressful market. With that in mind, let’s see what’s on everyone’s mind right now.

Question 1:

Do to the recession, some previously transactional-only associates have been "transitioned" to litigation. What kind of (if any) opportunities exist for these associates to transition back to transactional work if/when the economy rebounds? If you practice litigation for a few years, are you pigeon-holed a litigator?

Moving practice type (as opposed to practice area) is difficult to do in the first place and frequently you find yourself losing your seniority in the process. That loss of seniority may involve your taking a so called “haircut” (which means a cut in salary to a more junior year). However it’s not as challenging as changing your practice area. So if you were to for example move from Real Estate Transactions to Real Estate Litigation or perhaps switch from Corporate Transactions to Commercial Litigation, while you need to understand this is no walk in the park, the transition is relatively intuitive.

On the other hand if you move from say, Franchise Law Transactions to Intellectual Property Litigation, the transition is going to be a lot more difficult. The whole process may in fact set you back or make it difficult to return to your old practice.

Having said all of this, it’s a very different situation when your existing firm encourages you to transition your practice. They will probably be much more receptive to your moving back when times get better. And if they are trying to get you to change, be opened minded – this may the signal that they can’t feed your current practice and a change in practice may be needed to keep your job.

Question 2:

From your perspective, how bad are things in the Nevada legal market?

Bad.

Don’t be a smart ass. How Bad?

As I’ve said in the past, unlike the general economy in Southern Nevada which is directly driven by the gaming industry, the legal economy is driven largely by the real estate industry. Now, that’s not an absolute statement, but in general it’s very accurate.

With the slowdown in the very high rates of emigration to Nevada and the collapse of real estate prices, eventually the industry will run out its excess inventory both residential and commercial probably at about the same time the entire global economy recovers. But I don’t see full recovery until around January 2011.

Question 3:

Do you think that government jobs are a better bet in this market because of the job security they (may) offer?

If they have no food in the refrigerator and kids to feed, I’m not going to tell someone to pass on a public sector job. But for the attorneys I deal with, commercial practitioners, try to avoid that. When things recover, it will not be an asset to have that on your resume. Moving to a private sector job could be a one way trip. Most such hiring is frozen right now anyway. One Chief Deputy District Attorney told me that Clark County has never seen so many attorney resumes.

If you can keep yourself from tying that noose for another couple days, stay tuned for Part 2 of the interview.

(Ross Legal Search, LLC)

Fogetaboutit

Harrah's Entertainment has hired former waste management attorney Timothy R. Donovan as senior vice president and general counsel. "Waste management," eh? Interesting. From the RJ:

The 53-year-old Donovan received his law degree from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, after completing his undergraduate degree at Ohio State University.

Capital University - A very respectable mob law school, we're sure.

Donovan previously worked for Phoenix-based Allied Waste Industries as executive vice president and general counsel, where he was presumably in charge of either stabbing people with ice picks or digging holes.

Donovan "replaced" Steve Brammell, who had been Harrah's general counsel since 1999 ... may he rest in peace.

(LVRJ; Thanks, asdf)

With Souter Out, Could Rawlinson Be In?

Now that Justice Souter has announced his retirement, could President Obama possibly nominate 9th Circuit Judge (and former Clark County Assistant DA) Johnnie B. Rawlinson to fill his seat? MSNBC seems to think it is a possibility, as they have placed Rawlinson on their short list of possible replacements.

If the President is going to fish in the 9th Circuit for this nomination, we would prefer that he cast his line a little more to the right and go with the real pick ... Bybee.

However, as we all know, this nominee is going to be chosen based upon what they have between their legs, not their ears. This anonymous commenter on the ATL post about Souter's replacement pretty much nailed it:

It is undeniable that a vagina is a primary qualification for the SCOTUS. That just makes sense. However, some women have a condition called didelphic uterus, which results in - wait for it - TWO vaginas.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/article344794.ece

Can you imagine the power of a two-vaginaed Justice? She would be undefeatable in the political correctness rock-paper-scissor calculations made in modern liberal thought, where her double barreled crotch shotgun would double not only her female qualifications, but perhaps even count as a physical disability. Can you imagine?! Better still, if we were able to find such a woman who was of a pre-approved minority (African-American, Hispanic, and/or Native American), her qualifications would stack up like some sort of fucking appointee Voltron.

I hereby petition Obama to divert all funds not previously diverted from National Defense into searching for such a candidate and, if possible, somehow wrestling her overpowered frame into a cage for shipment to the SCOTUS.

Please Note: We are in no way insinuating that Judge Rawlinson has two hoo-hoos ... just that it may help her chances of securing the nomination if she does.

(MSNBC; ATL; SCOTUS Blog; Voltron; Thanks, Sl)