The Vault rankings of law firm prestige are out. The Vault rankings are based on surveys filled out by 15,000 law firm associates who rate firms on perceived status. No matter how you feel about rankings, these are an interesting read because they include some of the associates’ comments about the firms.

No firm based in Baltimore made the list, but several large firms with a major presence here did. Here’s are their rankings and a sampling what Vault and associates said about them.

• Hogan & Hartson (the survey was done before Hogan merged with the British firm Lovells earlier this year) ranked 28 this year, down from 25 last year. Vault comments, “As one would expect of the largest and oldest BigLaw firm with roots in Washington, D.C., Hogan & Hartson’s Beltway influence runs deep” and notes that Chief Justice John Roberts is a Hogan alum. Associates called the firm “lifestyle-friendly” but also “legends in their own minds” and criticized Hogan for “stealth layoffs.”
• DLA Piper ranked 53, down from 44 last year. Vault comments, “Some love it, some dislike it, but generally associates agree that recent salary cuts have lowered morale.” Associates said things like “competitive and diverse,” “amazing pro bono opportunities” and, somewhat bewilderingly, “extra large pizza with no toppings.” Associates also said the firm is too big. One senior associate told Vault, “Within 12 months, I have gone from my friends saying “wow” when I tell them I work at DLA Piper, to them snickering and asking me why I haven’t left yet.”
• McGuireWoods‘ ranking is unchanged from last year, at 82. Vault says, “McGuire attorneys enjoy the rewards of working at a big-market firm in small-market settings, entering friendly offices in the morning and heading home to their families at night.” Associates made comments like, “good firm; good people,” “old school, boring,” “less pressure than many other similar-sized firms” and “favoritism toward anointed associates.”
• Venable comes in at 83, up from 85 last year. Vault comments, “Venable LLP is a mid-Atlantic force that, until the capital markets meltdown, had defined itself by aggressive expansion.” Associates said, “very nice mid-Atlantic practice,” “quirky,” “strong pro bono commitment” and “bonus and compensation system allows firm to rationalize less-than-market salaries for certain associates.” There’s also a comment from a Baltimore corporate associate: “In Baltimore, we do fairly sophisticated work. It’s not Wall Street, but the projects are interesting and challenging. My practice group covers a lot of people and a lot of different sub-specialties, so it can be hard to find your place when you start. It is difficult to see what the future of the group is. While it’s not written anywhere, if you bill 2000 hours people are pleased.”

Happy Monday! Here are some law links to start your day:

• Did you know it’s legal to marry your first cousin in Maryland? Legislators, including the powerful head of the House Judiciary Committee, want to change that.
• The ever-fiery Page Croyder says district court judges are handsomely compensated for doing not much work. Anyone want to respond to her allegations?
• It was really tough to get a job as an associate at a top law firm in 2009, even if you were graduating from an excellent law school.
• It’s four years to the day since Clarence Thomas’ last question at oral arguments. A new paper argues that his silence hurts the court and his own reputation.
• Last Wednesday, an Iowa prosecutor returned from a lunch break in a murder trial with ash on his forehead. The defense attorney objected, saying it might sway the jury, the judge agreed, and the prosecutor wiped it off. Thoughts?
• The lady who crusaded against dog poop on the streets of New York, leading the city to enact a pooper-scooper law, has died at age 99. Sounds like she was a real pistol.

Happy Monday! Enjoy these law links:

• Miles & Stockbridge keeps its associates informed about firm finances.
• Fired Public Defender Nancy Forster was “totally selfless, devoted, and delightful” when Jon Katz worked with her on an appeal, he writes.
• The Washington Post has a story this morning about an absolutely crazy lawsuit. (HT: Above the Law.)
• Remember the case where the judge referred to a drug defendant’s girlfriend as his “baby mama”? It’s heading to Wisconsin’s top court after another appellate court held that the judge’s comments could create a reasonable perception that the defendant’s sentence had something to do with race.
• What should a law professor wear on the first day of class? Readers, do you remember any profs from your own law school days who made interesting sartorial choices?

Once again, Miles & Stockbridge scored high in the American Lawyer’s survey of midlevel associate satisfaction. Last year, the firm placed second; this year, it’s fifth.

As a whole, though, associate morale nosedived this year, which is no surprise.

Current and former Miles lawyers: what is the firm doing that’s keeping its associates relatively happy?

Above the Law is reporting that DLA Piper will be inviting the 2009 summer associates who get job offers to come on board in January of 2011 rather than September of 2010. The firm will be encouraging the current summer associates to defer further, to January 2012.

The 2011 start date is not terribly surprising, given that last year’s crop of summer associates, who just graduated from law school in May, will not be starting until January 2010. It’s hard to imagine any firm in this economy wanting one big group of people to start in January and a second big group to start just eight months later.

The firm’s also going to wait on recruiting summers for 2010. DLA Piper will not do on-campus recruiting until November, after it sees what kind of response it gets from the 2009 summers who get offers. My guess? They’ll get a pretty darn good response, even with the 2011 or 2012 start date. In this law market, if you’re offered a job, any job, you take it. If it’s with one of the biggest firms in the world, so much the better.

NALP has done a survey of lawyer starting salaries and has discovered that the median salary for new lawyers in 2008 was $72,000 and the mean was $92,000. This tells us… approximately nothing.

Almost nobody is actually making these salaries. Instead, starting salaries are clustered around $50,000 and $160,000, giving NALP’s accompanying graph the look of a weird stylized two-humped camel. (You don’t see it? Not even a little?)

2008 actually had the widest bimodal salary distribution of any previous year, meaning that the pay gap between those working at white-shoe firms and those doing almost anything else was bigger than ever.

As the National Law Journal points out, this graph may look different next year. While in 2008, the going rate for a first-year associate at a top firm was $160,000, in 2009, many big firms have scaled back pay in a nod to the terrible economy. In Maryland alone, DLA Piper, Miles & Stockbridge, McGuire Woods and Venable have all decreased starting salaries, and I’ll be shocked if some of the other big firms here don’t follow suit.

Of course, there’s a limit to how much the look of this graph will change from this year to next. While the big firms are lowering salaries, they’re not really going below $120,000 or so, and you can bet other entry-level lawyers are not seeing their salaries increasing.

It was only a matter of time.

Our 2009 incoming associate salary chart showed earlier this month that Venable was still planning on paying the current crop of incoming associates–well, the crop that was supposed to start in September but now will start in January 2010–last year’s going rate of $160,000. According to Above the Law, an in-house memo says that first-years will now earn a mere $145,000, in line with what other big firms, such as DLA Piper, are doing.

That’s just the beginning of the cuts. Everyone, possibly even up to equity partners, will see their numbers go down, effective July 11.

Above the Law has a leaked memo from DLA Piper saying that the firm is cutting first-year associate salaries. DLA Piper confirms. Last year, the firm’s number was $160,000 in larger markets, including Baltimore. Now, the newest incoming associates will make $145,000 instead — when they actually start. Remember that DLA Piper, like many other firms, has delayed first-years’ start dates. Instead of starting work in September 2009, DLA Piper’s new lawyers will not report to work until January 2010, though they will get a stipend in the meantime.

The memo also says the firm will adjust salaries for other associates based on year and performance. The firm says partners, of counsel and senior counsel lawyers have also taken pay cuts.

From the American Lawyer by way of Texas Lawyer comes this short piece on how firms decide which associates to lay off. It’s worth a read, though there’s nothing earth-shattering. David Bario and Drew Combs write:

So how are associates marked for extinction? Who lives, who dies, and why?

It’s not simply a matter of hours. There is a calculus involved. Some firms really are “realigning,” or making up for lack of traditional associate attrition. Others are tossing deadweight as fast as possible from a sinking ship. But even though a number of agendas are at work, firms usually start at the same place: billables.

…

Still, firm leaders say it’s rare to simply draw a line and fire every single associate who falls below it.

The writers talk to one law firm chairman who tells them that one lawyer may be producing fewer hours than a colleague but doing better work. The competent attorney with low hours may be spared.

That’s a relief, at least. I know I’m hardly the first person to point this out, but isn’t there something wrong with a culture that rewards junior employees for taking a really long time to complete their work?

HT: ABA Journal.

Womble Carlyle laid off a bunch of people yesterday, but relax: ex-Gov. Bob Ehrlich was not among them.

First of all, the fired employees appear to have been associates and staffers. Second of all, none of the cuts affected Womble’s little 10-professional Baltimore office, a firm spokesman tells me. The spokesman, Russell Thomas, would not confirm how many people in Womble’s other offices were laid off. Third of all, laying off the former governor of Maryland might be considered a teensy bit poor form.

Ehrlich, a few of his former employees from the statehouse, and some of his political allies started Womble’s Baltimore office in 2007 after Ehrlich lost his reelection bid. (Some have speculated, but Womble has denied, that the Womble outpost is a “shadow government” and that Ehrlich and company spend their time planning a rematch with O’Malley.)

So no, Ehrlich won’t be hanging around his house in sweat pants and bunny slippers, eating Bugles and watching daytime TV any time soon. In case you were worried.

UPDATE: WOMBLE RESPONDS

Although blogs have reported that some of those laid off were associates, Thomas said they were all staffers. Some lawyer salaries have been reduced, he said, but the lawyers themselves have not.