The Dirt Lawyer's Blog Archive

The AmLaw 100 is out, and many big law firms had a decline in revenue last year. And you've seen many if not most of them whacking staff, associates, non-equity partners and even some equity partners in response. So how much should we cry? I'm not so sure. Take Chicago , for instance. According to the Tribune, "Average profits per partner at six of the 11 [Chicago-based firms in the AmLaw 100] either fell or were flat compared with 2007." That means five were up, perhaps modestly, but up nonetheless. And those that fell? Mayer Brown: PPP went down to $1.11 million. Sonnenschein: oh my gosh, the PPP went down from $915K to $805. The partners may have to cut back to one country club membership. Kirkland was the big boy, as it usually is, with flat PPP of $2.47 million. Get out the violins. No tears here. In short? BigLaw's a business and it has been for years now. Most partners are still making plenty of money and to ensure profits do not tumble too much th...

There are times -- today is one of them -- when I'd like to be writing about a lot of topics, but business just won't allow it. I do, however, to tweet about them when I can. So check out or subscribe to my Twitter account or the column to the right, which is updated continuously. Have a great day!

OK, now this is one we can expect. The question is, where does it end? Loans are coming due, CMBS is dead and equity will need to be found to refinance stuff even when you can find a lender. Call it both a great opportunity and a scary time, depending on where you sit at the table. Thoughts, anyone?

Well, I had no clue on this one. I know it happened the other day, but now that I am back home from vacation I cannot help but say a few words (beyond my previous tweet) about the Chapter 11 filing by Sheldon Good & Co. , the Chicago-based real estate auction powerhouse. The company says its filing can be blamed upon its late Chair and CEO, Steven Good, who sadly took his own life in January. Millions of dollars may be missing. Ouch. (By the way, a link to Steve's book and his web tribute are still on the website.) Those who follow the company had to assume there had been some down times just because the market is in the tank, but you might also think the company might do some volume on liquidations caused by the economy. In fact the filing makes me wonder where the auction business is. We also know there'd been a long standing fight between Steve and his father, company founder Sheldon Good, that led to the elder Good's departure from the company. (Crain's sa...

GGP says it does not want to sell core assets in its bankruptcy. But Retail Traffic correctly points out that many industry insiders don't think that can happen. And that makes sense to me. Look at the LTV of its portfolio and the amount of debt the company has to restructure. In any event, read for yourself and make your own conclusions. And sharpen your due dilgence pencils.

A Trump Tower Chicago resident is apparently complaining that Jenner & Block's lights are on 24/7, and that this is disturbing her sleep, not to mention that Jenner's wasting energy. Not very green, I guess, but yhey are a BigLaw firm, and that's the way many of these folks operate. (When I was in BigLaw lights went out around 9 as I recall; after that you had to work them manually in your office.) OK, so this buyer never bothered to check out a million dollar-ish condo at night for the views or other issues? She's apparently using eyemasks now (uhhh, yeah, a good idea), but that's not good enough. But at the end of the day I don't understand why the Tribune story failed to catch a key issue here, one that hopefully makes this story a non-story soon. As I recall, Jenner is moving to new digs later this year. Hopefully that solves this "problem."

I'm on vacation this week, which explains the dearth of posting. But I did run across an item from South One Capital's blog that made me want to say something quick about letters of intent . An LOI, while generally non-binding, is important for two reasons: first, as the post says, most institutional investors will seldom look at a deal without an LOI. This is as true for sales and leases as it is for loans. Second, the LOI is the general road map for the structure of the deal. Yes, things can change, but if deal terms change thereafter then you get accused of retrading. That's okay, of course, but be prepared. But more importantly, often key issues that impact the legal side get negotiated in the letter of intent. I am not giving everything away for free, but believe me, there are many things that a good lawyer can help you with here. Moral of the story? Get your lawyer involved now, at the beginning of the deal. You may spend a few extra dollars but the lawyer cou...