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Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 6:57 pm
by Anonymous User
ATL Broke this, but this has been their status quo for a while.

Essentially, if you only had good reviews as a summer, you'll have no idea but they will hire add'l LLM's and if they're slow before they start, some summers will go and it is what it is.

Having a return offer at Dechert isn't really a return offer. Technically, it's always at will but Dechert uses the fact you assume that it's not to essentially draw in a large enough class that they will get a bunch of people if they need a lot or be able to lay a bunch off without much added cost.

You would be foolish to treat an offer here like an offer elsewhere. It's a great firm and great place to start your career. Off the record, the assumptions about the industry are used to your disadvantage. It's not that first years are fired because they couldn't cut it or didn't get enough work.

9 out of 10 of these laid off first years were going to be laid off before they started. It's not "we couldn't get you busy". It's that when they were stressing for the bar, they were already on a list.

It's a great place to work if you're 100% that your exit interview "everyone loved you" means everyone loved you "1st or 2nd most". You can't just be good enough. If you bank on just doing a good job and fitting in, your career may be over before it starts. This is not big law. This is Dechert.




YOU WILL BE SOLICITED BY TRANSITION SERVICES. I WAS CALLED THE SAME DAY, AND TOLD NOT TO CONTACT ANYONE AT THE FIRM ABOUT IT OR ANYONE ELSE OR THAT EVEN TELLING FAMILY CAN MAKE IT HARDER TO FIND ANOTHER JOB.

YOUR "TRANSITION SERVICES" ARE TALKING ABOUT HOW NICE THE FIRM WAS TO PAY FOR TRANSITION SERVICES, AND THE IMPORTANCE AS PRIORITY 1, 2 AND 3 OF NO ONE ELSE FINDING OUT DECHERT LAID ANYONE OFF.

You will also be pulled from the website early as the firm's policy is to "move away from time on the website and severance".

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 7:29 pm
by PeanutsNJam
Wow Dechert must have a huge penis

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 7:34 pm
by Anonymous User
You just feel dumb when you went to a lower vault firm because of fit, and turned down v-10's afterwards because it felt disloyal just to learn 6 months in that everyone saying to "enjoy" being slow and it's natural for first years means: we overhired, sorry. sign this, and look for a new job. if you don't sign it, get out.

I remember being called daily not by the firm but some car salesman they hired for y career advisement who never gave such advisement but called me that night to urge me not to tell anyone, including family or friends at the firm and somehow convinced me the most important thing to not getting a job was to never tell friends and family what happened.

Honestly, just knowing other people who got laid off is a blessing, because I Dechert's policy is to go to extreme lengths to make sure they don't find out about each other so they're easier to brush aside. Now, ideally, the aggrieved could maybe not unionize but they essentially have power in the sense they can by ensuring the rights of one, ensure the rights of all.

If you get a call from a career adviser, it's bullshit. Hang up on them. If they're paid by Dechert, they're not trustworthy and they do not give a shit about you or your family. Hang up.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 7:41 pm
by favabeansoup
Firm wide or office specific?

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 7:44 pm
by Anonymous User
Def NYC, but ATL says firm wide. I'm not sure it's news. They've been doing this forever. Some idiot just signed their own death warrant. The firm is clear about the consequences of leaking to ATL. Because of one idiot, none of them may ever work again. At the very least, the one responsible should step forward. You shouldn't make sure no one gets their severance and is bad mouthed around the industry because you wanted to email ATL. At least come forward.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 7:49 pm
by Man from Nantucket
Anonymous User wrote:Def NYC, but ATL says firm wide. I'm not sure it's news. They've been doing this forever. Some idiot just signed their own death warrant. The firm is clear about the consequences of leaking to ATL. Because of one idiot, none of them may ever work again. At the very least, the one responsible should step forward. You shouldn't make sure no one gets their severance and is bad mouthed around the industry because you wanted to email ATL. At least come forward.
(Dechert partner)

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 7:52 pm
by grades??
Man from Nantucket wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Def NYC, but ATL says firm wide. I'm not sure it's news. They've been doing this forever. Some idiot just signed their own death warrant. The firm is clear about the consequences of leaking to ATL. Because of one idiot, none of them may ever work again. At the very least, the one responsible should step forward. You shouldn't make sure no one gets their severance and is bad mouthed around the industry because you wanted to email ATL. At least come forward.
(Dechert partner)
100%

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 8:06 pm
by Anonymous User
No, but I was told in no uncertain times if this got on ATL, I'm done, career done, lawsuit, etc. I got calls about it saying essentially if I told family and it somehow got on ATL, that would be bad so that would be bad so don't tell my family. I'm pretty sure they knew I posted on TLS so focused on me - this was a little while ago. This has been ongoing, and today ATL found out so what I'm saying if they don't come forward, the people like me will be blamed. This isn't a white shoe firm. If you wouldn't go blow to blow with a Jacoby & Meyers partner because they sketch you out, picture that x10. If they have a decent bone in their body, come forward.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 8:11 pm
by PeanutsNJam
TIL Dechert is Scientology

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 8:12 pm
by dailygrind
That's ridiculous. If there are 11-12 people who got laid off, how could they tell who leaked it to ATL?

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 8:19 pm
by Vincent Adultman
Anonymous User wrote:No, but I was told in no uncertain times if this got on ATL, I'm done, career done, lawsuit, etc. I got calls about it saying essentially if I told family and it somehow got on ATL, that would be bad so that would be bad so don't tell my family. I'm pretty sure they knew I posted on TLS so focused on me - this was a little while ago. This has been ongoing, and today ATL found out so what I'm saying if they don't come forward, the people like me will be blamed. This isn't a white shoe firm. If you wouldn't go blow to blow with a Jacoby & Meyers partner because they sketch you out, picture that x10. If they have a decent bone in their body, come forward.
Really glad this got leaked. These people sound like pieces of shit.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 10:24 pm
by Abbie Doobie
this shit is fuckin crazy

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 10:41 pm
by RaceJudicata
Dude.. totally recognize that it is a terrible situation for you. I wouldn't handle it well either. But you seem to be unhinged. Talk to love ones, friends, family, whoever.

Shitty situation, yes, but this is getting crazy.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 10:53 pm
by Anonymous User
RaceJudicata wrote:Dude.. totally recognize that it is a terrible situation for you. I wouldn't handle it well either. But you seem to be unhinged. Talk to love ones, friends, family, whoever.

Shitty situation, yes, but this is getting crazy.
Fair, but (1) someone leaking it brought it back into my purview and (2) I feel bad for not telling coworkers. I honestly think one or two people who aren't going to land on their feet would have already left if they had been given a heads up. (3) I'm angry because i'm going to have guilt about 2 for a while.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 10:53 pm
by jbagelboy
Whoa

Dechert is so much worse than I could have imagined

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:05 pm
by Pomeranian
Bad situation all around since now word is out that “under billers” from Dechert are on the market. Dechert is no angel, but whoever leaked hurt all the laid off employees looking for work :(.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:13 pm
by shelob
jbagelboy wrote:Whoa

Dechert is so much worse than I could have imagined
Yeah

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:25 pm
by Vincent Adultman
Also, is Dechert the mafia? What are they gonna do to you, kill you and your family for breaking your blood oath?

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:30 pm
by shelob
I'm also confused by this happening now: you're saying people who have been working 7 months got the axe? That seems absurd to me on almost any metric

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:50 pm
by TheoO
We don't know how many of the laid off were first-years, do we?

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 11:55 pm
by redsox550
anyone who thinks a v100, or any mega firm in the public eye, will sue them for tattle tailing to ATL, is an idiot.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 12:35 am
by dixiecupdrinking
This news sucks but there is also one really unhinged Dechert anon on here who is making it really tough to parse any real info.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 12:55 am
by Anonymous User
In response to the assertion that people there for 7 months getting the axe is absurd, this has been standard protocol for some time.

I understand I shot my credibility in earlier posts, but the logic is that in 2009, the firms that rescinded 3L's got a lot of slack. Dechert never made the same corrections those firms did, and have made the same mistakes repeatedly. What they found is it's easier to do it after the people start. It's a lot of salary to bite so 7 months is rare. I'm saying 3-4 months. I get there's bitterness and anger in my posts, but not one thing I said in any post has been proven wrong and almost all of them have been proven right.

I realize that part of groupthink is making an ad hominem attack at the person providing any atypical description. I don't care about that. My hope is that a family that would otherwise not have bread on the table in a year from now will because they read this post. Instead, that spot would be taken by someone who would not have had a job anyway and came into it viewing it as a week-to-week gig as they should. I don't care if you attack my credibility. I only care about doing the right thing. i realize everything I said has been proven wrong, and Dechert has never hired any first years ever. The first years in the ATL article didn't exist because there is a big scheme to troll Dechert.

Again, it's not news. It happens repeatedly. Generally, you don't worry about it because you're told that there was 1 horror story or that 10% of a given class was just terrible. This is more a case of one first year probably breaking standard protocol than a "omg first years fired". If you want evidence, what evidence would you like? I will give whatever evidence I can reasonably give. I have not spread any misinformation, and while some of it may be impacted by being personally upset, no objective fact I have given has been incorrect in any way, shape or form. Moreover, my intent in giving these facts has not been anger. It has sincerely and honestly been a desire to help people, because this has a family wide impact and when you have one company not playing by the same moral code, you have wide scale social harm that can be prevented by simply spreading awareness.

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 1:14 am
by Vincent Adultman
Anonymous User wrote:In response to the assertion that people there for 7 months getting the axe is absurd, this has been standard protocol for some time.

I understand I shot my credibility in earlier posts, but the logic is that in 2009, the firms that rescinded 3L's got a lot of slack. Dechert never made the same corrections those firms did, and have made the same mistakes repeatedly. What they found is it's easier to do it after the people start. It's a lot of salary to bite so 7 months is rare. I'm saying 3-4 months. I get there's bitterness and anger in my posts, but not one thing I said in any post has been proven wrong and almost all of them have been proven right.

I realize that part of groupthink is making an ad hominem attack at the person providing any atypical description. I don't care about that. My hope is that a family that would otherwise not have bread on the table in a year from now will because they read this post. Instead, that spot would be taken by someone who would not have had a job anyway and came into it viewing it as a week-to-week gig as they should. I don't care if you attack my credibility. I only care about doing the right thing. i realize everything I said has been proven wrong, and Dechert has never hired any first years ever. The first years in the ATL article didn't exist because there is a big scheme to troll Dechert.

Again, it's not news. It happens repeatedly. Generally, you don't worry about it because you're told that there was 1 horror story or that 10% of a given class was just terrible. This is more a case of one first year probably breaking standard protocol than a "omg first years fired". If you want evidence, what evidence would you like? I will give whatever evidence I can reasonably give. I have not spread any misinformation, and while some of it may be impacted by being personally upset, no objective fact I have given has been incorrect in any way, shape or form. Moreover, my intent in giving these facts has not been anger. It has sincerely and honestly been a desire to help people, because this has a family wide impact and when you have one company not playing by the same moral code, you have wide scale social harm that can be prevented by simply spreading awareness.
(cuck)

Re: Dechert First Year Layoffs - NOT NEWS

Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 1:20 am
by DildaMan
Anonymous User wrote: I understand I shot my credibility in earlier posts, but the logic is that in 2009, the firms that rescinded 3L's got a lot of slack. Dechert never made the same corrections those firms did, and have made the same mistakes repeatedly. What they found is it's easier to do it after the people start. It's a lot of salary to bite so 7 months is rare. I'm saying 3-4 months. I get there's bitterness and anger in my posts, but not one thing I said in any post has been proven wrong and almost all of them have been proven right.

I realize that part of groupthink is making an ad hominem attack at the person providing any atypical description. I don't care about that. My hope is that a family that would otherwise not have bread on the table in a year from now will because they read this post. Instead, that spot would be taken by someone who would not have had a job anyway and came into it viewing it as a week-to-week gig as they should. I don't care if you attack my credibility. I only care about doing the right thing. i realize everything I said has been proven wrong, and Dechert has never hired any first years ever. The first years in the ATL article didn't exist because there is a big scheme to troll Dechert.
I don't understand. You might want to chill out and maybe step away from the computer for a bit. It's hard to parse.