I was pretty impressed with Dreier’s chutzpah, but Madoff just brought swindling to a whole new level.

No BigLaw connection yet, but I expect some of the hedge funds, if not the defendant, will be retaining our colleagues presently.

Previously: No Bail for Dreier

The Wall Street Journal has the scoop on the advisors: GM has engaged patriarch of the bankruptcy bar, Harvey Miller of Weil Gotshal (Brooklyn BA ’54, Columbia JD ’59), and Marty Bienenstock (Penn BS ’74, Michigan JD ’77) of Dewey & LeBoeuf is also involved.  Financial advisors include Jay Alix, who is coming out of semi-retirement, Evercore’s William Repko, and Blackstone’s Arthur Newman.

Update (1:27 PM): Treasury is ready to step in to make sure the Big 3 stay afloat to keep making cars noone wants.  Thank goodness the government is willing to step in and do what the people (or their representatives) don’t want done.

Mark Pomerantz of Paul Weiss was appointed as receiver of Dreier’s eponymous firm (a sinking ship from which lawyers are jumping like, umm… rats).  Of course, Dreier is in 24-hour lockdown, so Pomerantz can’t even get good access to him.  But a kind magistrate is working on that.  The most-recent news is that the magistrate and the Bureau of Prisons are going to have to work out a long-term arrangement, because Dreier has been denied bail because Magistrate Judge Eaton found that

the government’s evidence does appear to show an enormous risk of flight.

That ain’t good.  Apparently, when you’re accused of stealing $380 million total, folks are worried that you might have stashed it away someplace beyond the long arm of the US (and Canadian) law.

Prior to founding his firm, Dreier spent time at Rosenman & Colin and Fulbright & Jaworski.

When asked if the firm would be representing Big Rod this time around, an unnamed Winston partner said the firm would have to take a pass.  Looking at the debts Blagojevich has run up, including about $750,000 in mortgages, against his $177,000 salary – he’s probably not a good credit risk right now anyway.

The New York Times reports that Pohl is reuniting with former Skadden Chicago colleague David Kurtz.  The Times also has an interesting list of bankruptcy lawyers-turned-bankruptcy bankers: James Milstein (Cleary – Lazard); Harvey Miller (Weil – Greenhill (and back to Weil)); and Jim Sprayregen (Kirkland – Goldman).

The move from lawyer to banker usually results in a bump in pay, so Pohl is doing pretty well.  Skadden partners took home $2.3 million on average last year, and group heads (especially in the practice are of the moment, as bankruptcy obviously is right now) tend to get paid substantially above the average.  Any thoughts on how much?

Jessica Cutler (cc)

Jessica Cutler of Washingtonienne (trashy dating blog turned book deal turned SJP pilot) fame married Milbank 2nd-year Charles Rubio (BS/BBA Texas ’03, NYU JD ’07).  Theirs was a whirlwind affair (her fifth engagement but first marriage, no stats on his nuptial batting average), which Cutler chronicled in her blog and a recent interview with The Daily Beast. 

BigLaw-junior-associate-marrying-sex-blogger stories are few and far between, but Cutler mentions one particularly amusing/unusual aspect of the pairing (emphasis added):

[I]f we had the wedding in a church, my side would be full of dealers, cons, and 18-karat pimps, and his side would be all lawyers. No wedding should look like Central Booking.

But in our experience, that sort of crowd has provided some of the most-entertaining receptions.

Best of luck to the happy couple.

Tim Goodell

White & Case M&A partner Tim Goodell (Davidson BA ’79, UVA JD ’84) will be joining long-time client Hess Corp. as general counsel, effective January 5. Goodell held a number of administrative and leadership roles at the firm, including as a member of the management committee and co-head of the M&A group.

Fortunately, he doesn’t have to worry about one interesting conflict: the Hess family used to own the NY Jets (Tim repped Leon Hess’s estate in the sale in 2000) and Tim’s brother Roger is now commissioner of the NFL.

This could be one of the rare cases where the move in-house results in a pay raise. White & Case had pretty good profits per partner of $1,670,000 in 2007, but J. Barclay Collins, who is presumably retiring from his post as GC of Hess, brought in $5,089,255 (total comp, including cash, bonus, stock, options, etc.). That being said, rumor has it that Goodell was paid at the high end of White & Case’s scale, and Collins does have almost 24 years’ service with Hess, so it might be pretty close to a wash.

Jason asks a good question: Is anyone else getting a 4.3% raise this year, like the average firm asked for?

One of the questions was “Which form of speech did the Supreme Court label as unprotected by the First Amendment in Roth v. United States (1957)?”  Roth is a case near and dear to our hearts.  (For those who don’t recall, Roth protected obscene speech)

HT: Tony Mauro