company town

Facebook Steals Your Billable Hours

LAW
• Highly paid associates are wasting lots of time on Facebook, to the tune of $50 million a year in hours the little bastards should be billing. [NYO]
• Cadwalader’s bracing for a double whammy: While trying to deal with the massive slowdown in its core mortgage practice area, the firm’s also facing a $70 million legal malpractice suit for mortgage warrantees from the late nineties. [Law.com]
• Michael Mukasey, attorney-general nominee and New York homeboy, is facing complaints that he used a U.S. marshal to take out the trash, and we don’t mean that figuratively. [AP via Law.com]

FINANCE
• Here come the pink slips: Credit Suisse laid off 150 in the mortgage division; cuts are still mostly out-of-town, though one team of New Yorkers got the boot. [NYP]
• Manhattan’s still weathering the mortgage meltdown just fine, but the rest of the boroughs are slumping hard. [NYP]
• More signs that Goldman runs the world economy: With a big British bank close to insolvent, the U.K. government turned to Goldman for advice, and with Congress worried about the power of hedge funds, they’re establishing two blue-ribbon panels — three tenths of which come from Goldman. [DealBook/NYT]

MEDIA
• Don Hewitt, octogenarian creator of 60 Minutes: “What Dan Rather is incensed about is, CBS has done to him what he did to Walter Cronkite.” Or does Rather just want one last scoop against his old employers? [NYP, NYO]
• After three editors in twelve months, and with James Kaminsky gone to Maxim, Jann Wenner can’t get anyone interested in taking over Men’s Journal. Supposed $300,000 salary aside, “the problem with the job is that you are taking it for the severance package.” [NYP]
• Two months before News Corp. takes over, staffers at the Journal say the Murdoch era has already begun. [NYO]

FASHION
• Sugar Publishing, owner of the Fab Sugar blog, is acquiring search engine Shop Style. Incidentally, NBC gave Sugar pub $10 million in financing. Apparently, Web 2.0 does exist! [WWD]
• Are Miu Miu and Balenciaga using the same accessories designer? Or has fashion finally run out of ideas? [Fashionista]
• Marc by Marc Jacobs menswear shop’s neighbors are up in arms over the noise and trash behind the store’s alley. Someone needs a prezzie? [Racked]

Facebook Steals Your Billable Hours