Most Am Law 100 firms are not jumping on the deferral bandwagon as a way to deal with overstaffing.  Seven out of the ten most profitable partnerships are allowing their new associates to start in the fall as promised.  These firms are as follows:   Boies, Schiller & Flexner; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; Kirkland & Ellis; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges; Sullivan & Cromwell; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz.  Those firms not following suit include Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; and Schulte, Roth & Zabel.  Cravath offered $80,000 in addition to health care and loan repayment stipends to those lawyers that defer for a year.  Simpson Thacher gave their incoming class an option to do public service for $60,000 with health insurance.  Schulte, Roth made deferment mandatory. 

Source:  www.amlawydaily.typepad.com