The $16 billion merger of SBC Communications Inc. and AT&T Corp. represented a high-water mark in the legal cattle call known as document production. Some 600 contract attorneys converged in Washington, D.C., to work on the SBC side of the deal, where the telecom giant’s antitrust counsel, Crowell & Moring and Arnold & Porter, ran a massive antitrust regulatory review. A few hundred more in Chicago labored for Sidley Austin at AT&T’s behest.
Luring the contract attorneys-also called temporary attorneys-was the promise of several months’ document review work at $32 an hour plus overtime, potentially worth $50,000 over the four-month review. But the near-chaotic conditions the temps found was more than some bargained for. Jammed along narrow tables in a leased space at Fifteenth and M streets, the 600 temps in Washington coded documents for anything related to telecom competition for later review by Crowell’s full-time attorneys. They fought exhaustion to punch in as many hours as possible. Many showed up at 7 a.m. (breakfast buffet) and soldiered on till midnight (lunch and dinner provided). One temp from out of town lived in her car, taking showers at her gym. One slow day, a senior Crowell partner was given a tour. “The floor managers told us, ‘Look busy,’ ” recalls a temp who worked on the case. “ So we all stared at our screens, tap-tapping the keyboards randomly.”
