Merrill did win assignments from Internet Capital Group, Pets.com, Buy.com and Quokka Sports.
That model — and the firm's success — helped it win assignments like managing Florida's state-run investment fund, which had earlier invested heavily in subprime-related securities.
"I would have no assurance of my committee assignments, and even if I won, assignment to the same committees, I would lose all seniority.
So far, Mind Tree has won assignments from Lucent Technologies, Avis and BP Amoco.
"We are already hard at work replacing" the revenue lost from HSBC, Jerry Judge, chief executive at Lowe, said in a statement, "by winning assignments from the likes of Nestlé, Unilever, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson and Interbrew".
When Mr. Romney was building Bain into one of the world's premier private equity firms, Goldman's bankers clamored for Bain business, and won assignments advising or financing an array of Bain deals, including Bain's 1997 $800 million buyout of Sealy, the nation's largest mattress company, which it later sold.
The first phase (line 7 11, Fig. 2) takes all the winning assignments the receiver has stored and compares how correct that information is with the sender.
Mr. Smith says, "Listen, ah, I talked to Kamal last night" and explains that Morgan Stanley had tried to win the assignment to sell Vishay but that another bank "got the mandate".
Perhaps the most desirable role is that of the swing Justice, who can control the outcome of cases and thus also win the assignment of writing important majority opinions.
But the firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, used Mr. Giuliani's name in its pitch to win the assignment, and his clout was a reason it landed the job, said Seyoum Solomon, an Ethiopian-American from Maryland who helped negotiate the deal.
