More than a month after discovering the body of an up-and-coming young D.C. attorney in an upscale hotel room, police believe they have a lead: a 21-year-old woman caught on surveillance cameras the night of the murder.

It's been a brutal day in the legal world. More than a dozen firms announced sweeping layoffs today, according to Above the Law. To wit: As many as 200 people at DLA Piper may be out of jobs; Bryan Cave reportedly handed out pink slips to 58 attorneys today; Dechert confirmed that it dropped 19 attorneys across the U.S.; Goodwin Procter sacked 74 people; Epstein Becker and Green dismissed 23 attorneys and 30 staff members; Cadwalader dropped 16 people in London; Cozen O'Connor laid off 61; Faegre & Benson gave notice to 29 attorneys; and as many as 200-300 people could be out of a job at Holland & Knight this afternoon. And this is just since eleven o'clock this morning. (Tomorrow is Friday the 13th, so it may very well get worse.) If you notice lots of men in rumpled suits walking around Grand Central Station in a daze, now you know why.

Among a group of tech executives and venture capitalists, 9 out of 10 respondents to a survey commissioned by law firm DLA Piper say they do not expect the tech-IPO market to return until the end of 2009. [DLA Piper]