Sands:
When your first firm gave you the Axe, did they do it like in Office Space, or did they leave you a stickey note on your computer and deactivate your fob?
Also, how many SA's at your firm do you think are gonna get No-offered this summer?
I tried to come into work one day and found all my poo outside on the sidewalk. Just kidding. 
Actually, what had happened was...As with many other firms, the rumors and speculation were buzzing long before we got any official word. Everybody was walking on pins and needles for months. I officially found out by opening up the Wall Street Journal and reading a headline that our firm was giving folks the axe. That forced the partners' hand to come clean and so then they broke their silence and gave people official notice.
Re your second question - that is the million dollar question that everybody has been wondering, especially the summer associates. Wish I knew but I don't make those decisions so I'd hate to speculate and freak people out anymore than they already are. I can tell you that the morale among the summers is down. They all pretty much expect to get axed regardless of whether this is true or not.
So what advice would you give to a SA that got no-offered and is forced into 3L OCI.
It used to be that only "drunk idiots who did crappy work" got no-offered, but now it is a likely possibility that good SA's will get the axe. Do you think they'll still have that stigma of "what was wrong with you?" surrounding them when they enter the Job hunt/rat race again?
Absolutely not.
Look, everybody knows that BigLaw is getting bent over right now. After I lost my job, every single place I interviewed with knew what time it was and nobody asked me "so why did you leave?" 1 year ago, you would have been asked that if you tried to jump ship from one firm to another. Today, all the conventional wisdom of Biglaw has been turned on its head. I've literally seen scores of the best and brightest attorneys in the profession from the best schools get laid off in the blink of an eye like they were nothing. Once I saw my frat brother get laid off from Skadden, I knew that silly season was in full effect. This guy was Ivy league undergrad, T-14 law school, Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, came out of law school working for Cravath right off the bat before transferring over to Skadden. Laid off.
Bananas I tell you. Straight bananas.
So no stigma should attach to any summer who is in 3L OCI trying to find a job. As a 3L you should have the right to smack somebody with the Homey the Clown sock for even suggesting something that stupid in an interview.
Although as a caveat, 3L OCI is traditionally a hard sell even in good economic times. Most firms don't hire 3L's, as you probably know. Thus, my advice for folks who get dinged from their SA position, either (i) go into a clerkship or (ii) search outside the V-100.