JD Journal » associate deferrals

Chadbourne Tells Deferred Associates to Look Elsewhere

joshua — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:59:26 +0000

Chadbourne & Parke revealed yesterday that 11 of its 2009 first-year associates, which had been deferred to a 2010 start date, will not be offered jobs with the firm.

In a statement provided to Above the Law, the firm said it is unable to expand its first-year class even with the brightening economic outlook.

“Despite improving economic conditions generally and at Chadbourne, our most recent near-term projections led us to conclude that we could not justify increasing the first-year class beyond its current size and that there would be no positions available for the 11 deferred individuals,” the firm said.

According to the report, the deferred associates have already received stipend payments of $73,000 from the firm.

New York’s Chadbourne & Parke LLP, founded in 1902 by Thomas L. Chadbourne, employs 400 lawyers and tax advisers in 13 offices in nine countries. Chadbourne is best known for its global practice in project finance and energy, international insurance and reinsurance practice, multi-jurisdictional litigation in courts from Rhode Island to Russia, and corporate transactions.

McDermott Will & Emery Issue More Deferrals

joshua — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:28:12 +0000

McDermott Will & Emery associates were supposed to start work in January, but many are now being deferred again. Details are still sketchy, and it appears that no firm dates have been given yet. Associates will be brought in when their respective practice groups need them. In the meantime, they will draw a $5000 per month stipend.

Is it just me, or is it a bit harsh to issue these deferrals so late in the game? Presumably the affected associates, should they have been lucky enough to secure gainful employment while waiting to start work, have already informed their employers that they would be leaving in January. It’s certainly not inconceivable that many of them made holiday plans based on the presumption that they would be drawing a much larger salary come January.

This must be how it feels to wake up Christmas morning and find a lump of coal in your stocking.

Voluntary Deferral Extension at Mayer Brown

joshua — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:43:31 +0000

The incoming class of associates at Mayer Brown is scheduled to begin work in January after being deferred back in April. Later that same month the firm offered voluntary extension to October of 2010 with a $5000 per month stipend plus benefits, along with assistance securing public service experience in the meantime. Now we’ve learned that the firm is once again asking 18 of its 119 incoming associates to push back their start date until October, although it’s still being called a voluntary deferral. It’s unclear how voluntary the deferment actually is. If you have any specific information on the options available to those being asked to hold off starting work, please send us an anonymous tip here.

Mayer Brown is one of the largest global law firms both by number of lawyers and revenue. The firm has over 1,800 lawyers in key business centers across the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Chadbourne & Parke Restoring Salaries

joshua — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:29:57 +0000

In April, Chadbourne & Parke cut associate salaries and promised that some or all of the money would be returned based on each associates contribution to the firm. Now it appears that all of the money cut from salaries will be restored in a lump sum payment in early 2010. On the one hand, this appears to be good news for a legal industry that has been struggling along with the rest of the economy. Chadbourne had a ready made excuse to keep some of the money but isn’t doing it. On the other hand, half of Chadbourne’s class of 2009 is still deferred indefinitely.

Hard Times at Seyfarth Shaw

joshua — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:14:47 +0000

Seyfarth Shaw has told half of its deferred associates that they will not be starting in January as planned. Instead, they are being redeferred to October 2010, and will receive a stipend of $2000 dollars per month starting in January. If that wasn’t enough bad news, Seyfarth is also cutting the salaries of first year associates by five to ten percent. One can only hope that the deferral stipends aren’t subject to those cuts.

Yes, it’s nice to get paid $2000 a month to do nothing, and yes, it’s possible in some parts of the country to live on that kind of money, but in general biglaw doesn’t have offices there. Keep in mind that we’re talking about lawyers that graduated in June, got a job, and are now having to wait almost a year and a half to start working – assuming that things improve enough to start at all. With more firms pushing start dates back to October of next year, are there going to be jobs available for the 2010 grads?

Winston & Strawn Pushes Back Start Dates for Deferred Associates

joshua — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:16:31 +0000

Winston & Strawn’s class of 2009 associates were deferred back in April, and were scheduled to begin mid January of 2010. Now the firm has pushed those start dates back again. The class is being divided into three groups starting at different times. The lucky ones will begin in February, and the rest will either start at the beginning of June or the beginning of October, 2010. Keep in mind that these are lawyers who graduated in June of 2009, some of whom will now have to wait 16 months to begin work.

All of Winston & Strawn’s deferrals began receiving health benefits from the company in September of this year and will draw a stipend until they begin working. The stipend for those deferred past February will be $3300 per month, less deductions for the associate contributions to their health care plan.

New Round of Deferrals at Sidley Austin

joshua — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:40:47 +0000

Sidley Austin has announced its plans for the class of 2010. Some of the associates will be starting in January of 2011, with the remainder being deferred until January 2012. Yes, that’s a year and a half after graduation. All associates from the class of 2010 will receive health insurance from the firm beginning in June of 2010 and associates deferred until 2011 will draw a stipend beginning in January of 2010.

Presumably, setting fire to things in the meantime will not help.

Chadbourne Defers Half its Incoming Associates

joshua — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:53:53 +0000

Half of the incoming class of associates at Chadbourne & Parke have been deferred indefinitely. The firm will pay the deferred associates an additional stipend of $60,000.

This deferral comes on top of salary cuts in April and layoffs in March.