JD Journal » education & training

Orrick Abandons Lock-step Compensation for Associates

Erik Even — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:35:01 +0000

San Francisco’s Orrick, which laid off 300 employees in March, is abandoning lock-step compensation for associates.

Under a lock-step scheme, associate salaries are determined entirely by how long the associate has been with the firm.

Orrick’s new compensation model places associates on the partner track into one of three levels: Associate, Managing Associate, and Senior Associate. Compensation will be based on level, and clear guidelines for moving up through the levels will be provided.

Associates not on the track to partner will be on a personalized program called the Custom Track.

The firm is also expanding its associate training, mentoring, and feedback systems.

San Francisco, California-based Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe was founded in 1863, and has over 1,100 lawyers worldwide in 21 offices. The firm’s day-to-day administrative operations are centralized at a Global Operations Center in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Akerman Senterfitt Creates Florida’s First Minority Legal Pipeline Program

Erik Even — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:56:30 +0000

Akerman Senterfitt has announced a new partnership with the Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University Law School, one of Florida’s oldest historically black universities, to promote diversity in the legal profession.

The project is led by Joseph W. Hatchett, former Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and current Chair of the Appellate Practice Group and Diversity Committee at Akerman.

Fewer than 3% of lawyers throughout Florida are minorities. The program seeks to overcome this disparity by focusing on the entire spectrum of education, from kindergarten to law-school and bar admission, looking to encourage diverse candidates toward the legal profession.

Judge Hatchett, a FAMU alumnus who received his JD from the Howard University School of Law, made history in 1975 when Governor Reuben Askew appointed him to the Supreme Court of Florida. He became the first African-American elected to the highest court in the state in 1976.

Akerman Senterfitt was founded in 1920, and has grown to become one of the largest law firms in the United States. In 2008, the National Law Journal ranked the firm as 92nd largest in the US by number of attorneys, and the second-largest Florida-based firm.

Drinker Biddle Will Not Defer Associates, But Will Cut Salaries

Erik Even — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:44:02 +0000

Drinker Biddle will allow its 36 incoming associates to start on time in September; but their salaries will be reduced, and they will enter a training program rather than jumping right in.

From a memo so long, we wondered if he catches the whale at the end:

Many of our lawyers have asked us whether we intend to modify our hiring program. In particular, given client questions about the value of very junior lawyers, it has been suggested that we should rely more on lateral hiring of more senior lawyers who have already received their initial training elsewhere. …we believe the answer is not to cut off the source of talent and future leaders of our firm by abandoning our traditional practice of hiring lawyers out of law schools. Nevertheless, we are now reviewing how we run our summer programs and train recent law school graduates to be Drinker Biddle lawyers. …we may very well hire fewer people and commit to train them better.

We have also decided to welcome and train our incoming lawyers rather than defer their arrival for months or a full year…

Accordingly, we are advising all of our incoming lawyers to join us in late September of this year and to expect to spend the first several months of their practice receiving intensive training – a training program far more rigorous and focused than any we have previously provided. Although much of this training will be focused on traditional legal skills relevant to particular areas of practice, we also expect to spend substantial time educating our new lawyers about our clients’ businesses and Drinker Biddle’s approach to adding value in countless practical ways…

During this initial period.. we will pay our incoming lawyers at an annual salary rate of $105,000. Any client work they perform will be billed at a significant rate reduction to ensure that, if new lawyers perform work for clients, the value is clear. In the spring of 2010 – once our new lawyers have been with us for at least six months – we expect to bring their compensation in line with then prevalent market rates for first-year lawyers.

The firm also announced a new flex time policy.

Some time in 2010, the firm plans to announce a new structure for associate compensation and bonuses.

Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP was founded in Philadelphia in 1849. The firm has more than 650 attorneys in 12 offices in the US. Its largest offices are in Philadelphia; Chicago; Florham Park, New Jersey; and Washington, DC.

Clifford Chance to Cut 115 Staffers

Erik Even — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:15:40 +0000

Clifford Chance has announced further cuts to its London office, with the Magic Circle firm set to make up to 115 business support staff redundant.

The firm started reviewing its 1,200 strong London business support staff earlier this year, with details emerging today that between 105 and 115 positions will be cut.

The job cuts, which come on top of a separate redundancy program for London lawyers that is expected to result in 80 job cuts, will affect all business support functions in London other than IT.

Clifford Chance is appointing employee representatives from functions including human resources, secretarial, mail room, building maintenance, finance, business development, and education and training departments. The representatives will communicate with staff and give feedback to the firm over the 90-day consultation period.

IT staff are subject to a separate consultation of the firm’s offshore global services center, which is expected to lead to a number of job losses and some positions being sent to India.

The firm declined to comment about cuts to its international offices.

In addition to the business support and associate job cuts, Clifford Chance is also mid-way through a wide-scale review of the firm’s partnership, which is expected to see a number of salaried and equity partners expelled.