JD Journal » lock-step compensation

Morgan Lewis Cancels 2010 Summer Associate Program

Erik Even — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:44:07 +0000

Morgan Lewis has announced a series of steps designed to save cash, including the complete cancellation of its 2010 Summer Associate Program.

The firm will do no on-campus interviewing this Fall; and current summer associates are seeing their start dates pushed back to 2011.

The firm also intends to end lock-step compensation in 2010, switching to a merit-based system.

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP is a law firm that was founded as Morgan & Lewis in Philadelphia in 1873. It has 1,400 lawyers in 22 offices worldwide.

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.

DLA Piper Defers its Deferred Associates

Erik Even — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:10:38 +0000

DLA Piper is making major changes to its associate program, including further deferrals of associates who were deferred back in April.

Eighty-five new lawyers were deferred to January, 2010. Now half of those will be further deferred to Fall 2010, and take public interest jobs in the interim.

This year’s incoming class is 15% smaller than last year; and only 65 summer associates were brought in for 2009.

DLA Piper is also working on a new compensation system for associates that abandons the tradition lock-step model and pays based on merit. The firm will also give more work to staff attorneys.

DLA Piper is one of the largest law firms in the world, with more than 3,700 lawyers in North America and Europe.

Frost Brown Todd Cuts Incoming Associate Salaries

Erik Even — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:38:49 +0000

Incoming associates at Cincinnati’s Frost Brown Todd will get a lower salary, although specific numbers have not been released.

In addition, the new associates will spend their first 1,000 hours in an “apprenticeship program.” Clients will be billed at a lower rate for work done by “apprentices.”

I keep putting the word “apprentice” in quotes because an apprentice is a 16-year-old learning to swap out a transmission, not a professional with a college degree and a law degree.

Those who complete the apprenticeship program can earn a merit-based bonus, and the opportunity to get on the regular lock-step pay track after one year.

The firm’s most famous former associates are Jerry Springer and Kenneth Starr. So, way to contribute to America, guys.

Frost Brown Todd LLC is one of the largest law firms based in the Midwestern United States. It resulted from the 2000 merger of Frost & Jacobs LLP, a Cincinnati-based firm, with Brown Todd & Heyburn PLLC, a Louisville-based firm. It presently has 370 attorneys working in nine offices throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia.

Fish & Richardson Will NOT Cut Associate Pay

Erik Even — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:03:17 +0000

Contrary to early online reports, global intellectual property firm Fish & Richardson has not announced pay cuts.

In fact, at a firmwide video conference earlier today, president Peter Devlin said the firm is not considering cutting their associate salary scale this year. Devlin’s original comments, which may or may not have been misconstrued by associates and blawggers, referred to an effort to move away from lock-step compensation towards a merit-based system.

In May, Fish & Richardson rescinded job offers to one-third of its 2009 incoming associate class, and laid off 35 lawyers and 85 staff.

Founded in 1878, Fish & Richardson is one of the largest in the world practicing intellectual property, litigation, and corporate law, and has as a legal staff of more than 450 attorneys and 1,200 employees in 12 offices across the globe, including an office in Munich, Germany. It opened its 11th US office in Houston in October.