Tag Archive | "salary cuts"

Revenue and Profits Down at Goodwin Procter

Friday, January 29, 2010

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Revenue and Profits Down at Goodwin Procter

Goodwin Procter’s gross revenues fell 4% in 2009 to $658 million and per partner profits dropped 3% to $1.27 million. Although discouraging, in a year marked by layoffs, deferrals and salary cuts it could have been much worse. The good news is that the firm is not taking it out on its associates, [...]

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Merit Based Pay at Drinker Biddle

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

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Merit Based Pay at Drinker Biddle

Drinker Biddle is moving to a merit based pay system, becoming the latest in a string of major law firms to abandon lockstep compensation. Under the new plan associates in their second year and beyond are broken down into four tiers. Each tier has a baseline salary but the firm is quick to [...]

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Layoffs at Seyfarth Shaw

Friday, January 15, 2010

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Layoffs at Seyfarth Shaw

Seyfarth Shaw is letting go of approximately 40 people, 20 lawyers and 20 staff. It’s been rough over at Seyfarth over the past year and they’ve taken several steps to keep costs down. In December, the firm cut salaries as part of a move toward merit based compensation. In November, it re-deferred [...]

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Morning Roundup

Thursday, January 14, 2010

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Good morning everyone! Today is Thursday, January 14, and here’s a quick look at yesterday’s news… The Supreme Court ruled against televising the Proposition 8 trial… The Practicing Law Institute will hold a symposium on “hot button” topics on February 1… Dyncorp is being sued by two National Guardsmen… Robert Pringle is the antitrust lawyer of the year, [...]

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Salary Cuts at Kaye Scholer

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

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Salary Cuts at Kaye Scholer

Kaye Scholer is cutting first year associate salaries to $145k, but unlike many other firms they aren’t doing it under the guise of abandoning lockstep compensation. Additionally, any associate that hits their billable hour target by December will be getting a bonus that should bring them back to or above $160k. In the [...]

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Salary Cuts and Merit Based Compensation at McDermott Will & Emery

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

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Salary Cuts and Merit Based Compensation at McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will & Emery is moving to a merit based compensation system beginning in 2011. Like several other merit based plans we’ve detailed on these pages, this is a three tiered system. Some firms have moved to a merit based plan that holds the line on starting salaries, while others have cut base [...]

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Morning Roundup

Friday, January 8, 2010

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Good morning! It’s Friday, January 8, and here’s a peek back at yesterday’s stories… Two firmsin the Carolinas have merged… California Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed three attorneys to state posts… There are conflicting reports on the pace of law firm mergers in 2009… Sedgwick picked up seven attorneys in California… Jaffe Associates is now known as Jaffe PR… Moore & [...]

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Holland & Knight is the Next to Abandon Lockstep

Friday, December 18, 2009

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Holland & Knight is the Next to Abandon Lockstep

I think it’s time for some new terminology. Lockstep compensation referred in the past to associates moving up in pay scale in “lockstep” with their contemporaries. All associates from the same class got the same raise, year after year. But it also holds another connotation – that all biglaw firms move together [...]

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Seyfarth Shaw Abandons Lockstep

Thursday, December 17, 2009

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Seyfarth Shaw Abandons Lockstep

Like many firms before it, Seyfarth Shaw is abandoning lockstep starting in 2011. Details haven’t been released, not even to the associates who must now spend next year trying to hit performance goals that have not been announced in order to receive salaries that have not yet been determined but that’s just part of the [...]

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More Bonus News – And it’s a Little Different

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

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More Bonus News – And it’s a Little Different

Two more firms have announced their bonus schedules and they’re a bit different from the Cravath scale. Sullivan & Cromwell is paying bonuses ranging from $7500 to $35,000 depending on class year. The only change is at the high end where senior associates will receive $5000 more than at firms on the Cravath scale. Patton Boggs [...]

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