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, [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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 [...]
Continue reading...Friday, January 15, 2010
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 [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, January 14, 2010
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, [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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 [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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 [...]
Continue reading...Friday, January 8, 2010
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 & [...]
Continue reading...Friday, December 18, 2009
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 [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, December 17, 2009
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 [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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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Friday, January 29, 2010
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