More Law Firms Likely to Freeze Associate Salaries, Consultants Say
Latham & Watkins may be the first large law firm to confirm it is freezing associate salaries, but it probably won’t be the last.
One law firm that hasn’t ruled out a pay freeze is Arent Fox, reports The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times. Chairman Marc Fleischaker told the blog the law firm is considering the options. A freeze is “definitely on the table as a possibility, but nothing’s been decided yet,” he said.
Legal consultants say more law firms could follow Latham’s lead, the Recorder reports. Those making the prediction include Bradford Hildebrandt of Hildebrandt International and consultant Richard Gary.
“This move by Latham is a sign of how difficult the times are going to be,” Gary told the Recorder. “Latham is at the very top of the U.S. legal services industry. For them to be taking a step like that says to me that no one is going to escape the effects of the economic downturn.”
Latham was the country’s second-highest grossing law firm last year, according to the Recorder article. Its chairman Robert Dell issued a statement Tuesday confirming that it is freezing associate salaries as part of a “prudent business strategy.” Associates who would have gotten a raise in 2009 will earn the same base pay as they did in 2008.
Beginning in January, all first- and second-year associates at Latham will earn $160,000 in base pay. The salary increases for those with more experience and tops out at $265,000 for eighth-year associates. That compares to $280,000 top pay for associates at other New York firms that haven’t frozen salaries, according to Above the Law, the blog that first broke the news of Latham’s salary freeze.
