Associates

‘Appalling’ Associate Perks Proliferating

In a battle to attract the best associates, an increasing number of large law firms are offering lifestyle perks. Unlike sedans to take associates home who work late or dinners at their desks paid for by clients—perks that directly add to the firms’ bottom lines—this new generation of perks improve…

Nov 26, 2007 11:15 AM CST

Assoc. Math Problem: Same Bonus, But Different Amount

A “credit crisis” over associate bonuses reportedly is brewing at a recently merged megafirm, because the two have differing formulas about how they should be calculated. Associates who joined the newly formed Dewey & LeBoeuf from Dewey Ballantine get billable hours credit for client development, reports New York Lawyer (reg.…

Nov 21, 2007 6:20 PM CST

‘This Isn’t Working Out’: How Lawyers Are Really Fired

For every high-profile, publicized axing of a well-known partner or abrupt, behind-the-scenes removal of an BigLaw associate from his or her office, there are far more “quiet firings.” Most often given by the bigwigs conducting a lawyer’s annual review, the break-up speech is commonly a “subtle, general disengagement”—so low-key, in…

Nov 21, 2007 5:59 PM CST

Nutter McClennen No. 1 in Summer Associates Survey

Summer associates participating in an American Lawyer survey gave the best grades to law firms that emphasized training and mentoring and offered exciting work. Despite the emphasis on personal attention, clerks still took home big paychecks and were treated to spectacular outings, American Lawyer reports. Summer associates made an average…

Nov 19, 2007 11:54 AM CST

Two More U.K. Law Firms Pay Special Bonuses Up to $50K

Two more Magic Circle law firms have announced they will be matching their New York competitors by paying big special bonuses to their Big Apple associates. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Allen & Overy will pay special bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, Legal Week reports. The cash is in addition…

Nov 16, 2007 1:21 PM CST

Lawyer Job-Seekers Should Consider Work Assignment System

Work assignments can be a big source of unhappiness for associates, but too often job-seekers fail to ask how assignments will be doled out. Recruiter Stephen Engle of Major Lindsey & Africa told the Recorder the assignment system can have a “profound effect” on associate satisfaction. “I think most associates…

Nov 15, 2007 2:29 PM CST

Unrealistic Expectations, Poor Hiring, Bad Management = High Associate Attrition

A lawyer career consultant puts part of the blame for high associate attrition rates on lawyers who have little clue about the realities of law practice and law firms that hire based on little more than law school grades. In a column for Legal Times, Kate Neville acknowledges that many…

Nov 14, 2007 1:43 PM CST

Key Attorney Interview Skill: Mental Editing

Once you’ve done a few, associate job interviews often involve some of the same stock questions and answers. But an anonymous young solicitor puts a fresh spin on the subject by recounting what she was really thinking at a recent job interview, in a British newspaper column today. Asked why…

Nov 13, 2007 7:07 PM CST

Clifford Chance: Laid-Off 6 Akin to Contract Attorneys

Once upon a time, even major law firms routinely hired associates with the expectation that they could become partners. While no fairy tale, that expectation is now something of a relic of legal history, as yet another account of modern-day practice makes clear. In the wake of recent news that…

Nov 12, 2007 10:04 PM CST

‘Attorney at Blah’: JD Earns Extra $20/Hour in Doc Review

CORRECTED: The job is similar, but the pay is different: temp work, in something akin to document review, without a law degree, is dull, thankless work that earns $10 an hour. With a juris doctor degree and a bar admission, temp work brings in $35 an hour–enough to earn a…

Nov 9, 2007 10:44 PM CST

UK Law Firm Announces Special NY Associate Bonuses

A Britain-based law firm has joined the bonus bonanza. Clifford Chance will give its New York associates special bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, Legal Week reports. The cash comes on top of regular associate bonuses of $30,000 to $65,000. Cravath, Swaine & Moore was the first law firm to…

Nov 8, 2007 11:20 AM CST

Survey Reveals the Unhappiest Associates

The most unhappy people in the nation’s top law firms are minority female midlevel associates, according to an American Lawyer survey. Women of color express less satisfaction and encounter more obstacles, according to an article on the Minority Experience Survey in the Minority Law Journal. More minority female midlevels were…

Nov 7, 2007 11:45 AM CST

Survey: Associate Loyalty at All-Time Low

Despite a year of hefty salary increases for BigLaw associate attorneys, their loyalty has never been lower. Fewer than one in five junior associates with less than two years’ experience at major law firms in the U.S. and the U.K. expects to stay another five years, reports the London Times,…

Nov 5, 2007 8:37 PM CST

Wal-Mart Refuses Law Firm Fee Hikes, Cites High Associate Salaries

Wal-Mart has issued a memo to its law firms announcing a “moratorium on across-the-board rate increases.” The memo says the retailer will consider only “reasonable, individual requests for rate increases for those attorneys in your firm who are performing at an exceptional level,” the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).…

Nov 5, 2007 2:31 PM CST

Bonus Bonanza: More BigLaw Firms Up Ante; Will Salaries Rise, Too?

In a New York-centered bonus bonanza that observers say could signal an intent to raise salaries for the Big Apple’s best-paid associates as soon as January 2008, at least six more major law firms have jumped yesterday and today on the associate bonus bandwagon driven by Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s…

Nov 2, 2007 11:00 PM CDT