Associates

Kaye Scholer ups ante, will pay bonuses of $10K to $80K in its two-tier plan

Kaye Scholer announced Thursday that it will not only be matching but, for some high-billing associates, exceeding the end-of-year bonus schedule announced by a bellwether BigLaw firm. Like Cravath, Swaine & Moore and other firms, Kaye Scholer will pay bonuses of $10,000 to $60,000 for associates in good standing, depending…

Dec 12, 2013 9:55 PM CST

Big-bucks bonuses for Boies associates top out at $300K; average is $85K

It may not be the long-established BigLaw firms that are handing out the biggest bucks to associates in the form of year-end bonuses this year. Boies, Schiller & Flexner, known for its high-end litigation work, has announced that it will be paying as much as $300,000 to its 133 associates…

Dec 11, 2013 7:00 PM CST

Should law firms seek to recruit the economically disadvantaged?

Law firms seek to increase diversity by recruiting women, minorities and gays. Why not expand the definition and recruit lawyers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds? That’s the suggestion from American Lawyer editor in chief Robin Sparkman in a guest blog post at the Careerist. Some institutions are already tackling the problem…

Dec 4, 2013 11:50 AM CST

Law firm sues, says rival legal shop lured associate and encouraged him to solicit clients

A Wilkes-Barre, Pa., law firm has filed suit against a competitor, contending that the rival legal shop not only lured its associate to new employment but encouraged him to solicit its clients while still on the original firm’s payroll. Even though associate Paul Batyko was still working out his two-week…

Dec 2, 2013 11:20 PM CST

Cravath to pay bonuses of $10K to $60K, the same as last year

The BigLaw firm to which others look for a lead on how high bonuses for associates should be has spoken. After a noteworthy upswing in 2012—following years in which the legal economy was faltering—Cravath, Swaine & Moore is paying exactly the same amount in 2013, between $10,000 and $60,000, the…

Dec 2, 2013 10:49 PM CST

Former Ropes & Gray associate loses retaliation case

Jurors deliberated only 2½ hours Wednesday before rejecting a former associate’s retaliation lawsuit against Ropes & Gray. Former associate John Ray III had claimed the law firm retaliated for his complaints about discrimination by refusing to give promised recommendations and later disclosed confidential information about the case to Above the…

Nov 21, 2013 2:25 PM CST

Patton Boggs axes 10 attorneys and 35 staff in second round of layoffs this year

As a possible merger with Locke Lord looms, lobbying powerhouse Patton Boggs is laying off lawyers and staff for the second time this year. The 450-lawyer Washington, D.C.-based law firm is letting go of 10 associate attorneys in its Newark, N.J., office and 35 staff members throughout its 10 locations…

Nov 14, 2013 9:15 PM CST

Another six SCOTUS clerks to join Jones Day

Jones Day has hired six Supreme Court law clerks from the 2012-13 term, repeating last year’s six-clerk hiring feat. The law firm announced its new hires in a press release. They are: Emily Kennedy, David Morrell, Ian Samuel, Kenton Skarin, Charlotte Taylor and Ryan Watson. Two clerked for Justice Samuel…

Nov 12, 2013 12:14 PM CST

Police don’t pay judgments against them, article says | A bulletproof business suit? Is that legal?

Corrected: When University of Denver law professor Nancy Leong teaches criminal procedure, she always arranges for a police officer to come to class. “I remember one time in particular when a student asked an officer whether the officer would be more unhappy if evidence he found was excluded from trial…

Nov 8, 2013 2:30 PM CST

Why Milbank sends its 4th-year associates back to school (video)

David Wolfson, partner at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy and chair of the firm’s professional development committee, talks with Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia about the Milbank@Harvard program. The week-long course at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School takes mid-level Milbank associates through a wide range of professional development courses.…

Nov 7, 2013 6:31 PM CST

Is the law firm associate model being phased out? | Encrypt laptop for ethics’ sake, blogger writes

The notion of creating a new class of associates that receives more training, less pressure to bill and less pay has taken hold at Greenberg Traurig as an alternative to the “quasi Hunger Game” model (as a Forbes writer put it this week) in which elite associates spend a brutal…

Nov 1, 2013 2:17 PM CDT

An alternative to the BigLaw ‘Hunger Games’? Some say associate residencies are the answer

Corrected: The idea of associate residencies—where lawyers are paid less but learn more—is being touted in opinion articles and being tried by a few law firms. A Forbes op-ed likens the BigLaw associates’ plight to a “quasi Hunger Game” in which high-caliber lawyers spend a brutal eight years trying to…

Oct 31, 2013 11:15 AM CDT

‘Residency program’ associates at this BigLaw firm will get more training and less pay

Greenberg Traurig is introducing a new residency program to hire talented associates who aren’t recruited in traditional on-campus interviews. Associates in this program, being introduced at the firm’s 29 U.S. offices, can spend up to a third of their billable hours in training, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reports.…

Oct 22, 2013 1:48 PM CDT

Did Ropes & Gray retaliate by giving info to Above the Law about ex-associate’s discrimination case?

A discrimination case brought by a former associate against Ropes & Gray is headed to trial next month. Among the questions to be answered by a federal court in Boston, the National Law Journal reports: Did the law firm retaliate against John Ray III by providing information about his Equal…

Oct 16, 2013 9:05 PM CDT

Nineteen lawyers leave Morgan Lewis in Paris for another firm

Nine partners and 10 associates at the Paris office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius are leaving to join the French law firm Gide Loyrette Noue. The group includes Morgan Lewis’ Paris managing partner, Anne Tolila, report Legal Week, the Lawyer and the Philadelphia Business Journal. Only three partners will be…

Oct 16, 2013 3:36 PM CDT