Lawyer Pay

Low Bonuses, Job Woes May Mean No Tuition for Kids’ Private Schools

Private schools may be another victim of the economic downturn. Seven percent of families who paid private-school tuition checks through a firm known as Smart Tuition had dropped out by the middle of the school year, the New York Times reports. The number is double the amount at the same…

Mar 2, 2009 10:46 PM CST

As Layoffs Launch Lawyers into Solo Firms, Small Shops Are Hot, Experts Say

Omair Farooqui had always been interested in running his own law firm. But being laid off last year from his job as an intellectual property associate in the Palo Alto, Calif., office of Manatt Phelps & Phillips pushed him into actually doing it. Sensing from a work slowdown that his…

Feb 27, 2009 6:10 PM CST

Philly to Pay $7M Legal Bill; It’s Hard to Hire In-House Lawyers for Only $49K

Philadelphia’s top in-house lawyer had hoped to cut outside counsel costs significantly this year, to about $566,000. But that didn’t happen. Instead, when the current fiscal year ends on June 30, it looks like the city law department will have spent about $7.1 million on outside counsel, the most in…

Feb 26, 2009 7:17 PM CST

Bankruptcy Boom Raises Legal Stars’ Pay; $5M a Year for Luc Despins

Bankruptcy lawyers are once again seeing their heyday as law firms seek to lure them on board with big-bucks salaries. The paycheck for Luc Despins, who jumped to Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker last fall, is $5 million a year, report the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and the Wall…

Feb 26, 2009 1:36 PM CST

High-Profile Ex-Staff Lawyer Sues Covington & Burling, Alleges Discrimination

Last year, a onetime staff attorney at Covington & Burling wrote a controversial article for the Huffington Post that accused her former firm of “stockpiling its staff attorney ghetto with blacks and other minorities.” Now Yolanda Young has filed a pro se federal race discrimination and retaliation suit against the…

Feb 25, 2009 9:28 PM CST

Pillsbury Offers ‘Voluntary Departure Plan’ to Lawyers

Above the Law was the first to reveal upcoming layoffs at Pillsbury when it told of a tipster who overheard a lawyer discussing the plan in a loud cell phone conversation on a crowded train. Now the blog has obtained an internal memo offering Pillsbury lawyers a chance to leave…

Feb 24, 2009 5:25 PM CST

Law Firms, Other Employers Battle New Enforcement of WARN Layoff Rules

For years, because of a stronger economy and a lack of enforcement, the Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act wasn’t on some employers’ radar screens. But now laid-off workers are seeking to enforce their right to severance pay, and state and federal lawmakers are eyeing changes that would strengthen the…

Feb 24, 2009 12:20 AM CST

Attorney Layoff Alternative: Temporary 10% Pay Cut at Much Shelist

Amidst the latest news of law firm layoffs and salary restructuring announcements, a Chicago-based business law firm has temporarily imposed a 10-percent pay cut on partners and associates. The measure will be in effect until May 31, when the fiscal year ends at 80-attorney Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein,…

Feb 23, 2009 10:42 PM CST

Patton Boggs Changes Partner Compensation to Reward Cooperation

Patton Boggs is changing its partner compensation system to reward cooperation and mentoring. Eight-five percent of compensation for equity partners will still be based on billable hours, Legal Times reports. But a compensation committee will also distribute 15 percent of profits based on factors such as associate training and mentoring,…

Feb 23, 2009 7:21 PM CST

Tinkering With DWI Evidence Costs NY Judge and Law Prof Their Jobs

Asked by a friend who is a lawyer to write a statement saying that she wasn’t drunk when she left a bar, New York Supreme Court Justice Joseph Makowski reportedly did so. Now the 55-year-old jurist is recanting the statement and resigning from his $136,700-a-year job. And the lawyer he…

Feb 23, 2009 6:33 PM CST

MoFo Lowers Bonuses, Freezes Pay, But Creates NY Exception

Associates at Morrison & Foerster who work outside its New York office will be seeing lower discretionary bonuses—some as low as $6,000—for 2008 work. The law firm had planned to award discretionary bonuses ranging from $25,000 to $80,000, but it has revised the range to between $6,000 and $62,000, the…

Feb 20, 2009 5:45 PM CST

Nearly Half of Mass. Lawyers Surveyed Expect to Earn Less in 2009

Nearly half the Massachusetts lawyers who responded to an online survey said they expected to earn less money this year than in 2008. The Massachusetts Bar Association online survey of its members was modeled after an ABA survey last fall, the New England Business Bulletin reports. In some instances, Massachusetts…

Feb 18, 2009 2:39 PM CST

Law Professors Begin Feeling Economic Pinch

The budget crisis is affecting law school budgets—and the professors and administrators who work there. Some law professors and administrators are facing unpaid leave or frozen paychecks as schools grapple with reduced budgets, according to TaxProf Blog and the National Law Journal. Other schools have implemented hiring freezes and warned…

Feb 13, 2009 5:39 PM CST

Gloomy BigLaw Outlook: Lower Salaries, Fewer Hires, More Job Cuts

Law firm layoffs of nearly 800 people made big news yesterday, but those left behind will also face gloomy times. The financial crisis is likely to bring associate pay cuts, lower starting salaries and more layoffs at many large law firms, according to the American Lawyer. “The market for labor…

Feb 13, 2009 3:45 PM CST

WolfBlock Cuts Associate Salaries by 10%, Promises More Bonus Money

WolfBlock is cutting associate salaries by 10 percent at the same time it is increasing cash to pay bonuses. A spokesman for the East Coast law firm confirmed the pay cut but told Above the Law the additional bonus money will be used to make compensation more performance-based. The firm…

Feb 12, 2009 6:56 PM CST