Lawyer Pay

Difficult Choices: World Health, or Type A Person in a Power Suit

The gap between law firm and public interest salaries is growing, posing difficult choices for new graduates of top law schools. The choice becomes all the more important as law students take on increasing debt, the Washington Post reports in a story that focuses on the dilemma facing Beirne Roose-Snyder,…

Nov 30, 2007 12:30 PM CST

Women Lawyers at the Top Earn Significantly Less than Men

A new survey shows “slow progress” for women in the upper echelons of big law firms. The survey (PDF) by the National Association of Women Lawyers finds that only 16 percent of equity partners at large law firms are women, and they earn almost $90,000 less than their male counterparts,…

Nov 29, 2007 12:34 PM CST

Female Partners Strike Out on Own, Cite BigLaw Rate Hikes as Reason

Two former partners at a large San Antonio firm who left to strike out on their own report they’ve been able to retain 90 percent of their clients. Janet L. King and Eileen E. Sommer left Jackson Walker to start King & Sommer to focus on their business and real…

Nov 28, 2007 7:13 PM CST

McDermott Partners to Be Rewarded for Teamwork

Partners at McDermott Will & Emery will get fatter paychecks next spring if they share and refer clients to those in other practice areas of the law firm. Pay for the year will be partly based on factors such as referrals, teamwork, recruitment and mentoring, Legal Week reports. The compensation…

Nov 26, 2007 1:10 PM 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

Older Winston & Strawn Partner Settles Pay Suit

A 74-year-old partner at Winston & Strawn has settled his lawsuit that claimed the law firm violated an agreement to exempt him from a firm policy that reduced partner pay after age 65. Terms of the deal, reached shortly before trial, were not released, the New York Law Journal reports.…

Nov 20, 2007 12:33 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

Reed Smith to U.K. Attys: Play By Rules for ‘Partner’ Pay

Eyebrows apparently are being raised among the U.K. nonequity partners of Pittsburgh-based Reed Smith over the U.S. firm’s compensation methodology. Reed Smith introduced salaried partners at its British merger match, Richards Butler, at the beginning of this year to a new pay scheme in which 15 percent of their pay…

Nov 16, 2007 12:25 AM CST

Survey Says Income Gap Grows in ‘Overwhelmingly Male’ BigLaw

A survey by the National Association of Women Lawyers paints a gloomy picture of the legal profession, as far as the advancement of female attorneys at the country’s 200 largest law firms is concerned. “Among its findings, the survey shows that there is a growing income gap between men and…

Nov 15, 2007 11:43 PM CST

Should Law Firm Leaders Get CEO Pay?

At a time when major law firms are increasingly like the big corporations that they represent as clients, there’s still one noteworthy difference between the two: The individuals in charge of managing big corporations are paid considerably more. While there is some pressure for law firms to up the ante…

Nov 14, 2007 6:40 PM CST

Hollywood Outsourcing Higher-End Legal Work to India

Even with the millions that a successful movie can make, Hollywood producers are watching their legal costs. So, instead of having high-priced U.S. law firms handle all of their entertainment matters, some reportedly are starting to send some relatively high-end legal work to attorneys in India. While outsourcing “back office”…

Nov 12, 2007 9:15 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

CA Firm Offers Lawyers Cushy Perks

A California law firm is offering its 80 lawyers free breakfasts, on-site massages and manicures, health club memberships and errand runs. Lawyer Stuart Liner came up with the idea after a conversation about work-life balance with a fellow partner last summer, the Recorder reports. Liner is founder of the Westwood…

Nov 9, 2007 1:57 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