Lawyer Pay

Such a Deal

Does Perkins Coie have the best time-money solution?

Oct 1, 2007 6:12 PM CDT

NY Lawyer Navigates Dating on the Cheap

Lori Weiss, a 29-year-old New York lawyer, makes more money than a lot of her dates, but she tries not to show it. She hides shopping bags and quickly clips the price tags off new clothes so her dates won’t feel threatened by the income disparity, the New York Times…

Sep 24, 2007 6:21 PM CDT

Bench Beset by Record Resignations, Cash a Factor

Federal judges are resigning in record numbers, often lured by higher paying jobs in the private sector. Federal trial-level judges make $165,200 a year, about $5,000 more than new lawyers at New York’s big law firms and 50 percent less than senior law professors, USA Today reports. Since 2000, 51…

Sep 24, 2007 2:09 PM CDT

Law School Secret: Bad Job Market

The job market is tough for many recent law grads, who are pointing their fingers at law schools for failing to warn them about their dim prospects. Top pay for new associates at the big law firms is $160,000, but most beginning lawyers make far less at the same time…

Sep 24, 2007 11:04 AM CDT

S&C Senior Associates to Reap Extra Bonus

Sullivan & Cromwell hopes to hold on to senior associates with a plan to pay supplemental bonuses tied to the law firm’s financial performance. One partner told the New York Law Journal that the bonuses will probably range from $15,000 for associates in their fifth year at the firm and…

Sep 20, 2007 10:41 AM CDT

CLOs Feast on Meaty Stock Options

In-house lawyers are taking home bigger paychecks and bigger bonuses, according to a 2007 survey by legal consulting firm Altman Weil. But bigger still are the stock options some receive. The median annual salary for chief legal officers in 2007 was $300,000 and the median bonus was $157,400, up 14.3…

Sep 19, 2007 6:20 PM CDT

Another Atlanta Firm to Pay $145K

Another Atlanta-based law firm has jumped aboard the associate-salary-increase bandwagon. Kilpatrick Stockton has agreed to raise first-year pay to $145,000 as of Jan. 1, 2008, in accord with the latest wave of salary increases announced by other big Atlanta firms beginning last month, according to the Fulton County Daily Report.…

Sep 14, 2007 9:56 PM CDT

Starting at $40K, FL Jobs a Stepping-Stone

Young attorneys working as assistant prosecutors and public defenders in South Florida make only about $40,000 annually when they first start work. So, within five years, most have moved on to other jobs. In Broward and Miami-Dade counties, roughly 20 percent a year depart for greener work assignments elsewhere, and…

Sep 11, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

NJ Firms Raise Associate Salaries

While they’re not at the absolute top of the associate salary scale, a number of law firms in New Jersey are nonetheless raising starting pay for first-years significantly. Although some firms are holding the line, others say they are upping the associate ante by as much as 10 to 15…

Sep 10, 2007 10:52 PM CDT

Top Broadcom Lawyer Charged up to $850 an Hour

The top lawyer for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr charged up to $850 an hour for his work representing Broadcom Corp. in a patent dispute with a rival semiconductor maker. The rate, while substantial, is still below that charged by some top law firm partners: $1,000 an hour. Details…

Sep 10, 2007 2:11 PM CDT

‘Retired’ Partners Rehired at Other Firms

In the last decade or two, requiring law firm partners to retire at a certain age has become a common practice. But now the tide seems to be turning on that trend. The median age of lawyers is increasing, and, although more than half of the nation’s larger law firms…

Sep 5, 2007 10:57 PM CDT

Sonnenschein Faces $9 M Suit by Ex-Lawyer

A $9 million pay dispute between Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and a former partner may soon be scheduled for trial. Douglas Rosenthal contends Sonnenschein owes him the money for big successes in two cases, Legal Times reports in a story reprinted by New York Lawyer. Rosenthal claims the law firm…

Sep 5, 2007 12:20 PM CDT

FL Lawyer to Plead in Corruption Case

A Florida lawyer whose job as Broward Sheriff made him one of the most powerful political figures in the Miami area has resigned and reportedly plans to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. Sources said Ken Jenne, 60, decided yesterday to plead guilty to tax evasion “and mail-fraud conspiracy charges…

Sep 4, 2007 4:27 PM CDT

$200 K Pay for Big-Firm Midlevel Associates

Third-year associates working at the 200 largest law firms take home median pay of $200,000, but a lot of them need the cash to help pay off large student loans. American Lawyer reports that 81 percent of midlevel associates at Am Law 200 firms owe money for student loans, and…

Aug 30, 2007 10:38 AM CDT

Big London Firms Take a Breather

A slowing international mergers and acquisitions market is expected to trim the phenomenal profits recently being made by major London-based law firms. All five of the city’s so-called Magic Circle firms recently announced profit increases of at least 20 percent last year (the figure exceeded 30 percent at Allen &…

Aug 27, 2007 10:47 PM CDT