Lawyer Pay

Partner Pay Secret at Some Firms

A handful of big law firms keep partner pay a secret in an effort to keep a lid on lawyer jealousy and reduce rancor. Cesar Alvarez, head of Greenberg Traurig, told Legal Times the firm has refused to reveal partner pay since it was formed in 1967. Partners who don’t…

Aug 23, 2007 12:43 PM CDT

Big TX Firms Pay Grads $160 K But Balk at Raises for All

Two more Texas firms have joined the move to raise starting pay for first-year associate attorneys to a top-of-the-market $160,000. They are: Dallas-based Gardere Wynne Sewell, which has 282 lawyers, and Jackson Walker, with 315, according to a New York Lawyer (reg. req.) article that reprints a Texas Lawyer story.…

Aug 22, 2007 9:19 PM CDT

Top Lawyers Bill $1,000 an Hour

Lawyers at some of New York’s top firms are billing $1,000 an hour. The move was a reluctant one for some law firms, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. “We have viewed $1,000 an hour as a possible vomit point for clients,” a partner at one New York firm…

Aug 22, 2007 3:53 PM CDT

Philly Firm Won’t Hike Associate Pay

One big Philadelphia law firm has decided to buck the trend by refusing to increase salaries for first-year associates. Fox Rothschild will continue to pay new associates $125,000, the Legal Intelligencer reports. Administrative partner Mark Silow said the firm would rather spend the money on salary increases for more senior-level…

Aug 22, 2007 11:12 AM CDT

New Norm: Sending Legal Work Abroad

Once upon a time, U.S.-based corporations routinely hired American law firms to do virtually all of their legal work. But today, using cheap foreign lawyers—or even American lawyers in lower-paid parts of the country—to do routine tasks such as document review and conducting due diligence on merger partners is becoming…

Aug 21, 2007 3:31 PM CDT

Mega-Firm’s Mega-Profit: $1 M-Plus PPP

Impressive profits for the 2007 fiscal year have been announced by one of the world’s largest law firms, Chicago-based Baker & McKenzie. Its gross was $1.83 billion, up from $1.52 billion the previous fiscal year. A 22 percent gain for the first time boosted profits per partner into seven figures,…

Aug 16, 2007 8:23 PM CDT

Hard Job Hunt, $40-$70 K, for ‘07 Grads

Competition for graduates of the nation’s biggest and best-known law schools has driven starting salaries at some major firms well over $150,000 and prompted whispers of a once-unthinkable $200,000 at some point in the foreseeable future. But legal job-market reality is much different for the vast majority of those with…

Aug 15, 2007 7:19 PM CDT

Alec Scott, Esq: ‘Why I Escaped the Law’

It isn’t just many American lawyers who feel overworked and dispirited. Their Canadian counterparts increasingly feel the same way, according to an article in next month’s issue of Toronto Life magazine. Author Alec Scott, a lawyer who is now a journalist, says that getting fired from a big Toronto firm…

Aug 13, 2007 11:09 PM CDT

$15 K Hike for All Troutman Associates

Troutman Sanders is raising pay by $15,000 a year for all 185 associates in its offices in Atlanta, Washington, Virginia and North Carolina. With the increase, starting salaries for Troutman associates will be $145,000. The move, which takes effect in January, will cost the firm about $2.8 million, according to…

Aug 10, 2007 12:08 PM CDT

Two Texas Firms Hike Associate Pay

Two more Texas law firms have announced they will pay new associates $160,000. The latest firms to jump on the pay bandwagon are Haynes and Boone, and Baker Botts, Texas Lawyer reports. The firms also announced pay hikes for more senior associates, with billable-hour requirements for bonuses. Haynes and Boone…

Aug 8, 2007 11:33 AM CDT

King & Spalding Delays Pay Controversy

Atlanta’s King & Spalding matched Alston & Bird when it announced it will pay salaries of $145,000 to new associates, a $15,000 increase. But it sidestepped controversy when it left a decision on pay hikes for more senior associates for another day. More senior associates at Alston & Bird have…

Aug 8, 2007 11:12 AM CDT

ABA to Weigh Position on Forced Retirement

Aging attorneys will be one of the subjects taken up at the ABA Annual Meeting that begins tomorrow in San Francisco. A resolution before the policy-making House of Delegates calls on law firms to discontinue mandatory retirement policies, the National Law Journal reports. ABA President Karen J. Mathis supports the…

Aug 7, 2007 11:07 AM CDT

Conventional Salary Wisdom Wrong

Young female lawyers in New York City are making more money than their male peers. That’s the finding of a study of men’s and women’s wages in major cities, the New York Times reports. The analysis of U.S. census data found that New York City working women of all educational…

Aug 3, 2007 3:33 PM CDT

Alston & Bird Hikes Associate Pay

An Atlanta law firm has announced it is raising pay for first-year associates to $145,000, a $15,000 increase. But not all associates will share in the largesse. Alston & Bird announced the pay hike yesterday, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. Jonathan Lowe, the firm’s hiring partner, pointed out…

Aug 3, 2007 10:48 AM CDT

New Routes Into the Corporate Door

Sidebar To: The Billable Hour Must Die Web Extra: Who’s Using Legal OnRamp

Aug 1, 2007 1:33 PM CDT