Lawyer Pay

Pay is up for summer associates, but the future job outlook is less than rosy

Average pay for summer associates working at the nation’s top 200 law firms has jumped more than 11 percent to $3,285 a week. But the news isn’t all good, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reports. Summer hires dropped by about 2 percent, according to the 92 law firms responding…

Jul 7, 2017 3:48 PM CDT

Reports that family of Trump lawyer Sekulow got millions from his nonprofit leads to states’ review

Two state attorneys general say they will review the operations of a group run by lawyer Jay Sekulow following reports that the nonprofit funneled millions of dollars to the lawyer, his family and businesses they run. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told…

Jun 29, 2017 10:31 AM CDT

Steptoe accused of pay bias in class action by female contract lawyer promoted to associate

Updated: A contract lawyer who was promoted to associate at Steptoe & Johnson claims in a pay-bias lawsuit that she made less money than male associates with similar experience. The proposed class action by lawyer Ji-In Houck says she is aware of other female attorneys at the firm who were…

Jun 28, 2017 11:02 AM CDT

Few male in-house lawyers believe there is a gender pay gap, global survey finds

Few male lawyers working in-house for corporations believe there is a pay gap for their female counterparts, even though statistics paint a different picture. A higher percentage of men hold higher-salary in-house jobs, outpacing women in six out of seven job tiers paying more than $199,000, according to the global…

Jun 16, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Median pay for new associates doesn’t budge from 2015

Median pay for first-year associates is the same as it was two years ago—$135,000—according to a salary survey by the National Association for Law Placement.

Jun 2, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

BigLaw firm drops performance reviews in test program; female associates are particularly pleased

Lawyers and staffers at several Allen & Overy locations aren’t being subjected to the annual ritual of performance reviews as part of a pilot program. The program, in place since October, affects about 500 fee earners and staffers, report Legal Business and the Careerist. The firm provides feedback through dialogue…

May 11, 2017 10:32 AM CDT

Court-appointed lawyers in Maine will have to wait for payment because of budget shortfall

Court-appointed lawyers for indigent defendants in Maine won’t get paid until July 1 because the state budget to pay them has been depleted. The state legislature had appropriated $2.9 million less than the amount requested for indigent defense, then did not provide supplemental funding, the Portland Press Herald reports. Maine…

May 5, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Lawyers’ salaries slipping compared to other professions, data indicates

The median salaries of information systems managers, pharmacists and nurse anesthetists are now higher than the median salary for lawyers, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures released in May show that the median annual salary for lawyers is $118,160. But adjusting for…

May 2, 2017 3:55 PM CDT

Rethinking rewards: What BigLaw can do about pay

I just completed a renovation that took over four months—the apartment hadn’t been touched in 40 years. Because I visited the job site almost every week, I got to know the construction crew well and gained respect for their work ethic and attention to detail. Afterwards, in appreciation, I gave…

Apr 27, 2017 8:30 AM CDT

Associate settles suit claiming unfair billable-hours calculation caused him to lose out on bonuses

A Philadelphia-based law firm has settled a suit by an associate who claimed that he lost out on bonuses because of the way it credited billable hours. A settlement order entered on Thursday indicated that Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel reached a deal with the plaintiff, Ryan Leonard, the Legal…

Apr 21, 2017 10:57 AM CDT

Salary bump keeps more BigLaw associates from going in-house, but will partners feel a pinch?

The big bump in BigLaw associate salaries last year has slowed the movement of young lawyers to in-house jobs, but it might have a lead lining—the money has to come out of partners’ pockets and the number of partnerships could decline, Law360 (sub. req.) reports. Cravath Swaine & Moore set…

Apr 18, 2017 5:00 PM CDT

Associate can’t sue over bonus determined by an ‘intangible accounting device,’ law firm says

An associate who claimed he lost out on bonuses because of the way they were calculated isn’t entitled to sue, his former law firm says in a motion for summary judgment. Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel says in the motion, filed in Philadelphia last Monday, that its bonuses were discretionary,…

Apr 10, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Chadbourne gave bonuses to 44% of male and only 28% of female partners in 2015, says equal pay suit

Male partners at Chadbourne & Parke on average earned 40 percent more than their female counterparts in 2013, according to information filed in an Equal Pay Act lawsuit against the firm. The memorandum of law (PDF) filing supporting plaintiffs’ request for collective action includes information that previously was redacted. In…

Mar 6, 2017 11:15 AM CST

Partner pay becomes more volatile as law firms seek to retain top performers

Fear of partner defections has led law firms to put more emphasis on the current year’s billings in setting partner compensation, while giving less leeway to partners who have a bad year. Consultants tell the American Lawyer (sub. req.) that law firms are moving partners up and down the pay…

Feb 28, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Some law firm leaders question associate pay hikes amid tepid year

Two new reports on the economic health of law firms have found tepid demand for legal services in 2016, even as lawyer head count grew. Those two forces led to a slump in productivity, according to Citi Private Bank and the Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor Economic Index. “Firms were squeezed…

Feb 15, 2017 8:00 AM CST