Some BigLaw firms face associate shortages; boutiques are partly to blame

Career opportunities are getting better for some associates. Lateral hiring is strong for midlevel and senior associates in the areas of corporate, finance and litigation, recruiters tell the Am Law Daily (sub. req.). Other hot areas mentioned by some recruiters include regulatory and health-care compliance, real estate, intellectual property, restructuring,…

Feb 24, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Law firm increases clerkship signing bonus to $75K; will others follow?

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has increased its signing bonus for federal law clerks to $75,000, according to a letter from the law firm obtained by two publications. The figure is a $25,000 increase in the amount previously offered by the law firm, report the National Law Journal (sub. req.)…

Jan 21, 2016 11:59 AM CST

10,000 jobs were added to the legal sector in 2015, stats show

The U.S. legal market has added 10,000 jobs from the beginning of 2015, Bloomberg BNA reports. The information was pulled from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary, released Friday. Those statistics show that 1,200 jobs were added in December 2015. According to Bloomberg BNA, although the job…

Jan 8, 2016 1:50 PM CST

Lawyer who reviewed 13,000 documents in two months isn’t entitled to overtime pay, judge rules

A lawyer doing document review work for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan isn’t entitled to overtime pay because he was using legal judgment, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams of Manhattan ruled on Dec. 30 in the case of William Henig, the New York Law Journal…

Jan 4, 2016 8:06 AM CST

Skadden, staffing agency OK payment of $75K to doc-review lawyer trio to settle overtime suit

Updated: Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and a staffing agency have agreed to settle for $75,000 a federal lawsuit by three document review attorneys seeking overtime pay. The case is David Lola v. Skadden. Name plaintiff David Lola first sued Skadden and Tower Legal Staffing in 2013, accusing them…

Dec 16, 2015 4:00 PM CST

Associates got bonuses of up to $350K at Boies Schiller this year, law firm leader says

Once again, hefty year-end bonuses of $15,000 to $100,000 being paid to associates of major corporate law firms are being eclipsed by the largesse of a well-known business litigation boutique. At Boies Schiller & Flexner, those working in California, New York and Washington, D.C., who have been at the firm…

Dec 11, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Cravath to pay $15K to $100K in annual associate bonuses

Traditional BigLaw bonus market leader Cravath Swaine & Moore announced on Monday that it will be adding $15,000 to $100,000 to the paychecks of “virtually all” partnership-track associates this month, setting the table for other major corporate law firms to follow suit. Bonuses will be paid Dec. 18 based on…

Dec 7, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Prosecutors and PDs will share in $18M equal-pay settlement

Lawyers and sheriff’s deputies in Fulton County, Georgia, will share an $18 million settlement in eight lawsuits claiming they were paid less than others in the same civil-service category. The money will be paid to 343 county employees, including public defenders and assistant district attorneys, report the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and…

Nov 24, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Jury says law firm owes $123K in contingent fees to lawyer; award is then doubled under wage statute

A Connecticut personal injury attorney who claimed his former law firm employer failed to pay him his full share of contingency fees in two cases got a state-court jury verdict for all he was owed, and more. Plaintiff lawyer Robert Healey not only won a jury award for the $123,550…

Nov 9, 2015 10:55 AM CST

Jones Day hires 10 US Supreme Court clerks, ‘a stunningly large number,’ law prof says

Ten individuals who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices in the court’s last term have joined Jones Day. They represent nearly one-quarter of the clerks who worked for current and former justices during that period, and are expected to be paid hiring bonuses of at least $300,000 each, the National…

Nov 2, 2015 3:00 PM CST

County’s judges and public defenders are sued over alleged inadequate representation

Seven individuals have sued an Indiana county, contending that its public defender services are inadequate. Among other issues, the suit alleges, each Johnson County public defender is supervised by an individual judge, which compromises the public defenders’ independence, Courthouse News reports. Also at issue are what the suit describes as…

Oct 13, 2015 2:35 PM CDT

Judge dismisses class action suit against Florida Coastal School of Law

A judge has dismissed a class action suit against a Florida law school whose alumni claimed they were misled about their job prospects after graduation. U.S. District Judge Brian J. Davis of Jacksonville held that the plaintiffs did not have a case against Florida Coastal School of Law under the…

Oct 7, 2015 5:20 PM CDT

Starting associate pay of $160K is common—but not as common as in 2009

Oct 1, 2015 7:25 AM CDT

Latham tops Global 100 with $2.6B in earnings; revenue is up 4.5% overall

Beating out two perennial mega-firm rivals for the number-one spot among the Global 100, Latham & Watkins for the first time is the world’s largest law firm by revenue. Its $2.6 billion in earnings is the second-largest figure ever reported in the American Lawyer’s survey of the biggest global firms;…

Sep 29, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

EEOC: Female law profs at the University of Denver are underpaid, violating the Equal Pay Act

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law is violating the Equal Pay Act by paying its female professors less than males. The EEOC threatened suit over the gender pay gap in a letter sent to the university on Friday, report the…

Sep 1, 2015 10:21 AM CDT