Lawyer Pay

Top-Paid Partner at Freshfields Made About $5.27M Last Year, Filing Shows

Despite a dip in average profit per equity partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the firm’s top-earning lawyer made about $5.27 million last year, a filing by the London-based firm’s limited liability partnership shows. That compares to earnings of about $4.31 million for the firm’s highest-paid partner the previous year, according…

Feb 2, 2010 7:39 PM CST

EEOC Sues Kelley Drye, Says Pay Policy for Older Lawyers Discriminates & Seeks Sweeping Relief

In an action that is sure to make other well-known law firms sit up and take notice, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued Kelley Drye & Warren over the firm’s alleged policy of de-equitizing partners at age 70 and thereafter “undercompensating” them for their work. The age discrimination…

Jan 28, 2010 9:55 PM CST

Young Lawyer’s Soaring Career Is Interrupted by Federal Indictment

After he graduated from a North Carolina law school in 1998, Charles Ruffin Poole’s legal career clearly was on an upward trajectory for which the sky seemed to be the limit. Hired to work in the state attorney general’s office, he quickly gained a much higher political profile when former…

Jan 22, 2010 7:45 PM CST

BigLaw Firm Unveils Flexible Partnership Track Intended to Appeal to Women Lawyers

Seeking to turn the tide on a wave of departing women lawyers, a London-based BigLaw firm today unveiled a new flexible partnership track. It will allow attorneys at Allen & Overy to opt either to work a four-day week or take an extra 52 days of leave annually, yet remain…

Jan 22, 2010 1:13 AM CST

Six Law Firms Make Fortune’s List of Top 100 Places to Work

Six law firms are on Fortune magazine’s list of the best 100 companies to work for in 2010, up from five last year. New on this year’s list is Baker Donelson, cited for increasing its number of minority lawyers from 12 to 40 and for reporting no layoffs. The other…

Jan 21, 2010 2:29 PM CST

Prominent Lawyers Charged with Failing to File Personal Income Tax Returns

Two New York attorneys who reportedly have been practicing as partners of well-known law firms and a Long Island personal injury lawyer have been charged in state court with failing to file personal income tax returns. The cases were brought, officials say, as part of a stepped-up effort to enforce…

Jan 20, 2010 7:56 PM CST

Seyfarth Axes About 40 Attorneys and Staff in Latest Round of Layoffs

In a new cost-cutting move, Seyfarth Shaw announced in an internal memo yesterday that the law firm is laying off approximately 20 attorneys and 20 staff members nationwide. Describing 2009 as “one of the most challenging years in generations for our clients, our peers in the legal profession and for…

Jan 15, 2010 8:10 PM CST

Unhappy Secretary’s Report Spurs Ethics Trouble for NJ Litigator

An unhappy secretary has brought ethics troubles for a prominent product liability lawyer in New Jersey. The New Jersey Disciplinary Review Board has recommended that litigator David Gross be disbarred for failing to share a $50,000 check with his law firm partners, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. Gross’ secretary,…

Jan 13, 2010 5:42 PM CST

Top GCs Earn a Median of $1.4M in Compensation

Compensation for top general counsel is increasing along with responsibility, a new survey has found. General counsel who report directly to a CEO and were named as executive officers in their company’s most recent proxy statements earned the most, Corporate Counsel reports. According to the survey by the executive compensation…

Jan 13, 2010 1:43 PM CST

Pillsbury Cuts 1st-Year Pay to $145K, But Offers $15K Bonus If Target Hours Met

In the latest move in an ongoing wave of pay cuts among a number of well-known law firms, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman has confirmed that it is cutting the starting salary for first-year associates to $145,000 in all of its offices except New York, where they will be paid $160,000.…

Jan 7, 2010 10:35 PM CST

Columnist Announces Contenders for BigLaw Word of the Year

The Snark humor columnist is asking readers to vote on the 2009 BigLaw Word of the Year. Some of the contenders reflect the difficult year for associates and the changes they are facing, as the Snark makes clear in the column for the Fulton County Daily Report. There is “merit”…

Jan 7, 2010 7:24 PM CST

Fannie Mae GC Could Earn Nearly $3M Annually, Despite Bailout

Former Bank of America general counsel Timothy Mayopolous landed on his feet after his abrupt ouster from the company more than a year ago. His pay in his new job as general counsel of Fannie Mae could work out to an annual paycheck of up to $2.95 million, an amount…

Jan 7, 2010 7:06 PM CST

Irell & Manella MP Says Hefty Bonuses Aren’t an Attempt to Redefine Market

Irell & Manella has announced associate bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $70,000, twice the going rate at many large law firms. But Irell & Manella managing partner Elliot Brown says the firm is not trying to set a market-leading precedent, the American Lawyer reports. “When we have an outstanding year,…

Jan 7, 2010 1:06 PM CST

Growing Midsize Firm Pays Big Bucks, Targets ‘Core Industries’

As a number of BigLaw firms have struggled over the past year to deal with the global economic downturn, one of their midsize competitors has been enjoying record revenue and expanding in selected markets. Loeb & Loeb, a five-office national firm with some 300 lawyers on its attorney roster, anticipates…

Jan 7, 2010 6:00 AM CST

Ex-Attorney Mulls Plea in Alleged $1.2B Scheme as Trustee Sues Firm Partner for $4M

Formerly high-flying Florida attorney Scott Rothstein is negotiating a guilty plea, his lawyer says, concerning the federal criminal charges he faces over an alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme he is accused of operating while making use of the credibility conferred by his role as the managing partner of a Fort…

Jan 6, 2010 12:50 AM CST