Gay, Lawyerly Lairs, Money, Real Estate

Lawyerly Lairs: Does Debevoise Pay Its Associates Enough?

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Of course they do. Debevoise & Plimpton paid generous bonuses in 2006. And they went along with the latest pay raises, with scarcely any hesitation.
So we can’t help wondering:

Why do some of their associates still have roommates?

Then again, this roommate situation isn’t the typical set-up of two post-college kids throwing up a sheetrock wall in a 500-square-foot one bedroom. It’s an amazing apartment on Lower Broadway, a sprawling loft with high ceilings and great furniture — courtesy of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” on which Berman once appeared (even though he’s actually gay).
Jeff Berman went into this roommate arrangement not knowing for certain whether it would work out. Per the New York Times:

For Mr. Berman, a young lawyer who had met Ms. [Lauren] Reece — then Billy — at a bar in Chelsea two years before, moving in with a transsexual required a leap of faith. He was worried that a host of changes, physical as well as psychological, would make the perky Ms. Reece “a bit unstable.”

As it turns out, domestic tranquillity reigns. The two roommates could pass for a suburban couple: Mr. Berman, 26, in workout pants and a T-shirt, Ms. Reece, 28, in a pink cardigan and pearl necklace.

Aww… Isn’t that cute?
But look, even if Lauren Reece has turned out to be a total head case, Jeffrey Berman might still have wanted to move in. Why? As everyone knows, space-deprived Manhattanites are sluts for square footage. Who wouldn’t room with someone “a bit unstable” — heck, aren’t we all — in exchange for 1,400 square feet and 14-foot ceilings?
Hell, we’d move in with a transsexual PROSTITUTE if he/she had a pad that fabulous. Give us earplugs and some hand sanitizer, and we’re good to go.
Update: Yes, this post has been tweaked slightly since its original incarnation.
In the Right Place at the Right Time [New York Times]
Jeffrey C. Berman [Debevoise & Plimpton]

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