Skaddenfreude: Life Is Good in Miami

We’re more or less done with our series of posts profiling various “secondary” legal markets. We thought about putting up the Portsmouth thread that some trolls commenters have been demanding, but we decided against it after reading this.
So now we’re going to loop back to a city that we previously covered, to wit, Miami. We have a news hook for this post: a recent story, from the Daily Business Review, about how 2006 treated South Florida’s top law firms.
More details about this market, after the jump.


Last year was a good one for Miami’s big firms, according to Daniel Ostrovsky’s article:

For some of the area’s top-grossing law firms, 2006 brought double-digit percentage growth in revenue and corresponding growth in profits per equity partner and compensation for all partners.

Six of the top 15 firms in the Daily Business Review’s annual Review 15 survey reported a revenue jump of more than 15 percent, while four others reported revenue growth of more than 10 percent.

Can Miami associatez has pay raize?
Maybe not so much:

Despite what many had expected, South Florida managing partners report their real estate practices are not slowing down significantly and continue to be big revenue generators.

On the negative side, law firm managers express concern about rising associate salaries.

Is the concern warranted? What about partner profits and compensation?

Holland [& Knight]’s compensation per partner was $513,100, a 29 percent rise from 2005. Broad and Cassel increased its compensation per partner more than 10 percent, to $519,600. Becker & Poliakoff increased compensation per partner 14 percent, to $447,100, while boosting its head count more than 6 percent.

On the other hand, Akerman Senterfitt, which saw its head count grow 10 percent last year, reported a compensation per partner increase of just 2 percent, to $460,800.

With compensation per partner of $1.25 million, White & Case topped the Review 15 rankings in that category. But because White & Case did not provide South Florida data to the Review, its figures were determined by taking firmwide data and adjusting them by the number of the firm’s lawyers in South Florida.

Bilzin Sumberg reported that its compensation per partner grew 30 percent, to $947,100 — ranking second in the Review 15 survey. Greenberg’s compensation per partner in South Florida grew 14 percent last year, to more than $908,000, ranking third.

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But if you’re an associate hoping to share the wealth, don’t hold your breath:

South Florida managing partners also express concern about the impact on firm finances of rising associate salaries. Two national firms are paying $160,000 to their associates in their South Florida offices. A number of other major firms here now hire rookie lawyers at salaries in excess of $130,000.

At the same time, attorney loyalty has declined and many young lawyers are switching firms or leaving firm practice after a few years, making it harder to earn a return on profit from training associates….

“I obviously want young lawyers to do well,” [Matthew] Gorson [of Greenberg Traurig] said. But “there has to be a practical business balance between what you pay to attract talent and how much talent can contribute to justify what you are paying.”

True dat.
Special Report: Review 15 [Daily Business Review]

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