AUTHOR: blankman
EMAIL:
IP: 65.106.139.101
URL:
DATE: 09/14/2007 10:04:21 AM

McKenna Long & Aldridge has also raised first-year salaries in Atlanta to $145k as of January 1, 2008.

Hooray for H&W! Setting the market in ATL.

Is the Fulton County Daily Report the best legal newspaper going or what? Lat must cite to this paper at least six times a month. It's nice to have such a great paper in a "third tier" legal market like the one here in Atlanta.

The Daily Report traditionally loves A&B. Not surprisingly, the article falsely suggests that A&B raised salaries $15K across the board. That is simply not the case -- for some reason, A&B gave some of its more senior associates a raise of less than $15K, increasing associate compression in this city.

Word on the street is that K&S will announce revised pay scale next week.

True, 10:32. A&B only did lock-step increases of $15K in its other markets.

Atlanta to $35k!

None of these firms have matched F&R.

All eyes are on K&S. If they limp in with some stupid A&B plan that doesn't address compression (or, makes it worse, as A&B's scale does) after posting record PPP and opening four offices in six months, things will not be pretty.

To put things in perspective: How shady is it that every other major market (NYC, DC, Cali., Dallas, Houston, etc.) has seen a substantial increase in pay DURING THIS CALENDAR YEAR, while Atlanta has raised just enough to meet inflation and put the effective date of that raise off for nearly a year and (for the firms that do a deferred comp. plan) the date on which they have to pay those "raises" for nearly two years.

Rumor is that Powell Goldstein intends to raise starting salaries to $93,000 and to finance those raises by renting out its space for weddings and bar mitzvahs and by having its corporate associates wait tables.

No word yet whether the associates can keep any tips. Stay tuned.

right now, Sutherland is the only atlanta firm to even pretend to address compression.

11:19:

"Atlanta has just raised enough to meet inflation..."

Wow. You guys went from a 100K scale to a 145K scale in three years. Inflation is running 45% in the ATL?

Please, don't make things up.

Good job on getting the full story Daily Report...Holland & Knight bumped to $145 last week.

11:35 (aka partner lurking)

Atlanta first years went from 130 to 145 for first years in light of the most recent pay raise wave that started in Cali. and swept across the country. I actually think that raise for first years was too high and not justified. If I were a partner, I would not have voted for it. The money should have been directed at the real problem in Atlanta: compression. That was the focus of my post.

Up the scale, mid-levels and senior associates at A&B got around 11K as a raise. Lets see. For a mid-level making 147K at A&B (note, less than first years elsewhere), 11K is about a 7% raise. And it is a raise that: (1) makes compression even worse in a city where it was already bad, (2) does not take effect until nearly a year AFTER other markets got their raise, and (3) is far less than the raises doled out in other markets as a percentage of existing pay.

What was the PPP "pay" increase in Atlanta last year? Bet it was more thn 7%.

How much have PPP jumped over the last three years in Atlanta?

Listen, the numbers are out there and you can't hide anymore. You did it to yourself by publishing what you make and what you pay your associates. What you didn't think the two sets of numbers would ever be put sisde-by-side? As a percentage of PPP, associate pay is lower than it has been in a decade. Snap out of denial and pay up.

List of Shame (still paying $130k):

Arnall Golden
Powell Goldstein
Smith Gambrell
Womble Carlyle
Nelson Mullins
Greenberg
Carlton Fields
Seyfarth Shaw
DLA

thanks 11:19, i guess i'll cancel my callback

Know some people over at Kil Stock DC, and they say that the DC office is in major trouble. Apparently, half of the office was just poached by an Atlanta competitor.

11:15am.

Apples to apples, all of these firms have matched F&R's $160k. F&R hires and pays patent attorneys, well, all of the big Atlanta firms are paying $160 to their patent attorneys.

11:15am.

Apples to apples, all of these firms have matched F&R's $160k. F&R hires and pays patent attorneys, well, all of the big Atlanta firms are paying $160k to their patent attorneys.

Wow. You guys went from a 100K scale to a 145K scale in three years. Inflation is running 45% in the ATL?

=====================

This is true but misleading. Salaries were stagnant from 2000 to 2006. While PPP grows every year, associate salaries do not. The partner just pocket the inflation adjustments that would be needed to keep salaries current.

Of course, that means there's eventuially a day of reckoning, when salaries catch up all at once, and the increases seem very large. But it's still a great deal for the partners, who get to defer all that extra expense for years (in this case, 6 years).

So a more telling comparison is to ask what is the % increase from 2000 to 1/1/08, when the raises take effect, and compare that to inflation. Assuming inflation was only 3% per year, the 100k of 2000 needs to be at least 121k today, even if you are not compounding the increases, just to keep pace. Ahead of inflation? Sure, but not by nearly as much as you think.

Hill Rat (12:29) -- which competitor?

"11:19:

'Atlanta has just raised enough to meet inflation...'

Wow. You guys went from a 100K scale to a 145K scale in three years. Inflation is running 45% in the ATL?

Please, don't make things up."

You, sir, are a mathematical dynamo.

It's unlikely that any of the firms will address compression, but rumor has it that the Starbucks over in Colony Square is thinking of raising from $9.50 to $10.25 per hour. Give it some thought.

12:35

Have the other Atlanta firms matched F&R bonsues (NY Market, give or take) for patent attorneys too?

3:43 -- I think you'll have to give a bit more detail than "NY Market, give or take" for anyone to answer that question. What were the F&R bonuses for 2006?

10:52 -- I would not bet on it. I'm guessing K&S does not announce anything new until end of December, when it has to. At that time, I'm betting K&S matches Alston's base and Sutherland's deferred bonus, but with higher billable requirements.

king and spalding did acquire kilstock's government relations group in DC. Approximately five lawyers. My understanding is the reason is the kilstock made it known it was not a practice area it desired to expand.

Actually, I hear that K&S acquired far more than the government relations group. I believe that K&S also acquired the top IP lawyers in Kilstock's D.C. office, including the office managing partner. I highly doubt that Kilstock wanted to lose this practice.

9:24, i heard that too.

When the F are mid-level/senior scales going to come out? December is a long time...

10:54 -- Alston's did come out; aren't you happy with that?!

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - September 17, 2007) - King & Spalding, a leading international law firm, announced today that it has added 10 lawyers and non-lawyer professionals to its Washington, D.C. office in the areas of public policy and intellectual property. The additions bolster the capabilities of the firm's growing Washington, D.C. office.

The additions consist of four partners, including Christopher A. Ott, the former practice group leader of Kilpatrick Stockton's government relations practice, and George Marcou, the former Managing Partner of Kilpatrick Stockton's Washington, D.C. office, as well as Dawn-Marie Bey, and Michael Dimino, a partner and partner-elect who have leading practices in electrical engineering patent prosecution, counseling, and diligence.

Does anyone know whether the associates in A&B's new Dallas office receive market pay (for Texas)? If so, just another FU to the Atlanta associates.