Biglaw, Howrey LLP, Money, Skaddenfreude, Weirdness

Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: Howrey Postpones Weirdness

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As you may recall from our prior coverage, in posts titled Howrey Is Planning Something Weird and More About the Howrey Weirdness, the law firm of Howrey LLP was planning to ditch lockstep compensation for its associates — in favor of something weird (or innovative, or both).
Starting in 2008, Howrey was going to employ a “competency model,” in which it would “determine salary based on individual evaluations and various forms of progress indicators.” At least that was the plan.
Consider the plan on hold, or at least put off for a while. Sources at Howrey advise us that at a meeting of the Associate Affairs Committee today, it was announced that the new, non-lockstep compensation system will not be implemented until at least 2009. In other words, Howrey will keep a lockstep pay scale through 2008.
It’s still planning to move in the direction of a new pay paradigm. The associate evaluation system upon which the new compensation will be based is going to be rolled out in 2008. But evaluations under that system won’t affect associate paychecks until 2009, at the earliest.
Why the postponement? A source tells us, “apparently the delayed implementation is a result of concerns voiced by associates to the firm’s outside consultants during focus group sessions about the new system.”
That’s nice. Who says partners don’t listen to associates?
Update: Or, as one commenter puts it, “they have been listening to those comments in exit interviews as Howrey hemorrhages associates who are terrified of a compensation structure based on an inadequate performance review system.”
Earlier: Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: More About the Howrey Weirdness
Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: Howrey Is Planning Something Weird

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