Everyone's a Winner at These Five Law Firms
Congratulations to this quintet of five law firms, which just made Fortune magazine's annual list of the 100 Best Companies To Work For (listed below in rank order):
19. Arnold & Porter: "Staffers get 12 weeks paid maternity leave and profit sharing of 7.5% of salary. The less you make, the less you pay for health-insurance premiums."
Actually, a correction: 18 weeks (as of January 1, 2008).
31. Alston & Bird: "Both the legal and nonlegal staff get super benefits, including 90 days of paid maternity leave, coverage of fertility treatments, and concierge services."
Concierge services? Fabulous. Atlantans, stop yer whining!
41. Bingham McCutchen: "They're proud of their elite grads: 72 from nearby Harvard Law, 24 from Yale, and 20 from Stanford. They all start at $160,000 a year."55. Perkins Coie: "They value fun at this law firm. At 2007's Lawyerpalooza battle of the bands, the Perkins Coie rock & rollers brought down the house (and took home the top prize)."
See also Nixon Peabody: "Fun is not prohibited here." Speaking of which...
66. Nixon Peabody: "The law firm excels on policies for GLBT employees (a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign); it targets 3% of billable hours annually for pro bono work."
Please send us any theme songs that are composed to commemorate these honors. Thank you.
100 Best Companies To Work For (2008) [Fortune]
Earlier: Bingham McCutchen: Land of the Amazons?
(36) 
woo hoo! Now where is my bonus?
Congrats to A&B...although I've heard numerous defectors (i.e. former employees) who would disagree.
first? don't talk about first! you kiddin' me ... first?
Woo hoo!! Everyone is still a winner at .... Nixon Peabody!!
Really? Bingham? Really?
From a lawyer's perspective, these surveys are extremely misleading because they focus largely on the treatment and happiness of the staff. That's great and firms should treat their staff well. But this says nothing of the fact that these places still are all sweatshops for associates.
there are a lot of cutie chick attorneys who work at bingham
Funny how Nixon ended up on this list... Notably, its employee benefits (i.e. parenting leave - 4 weeks - hello?!?!) are dwarfed by all other law firms on the list, and by all top law firms in general.
over 60% of the attorneys at bingham ny work less than 2000 hours a year (now 2100). that's not a sweatshop. only problem is that they get zero bonus.
11:43 is right. a lot of crappy firms are great places for staff to work. take my firm, the staff enjoys near-zero cost health insurance coverage and other bennies while associates make up for it with their premiums.
Most of the reasons cited that they are great companies to work for are things that lots of other law firms have. Seems pretty suspect...
The same 5 firms have been on this list for years.....
Most big law firms practically give health insurance to the staff and charge associates (who are mostly healthy, young and childless) high rates. No big deal.
if my law firm was on this list i'd be soooooo haaaapppppyyyy
Regarding pro bono, Nixon Peabody can say whatever it wants -- but I know an associate who was privately taken to task for spending too much time on a (preapproved) pro bono project, even though he was publicly lauded for winning the same case.
aren't these lists really an indicator of where it's good to be a secretary and not where it's good to be an atty?
12:12(2) - YES.
Before law school, I worked at a company that is on this list year in and year out. I work in biglaw now, and I can assure you my current job is much more pleasant than my previous "Best Company to Work For" gig.
Maybe it's just the money.
I used to work at A&B and a lot of the associates joked about its longstanding run on the Fortune list (i.e., how can this possibly be one of the best places to work?). As many posters have already said, the listing has more to do with how the staff feel about the firm than associates. In my satellite office, some of the partners actually viewed being on this list as a negative, because they thought the emphasis on being a "great place to work" drew in slacker associates. I had always thought that more of the attorneys in the Atlanta office have drunk the kool-aid about what a great firm A&B is, but previous ATL postings indicate otherwise.
Piling on -- I too used to work at A&B and the rankings are a farce. Staff is rewarded with an extra personal day each year "in recognition" for making the list. Flat out bribery gets them on. While A&B isn't a particularly unpleasant place to work as an attorney, it is no better or worse than other regional (wannabe national) large firms.
this "methodology" is bs. how does paying 160k distinguish a major law firm?
this story is worthless filler.
it distinguishes because its one of the few truly national firms to pay 160 in every office - hartford and walnut creek along with NY.
YAY BINGHAM. BINGHAM to 190!
Is Bingham a law firm?
Bingham pays 160K in every office - including hartford CT and walnut creek
Oh don't forget Bingham also pays 160K to its associates in its Portland Maine office...which has 25% the cost of living as NYC
To 11:46 AM -
Bingham routinely pays market bonuses (but has not yet announced this year) and the majority of NY associates bill over 2000 hours, check your facts!
The associates have to pay for the concierge, who just happens to be in the building.
I worked for Deloitte as an auditor...and while i HATED being an auditor...i had to admit...there was a benefit to working for such a large firm that had great benefits and tons of resources. Next year I am going to work for one of the firms that made the Fortune list, and while I can't say that it will be the best place to be a lawyer...I bet that the workplace overall will be more pleasant if the staff isn't disgruntled and ready to shoot themselves....plus the perks are nice
2:13, maybe. I work at one of the "best places" and I can't say how it compares to other firms, but our staff are treated so well that they aren't really expected to do anything. Have fun sending out your own faxes and making copies!
At Bingham, this is actually our bonus.
One time A&B gave all of its associates a luggage tag to make up for the fact that we didn't get the extra personal day given to the staff. I got so excited that I ran out into the street, shouting with glee, and got hit by a car. Doh!
A&B to free luggage tags!
A&B is a decent place to work, but not in the top 100. They use the associates' salaries to represent an "average" employee, but yet, I have never met an associate who was asked to fill out a survey for this beauty contest.
Health insurance? The less you make, the less you pay. EXCEPT that everyone over $100K pays on the same scale. So a partner making $800K pays as much as an associate making 1/5 the same amount.
Oh yes, and do you know that staff and partners get a 401k match, but not associates. Fair, eh?
And it's true, they do give staff members the day off to "celebrate" the firm's ranking.
Has Fortune looked at A&B's continuing ridiculous increases in healthcare costs? We have people qualifying for Medicaid in our mailroom because the family coverage is so expensive and not income-indexed (to any significant degree). But woo-hoo! We have fertility coverage. Talk about priorities!
Anonymous @ 6:08, I am hardly a big fan of A&B, but I don't think that either of your comments about benefits are quite correct. Partners generally pay the full cost of health coverage, not health premiums, which results in a difference of several thousand dollars. Talk to any new partner and a lot of them will tell you that they often make less in their first year of partnership because they have to start covering the full cost of their own health coverage (and a lot of other expenses). Also, very few firms give associates matching contributions, due to some tax code issues that you surely don't want to hear about. Giving a match to staff and partners, but not associates, is a pretty common scheme.
With that having been said, A&B doesn't belong on the Fortune list because it is full of a-hole partners who need a serious reality check on the way the firm is viewed by the outside world and what an "honor" it is to be associated with the place. I too have never met an associate who was asked to fill out the Fortune survey, and I don't wonder why.