Nationwide Pay Raise: More on Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell

Here’s some quick follow-up to yesterday’s post about Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell (which has a nice new logo — kudos to their graphic designer). An unhappy tipster tells us:

Jerry Clement’s compensation memo is attached. Also attached is an email from Jerry announcing the departure of eight partners from LLBL’s Chicago office.

These eight partners left yesterday to join DLA. Some commenters inaccurately called these partners “old.” Four are under 45. Two other partners announced their departures on Friday (these two are not going to DLA). Together these ten partners purportedly generated roughly 9-10% of LB&B’s billable work in 2007.

Check out the memos, plus an account of the recent associates’ meeting, after the jump.


Our source continues:

Jerry held an associates meeting with Larry Gray (head of LLBL’s Chicago office) to address concerns. The meeting made things worse. Management could not answer any questions and repeated the same line “good things are coming but b/c of confidentiality we can’t say what.” We also got to hear stories of what life was like for Jerry and another partner named Nick as associates (who cares). It was all bull — nothing is coming. Another associate announced her departure today and many more actively are looking to leave. Several associates are having trouble finding enough work to bill more than 140 hours a month. All of the sophisticated work is leaving this firm. Layoffs seem imminent.

Please keep reporting on LLBL. It’s sad what happened to a once great firm (LB&B). Locke and Load continues to drive away the best and the brightest.

LOCKE LORD BISSELL & LIDDELL LLP — MEMORANDUM — ATTORNEY DEPARTURES
From: Jerry K. Clements
To: LLBL Attorneys
I wanted to let you know that a group of attorneys from our Chicago office have advised me that they will be leaving our firm effective immediately to join DLA Piper. They are Matt Klepper, Randy Hack, Ron Lepinskas, Andrew Gifford, Al Fowerbaugh, Tim Brink, Doug Rohrman, and Forrest Lammiman. We thank them for their time at our Firm, and I know you will join me in wishing them all the best in their new endeavor.
Jerry K. Clements
Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP
LOCKE LORD BISSELL & LIDDELL LLP — MEMORANDUM — ASSOCIATE COMPENSATION

Earlier: Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: Locke ‘n Loaded

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