Buchanan Ingersoll: Timing is Everything

Everybody has to sacrifice to survive in the new “economy” (if that’s what we’re still calling it). Today, we’ve received word that Buchanan Ingersoll could be asking partners to shoulder part of the burden. A tipster explains:

Buchanan Ingersoll was not able to pay nonequity partners any of their holdback at year end and equity partners only received a very small portion of their money. Partners forced to borrow to pay in capital by Jan 30.

But according to the firm, this is the normal timing for Buchanan’s decision making process. A firm spokesperson told us:

In terms of payouts to non-equity and equity partners — We are on a January 31 year-end for partner compensation so it’s only after that date that we determine the payout to equity and non-equity partners. There will certainly be a payout to non-equity partners and a substantial equity payout as well.

If there is any level of payout uncertainty in the partnership ranks, you can imagine how associates are doing. We explore after the jump.


Buchanan Ingersoll has already laid off a number of staff. A salary freeze probably wouldn’t shock anybody, given the difficult times. A tipster reports the obvious:

Associates have not yet received any raise for 09.

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But again, the firm contends that there has been no formal decision to freeze salaries. Instead, the firm always waits until later in the first quarter before deciding salaries and bonuses:

For the last three years we’ve handled salaries and/or bonuses for associates in the February/March timeframe so we haven’t even met to have those discussions yet.

All we can say is that if a firm typically waits before making these kinds of decisions, we can’t imagine that a firm would “rush” such decisions in this market.

There are a lot of firms taking a “wait and see” approach.

Earlier: Staff Layoffs at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney

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