Nationwide Pay Freeze Watch: Perkins Coie And Fulbright Freeze, Schulte Does Not
After saying nice things about top Texas firms yesterday, our inbox was flooded today with news of a salary freeze at Fulbright & Jaworski.
As we understand it, the firm is only freezing salaries through the first quarter of 2009, so it’s a Slurpee freeze.
So much for Texas being the beacon of hope for the legal industry.
But, perhaps more surprisingly, Perkins Coie is also freezing salaries:
The 2009 economic picture remains extremely uncertain. Although we continue to have no debt and the firm is in excellent financial shape, we have determined to take a number of significant steps to ensure the firm’s financial health in 2009 for the benefit of all personnel.The firm’s budget contemplates approximately a 10% reduction in average partner income in 2009, and partner draw percentages for January and February were significantly reduced in order to avoid any need to borrow funds. We have also frozen salaries for senior administrative staff who are evaluated on a calendar year basis. Most staff have salary adjustments on July 1 and no decision will be made on compensation adjustments applicable to them until that time.
We have also decided to hold associates at their current base salary levels. Associates will remain at their 2008 base salary for 2009, subject to two limited exceptions. Adjustments will be made to productivity build-ins for affected associates in the Bellevue, Seattle and Washington, DC offices, and changes will be made to address a few unique compensation arrangements previously scheduled for adjustment in 2009. New compensation memos will be distributed within the next few weeks.
I guess having partners that are tight with Obama isn’t enough to stave off a “solid ice” freeze. So much for unicorns.
But, after the jump, some positive news to report.
Yesterday, we mentioned that Schulte Roth could be freezing salaries. But today, Schulte made a very clear statement that they intend to stick with pay increases like most of the market.
This seems like a good time to mention the obvious. The salary freeze phenomenon is a trend being carried out by only a few firms. Skadden, Cravath, Cleary, Gibson, and countless other firms — literally more than we can credibly name without missing anybody — are not freezing salaries. Top firms are still raising salaries based on seniority.
We’ll keep up with the pay freeze watch, but the majority of Biglaw firms are acting like Schulte and paying class appropriate raises just like they’ve always done.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of salary freezes
(110) Comments
Comments
What ever happened to the law firm addict guy? I want updates on summer classes.
ninth
None of these scum have earned a dollar of that money. What skills does a 1L bring to the client, again? Oh yeah, they don't know anything. Well worth charging the client +$200/hour. What a fraud.
Most firms will have frozen in a month. This is a Depression (thanks Bush - heckuva job!).
Hi, can anybody here still afford a rub n tug a couple days per week? Does anyone know about any "Recession Specials" in the R&T space?
TIA
20
"I guess having partners that are tight with Obama isn't enough to stave off a "solid ice" freeze."
*who*, not "that"
Perkins has always wanted to play with the big boys. They are a big boy in Seattle, but clearly nowhere else. The Seattle office is still extremely busy, though, so I hope this "productivity" build-ins is worth it for those associates.
Add Mintz to the list.
Add Mintz to the list.
I blame all of the militant oneHOLE's screaming about death to the west.
oneHOLES=TTT
everyone is busy, pulling the weight while the firms maintain their profits.
The Student Bar Association will be holding its annual symposium on "Bankruptcy in the Face in the Age of Corporate Layoffs." All are welcome to come and discounted admission will be given to those deemed bankrupt in the face.
-SBA President
Shearman didn't freeze either.
Law School -- big mistake
What about the Alston Bird layoffs? Any numbers, practice group or office details?
What happened to all the smack talk from the folks in TTTexas?
Vinson & Elkins and Baker Botts = No Freeze.
F&J out in the cold by itself....
Greatest financial crisis in several generations and they're budgeting approximately a 10% decrease in partner income? Dang, sign me up for that gig.
Texas is tooBIG to freeze, stupid.
SMU RULES!
Jeez ATL, why won't you give the people what they want:
Table, two columns. Raising, not raising. Lists of each.
The Readers.
"We'll keep up with the pay freeze watch, but the majority of Biglaw firms are acting like Schulte and paying class appropriate raises just like they've always done. "
Elie - please just make a chart of firms that have not frozen salaries. It is easy. Put a call out for emails and put one together. This is far more important than whatever stupid gossip you are following.
death to the infidels
really big oneHOLE
If you're an associate at a frozen firm - did your billing rate advance?
confirmation that Shearman didn't freeze?
Shearman increased salaries, and amended the bonus plan. Still no hours requirement, but not so lock step as it was in the past - top performers will get a lot more, underperformers a lot less, and a significant majority will get the same. They don't seem to be making the change in order to screw associates out of bonuses next year, but you never know. Someone else can forward you the memo...
What's a SMU?
No freeze at W&C
No surprise about Fulbright, really.
Any word about layoffs at Cahill?
very curious to see the shearman bonus memo. someone please post.
i heard that firms are starting to fire all of their oneHoles.
Unproductive associates are the first to be fired.
Curiously, associates who post on ATL usually correlate to unproductive associates.
If you're reading this, you have a big red "X" marked on your forehead.
You're the weakest link. Buh-bye.
A&B layoffs in atlanta IP group!!!!! 10-15 lawyers including STUBS!!!!!
27 -- third years are only at $180,000. You know of other years? Seems like the scale may be different now.
W&C - White & Case or Williams & Connolly?
yay schulte!
34 - no we're not.
Baker Botts is not freezing salaries--just firing attorneys.
why is there NO news on boston firms?
24: yes. Way back in October 2008!!!!
Making a list of firms that have frozen only encourages firms that are undecided. Please just highlight the ones who have not frozen.
White & Case has not frozen
Did Milbank freeze? I am hearing mixed reports!
Yes!
- Schulte Summer '09
Yes!
- Schulte Summer '09
23 --yes it did advance. That is the fishy part.
8/9 -- Mintz to the increase list? the freeze list?
32 is the unintentional comedy scale winner of the week. No one can top that.
Kaye Scholer did not freeze.
Perkins Coie = oneHOLE
Hmm, interesting point. I would also add.... Ducktales a woo oo!
S&S didn't freeze. Thank you uncle Shearman.
Paul Roth is my hero!
This is just a test - comments aren't working up at non-sequiturs
23 and 46 -
You highlight a big problem with Fulbright's pay freeze. Associate pay is frozen, but rates go up at Fulbright. Partners make a little extra. Nice.
23 - yes, billing rates went up for all classes.
33-you are a douche rumor mill. IP? Come on, you can do better than that?
55 - how is this a problem? Let me guess ... you went to law school straight from undergrad and still think it's all about you?
A&B gave the bird to A.
38- what do you mean about Baker Botts firing attorneys? Is that true?
ScTTTulte.
Can somebody tell me what's up with Sullivan & Worcester, NY and Boston. (Thanks, and great catches on the grammar.)
60--I know for a fact that Baker Botts is conducting stealth lay-offs. Not in quantity, but it's happening.
63- do you know which offices? i heard that there were some stealth lay-offs in dallas, but assumed that dc/houston/nyc were still okay.
64 - i dont work at Baker Botts, but was told by someone who does that houston associates are being laid off
Akin Gump announced a freeze yesterday as well.
re 66 - to clarify, Akin Gump announced it was freezing while studying whether to freeze. Its complicated.
I don't know why ATL itself refuses to provide this public service, but here is the list of firms that have raised salaries as normal in 2009:
Baker Botts
Bingham
Bracewell Giuliani
Cahill
Clifford Chance
Covington
Cravath
Crowell & Moring
Debevoise
Dechert
Dewey
Fish and Richardson
Fitzpatrick Cella
Gibson Dunn
Greenberg Traurig
Hogan and Hartson
Holland & Knight
Jones Day
Kaye Scholer
Kenyon & Kenyon
Kirkland
Linklaters
Morgan Lewis
Munger
O'Melveny
Paul Weiss
Schulte
Shearman
Skadden
Sullivan
Vinson Elkins
Weil
White & Case
Williams & Connolly
Willkie Farr
If you have additions, please add and repost the list.
non-freezing firms
http://abovethelaw.com/community/
Any word on Wilson, Cooley, or Gunderson?
70 --
Are those the names of associates laid off from Cahill?
Hogan & Hartson froze.
Since we're on the subject of Schulte, someone previously made a comment that Schulte has only laid off 6 people because the attorney count went from 475 (in September) to 469 (as of January). (see http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/biglaw_to_associates_surprise.php#comments ).
It's actually much more. If you check out NALP’s website, as of February 1, 2008, Schulte reported having 466 attorneys. On Schulte's website, today, there are 469 attorneys listed. If you subtract the 9 attorneys hired to open the new DC office, the 51 first years and the 10-20 lateral attorneys they've hired, that's a lot of people that have left the firm since February 2008. It could be attrition, stealth layoffs, or something else, but in any case, people are bailing from Schulte. Just saying ...
4 you are clearly a young litigator. Go take econ 101 and then you won't have to look so stupid.
73 - and many more to come. Check the Schulte attorney chart in March to see the pre-holiday lay-offs reflected.
Any word on Fenwick?
Fenwick announced a freeze last week.
I would take MLB off of that list - methinks a salary freeze will be announced tomorrow.
If MLB freezes salaries, the Yankees will be pissed for agreeing to pay Teixeira and Sabathia so much just before the freeze. Haha F the Yankees.
A&B IP layoffs! They pay ip a bit more here in Atlanta for IP. They are expensive and the market is not doing well here. There will also be a ton of non-ip layoffs anounced soon too.
Schulte's been laying off since the summer but have been doing it in little bits at a time so as not to cause headlines.
schulte lays people off every year - like many businesses, they tell the worst performing associates in each of the groups that they have a couple months to find new jobs. it has nothing to do with the economy.
68 - Take Morgan Lewis off the list. No raises or salaries announced yet. Everyone is expecting a freeze announcement tomorrow.
82 must be a schulte partner. so 60+ attorneys leaving the firm is business as usual, especially in a bad economy. get real! the numbers speak for themselves.
Can't believe MLB will let themselves fall behind Dechert, but then again, when have they ever been known to pay above market.
Any word on testa hurwitz? pay freeze, layoffs? thanks
Akin didn't freeze. They merely said no decision was made if we get increases. Supposedly a decision will be made soon.
meine freunde artbeit fur perkins und ist kaput.
Don't worry guys. Superjew will stop these pay freezes with his massive money-sniffing nose.
ask schulte structured products dept. if it's business as usual.
Does SRZ even have a structured products group anymore? Thought the people in that group got transferred to other practice groups and when they couldn't cut it in the new group, got fired.
I'll say this because it's what all frozen associates are thinking - fuck Latham and where they came from. Fuck em in the ass.
Fuck you 92, you money-grubbing little jew slut.
schulte's structured products group was largely disbanded, like at most firms. but most associates were transferred elsewhere. and there is no chance 60 associates have been laid off at schulte.
Any confirmation on Fulbright? I'll be shocked if they've really given up the fight. Then again I hear they're about to embark on a deadbeat partner pogrom that should shore things up by the end of the year.
Leon must be spinning in his grave.
Akin Gump did not officially freeze 66. I have it on good authority that because they are doing suprisingly well, they are going to raise!
Proskauer Rose froze salaries. January 15th pay check came out at 2008 pay rate. No memo or other communication to associates.
23 - no, my firm froze salaries AND increased my rate $20. This is purely a money grab by the partners. These fuckers can't get enough clients to keep associates busy, they keep jacking rates on the clients they do have. This is a disaster waiting to happen...
With multiple close friends at Baker Botts in Houston, I can confirm that they have been firing people based on alleged poor performance for almost all of 2008, and at rates far greater than normal years. Stealth lay offs, in other words, without a doubt.
Add Mintz Levin to the freeze list. Word is that they will reevaluate after quarter-end, whatever that means. They announced this with no previous warning on the eve of delivery of the first paychecks of 2009. Very lame.
Add Mintz Levin to the freeze list. Word is that they will reevaluate after quarter-end, whatever that means. They announced this with no previous warning on the eve of delivery of the first paychecks of 2009. Very lame.
whether stealth layoffs are occurring or not, its strange that a lot of people seem to be leaving schulte in a bad economy. does anyone know what groups have been affected the most?
I heard from an associate at Shulte that the firm has been doing stealth layoffs; so the need to freeze wages was not there. Shulte claimed to be one of the biggest players in CDO legal work in the country. What happened to all of those associates once that work went away?
i heard the layoffs have been acrross the board from real estate to lit. to IM. no group seems to be same.
Greenberg Traurig NYC (no idea about White Plains) didn't freeze, but they did freeze some associates and went off lockstep for the rest. From what I've heard nobody more senior than a 2nd year got the class-appropriate raise.
ATL should put some pressure on schulte. it's been going on for 6 months, trying to pretend everything's ok.
Ropes--not frozen. Just announced.
Firms that do not freeze will lay off associates to make up the difference.
28- why no surprise about Fulbright? Someone fill me in!
Andrews Kurth Slurpee Freeze