* The Washington Post editorial board sounds the call for a judicial pay raise, lamenting the fact that with salaries at $170k, most federal trial judges make less than Biglaw junior associates. “Increasingly cut out of contention for these important and prestigious positions are workaday lawyers most familiar with the realities of the business and legal arenas,” says The Post. [Washington Post]
* … Or maybe wannabe judges should migrate to L.A. County, where judges make $250k per year (factoring in benefits). Judges there are fighting off a Judicial Watch lawsuit that seeks to cut their pay. [Los Angeles Times]
* A Liberian immigrant tried to sneak monkey meat into New York from Africa. Judge Raymond J. Dearie rejects her faith-based objection to smuggling charges, writing that nothing in her religion “required her to abstain from truthful completion of paperwork.” [Associated Press]
* Democrat Al Franken will soon claim victory in the Minnesota Senate race, but incumbent Republican Norm Coleman will try to get the Minnesota Supreme Court to count some additional absentee ballots. This drawn-out vote counting is really impinging on the contest’s drama. Maybe they should just thumb wrestle for the seat. [Reuters]
* Gambling addictions and attorney trust funds are not a good combination. A New Jersey attorney admits to stealing $4 million from his clients to fund his love of Atlantic City slot machines. [The Star-Ledger]
DLA Piper’s associates received an e-mail today at 4 p.m. about bonuses. The memo says less about bonuses though than it says about 2009 salaries. (Bonus decisions will be made later in January, as they were last year.)
The salary decision for 2009? Another major firm is getting its freeze on. Here’s an excerpt from the e-mail:
DLA Piper, because of its global platform and practice diversification, is well-positioned competitively and financially to weather this downturn, but neither we nor our clients are immune from its impacts. This difficult business environment is certain to continue in 2009, and as a matter of prudent management, the firm will not increase associate salaries for 2009 in the U.S. Associates moving to the next class year will continue to receive the same base compensation as they received in 2008.
We asked our tipster about the reaction around the office:
Well, it’s only been an hour, but I think it’s a terrible move. DLAP already has a reputation as a scrimper among the top-50 – this will not help.
At least other top-50 firms did it first. Like Latham and Orrick, this pronouncement is a definite freeze, and not a maybe-we’ll-reassess-if-things-look-brighter-later-in-the-year freeze.
Full text of the e-mail after the jump.
Continue reading “Nationwide Pay Freeze Watch: DLA Piper”
This year, we launched a new feature on ATL: the Caption Contest. We gave you legally-themed photos and asked you to submit potential captions. We thought it was a great idea — let the readers do our work for us!
The contests proved to be widely popular. Wading through hundreds of caption submissions to bring you a top ten list was actually quite time-consuming, but not a terrible chore — lawyers and lawyers-to-be came up with some hilarious material.
Once we narrowed the lists to the top ten finalists, we let ATL readers choose the winners by voting. “Guest” may not win ATL Commenter of the Year, but certainly did come out on top in captioning. Take our most recent contest, Babies in the Corner. Out of 3030 votes, this caption won by a nose (0.8 percent):
Don’t move! They can’t lay us off if they don’t see us.
A look back at our three favorite caption contests, after the jump.
Continue reading “2008 in Review: Caption Contests”
* Joe the Plumber finally makes it all the way to the top … tax story of 2008 at least. [TaxProf Blog]
* Apparently there’s a law firm out there that goes by the name of “Real Lawyers at Affordable Prices, Fresno.” [Legal Pad]
* If there was one place you should talk like a lawyer, I thought it would be while you were in police custody. If there were two places you should talk like a lawyer, I thought the second place would be “in court.” But maybe I’m wrong. [ABA Journal]
* Not all cigarettes have to be “light” cigarettes. This is great news for teenage smokers who still wish to distinguish themselves from far less cool adult smokers. [The Volokh Conspiracy]
Continuing with our rundown of the top ten Biglaw stories of 2008, we reach our fourth place story on the business end of things: the dramatic reduction of associate bonuses.
Bonus news is always a big deal around these parts, and based on the way that the 2008 bonus season started, it looked like there might be a fight for control of the New York market. Skadden led off with bonuses that matched 2006 levels (or 2007 levels, minus the “special bonus” portion). At the time, Skadden wasn’t sure they’d be at the top of the market. Skadden’s bonus memo included the following language:
The Firm has historically paid its associates at the “top of the market” in their respective local markets. While we do not know what other firms will do this year with regard to paying a supplemental bonus, we believe that our bonuses this year should be limited to the year-end discretionary bonus. What we will do in the future years, will, of course, depend on business conditions at the time and competitive compensation.
There were more than a few people who thought other firms might come in above Skadden. That didn’t happen. Instead, Cravath happened.
Half-Skadden sets the market, after the jump.
Continue reading “Top Biglaw Stories of 2008: #4 (Business)”
Let’s start off 2009 with some good news. Litigation boutique Kasowitz Benson announced bonuses just before the New Year, and will be paying out Skadden dollars at the end of the month.
So don’t stick a fork in the New York market just yet.
Associates at Kasowitz are understandably ecstatic:
It really is a fantastic place full of extremely smart trial lawyers that sometimes litigate, as opposed to all of the other firms where litigators sometimes do trial work.
There are a couple of wrinkles. Unlike Skadden, the Kasowitz memo contains language saying that bonuses will be “up to” Skadden levels. According to the firm, individual payouts will be based on a couple of factors:
As in prior years, the above are benchmark amounts which are subject to adjustment to reflect individual performance and hours worked.
Still, our tipsters expect that most people will receive the full amount:
I have never heard of people not getting the full amounts that are stated. We are crazy busy and have been so I would say most will.
The mere opportunity to receive an above market bonus should be enough to have Kasowitz associates singing the firm’s praises well into the new year.
Read the full Kasowitz memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Kasowitz Matches Skadden! Sort Of!”
* London-based law firm Linklaters was the leading law firm in mergers and acquisitions this year, taking the number 1 title from Sullivan and Cromwell. [Bloomberg]
* Former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmith says the UK should take in prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp if it will help the U.S. close the prison. [BBC News] Australia is not likely to take any prisoners says prime minister Kevin Rudd. The U.S. has asked a 100 countries to help clear the prison. [BBC News]
* Guinea pigs may smell bad but should you go to jail for owning one? Probationers in California could end up in jail for failing to report owning harmless pets like hamsters or goldfish thanks to a ruling by the California Supreme Court. [San Francisco Chronicle]
* A chinese court convicted 11 people for running a counterfeiting ring that “manufactured and distributed pirated Microsoft software throughout the world.” [The New York Times]
* Associates were not the only people in the legal community that were displeased with compensation this year. Federal judges lost their request to Congress for a pay raise to account for inflation. Chief Justice John Roberts says the frightfully low pay for judges threatens the quality of the court. [The Los Angeles Times]
* Life at law firms is not looking good for 2009, sorry to say. Lay-offs and lower bonuses will likely continue in the New Year. On the bright side–less work could help you meet that New Year’s resolution to go to the gym. [The Chicago Tribune]
Dear readers, welcome to 2009. The year just ended was a difficult one, for the legal profession and for the country as a whole. Let’s hope the new year brings better news.
But will it? Take our reader poll below, and offer your specific predictions about 2009 in the comments.
If you’d like to help Above the Law get the year started on the right foot, please do us the honor of voting for us in the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 contest. Voting ends tomorrow, so this will be the last time we’ll bother you with a plug. To vote, click here.
Happy New Year!
