Robinson & Cole, Salary Cuts

Salary Cut Watch: Robinson & Cole's Cuts in Connecticut

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The list of firms cutting associate salaries keeps growing. Yesterday, the Connecticut-based firm Robinson & Cole reduced all associate and counsel salaries by $10,000. According to the Connecticut Law Tribune:

On Wednesday, Hartford-based Robinson & Cole, which has about 240 attorneys, confirmed that it has decided to cut associates’ and counsel’s annual salaries by $10,000. The pay cuts are effective immediately and affect incoming and current associates and counsel in all nine offices in the Northeast and Florida.

Discussions about salary cuts began last month, according to Anne Elvgren, chief marketing officer at Robinson & Cole.

First years at Robinson are getting dangerously close to losing the six figure dream:

Starting salaries vary by office, according to law firm officials, but entry-level attorneys earn $115,000 at Robinson & Cole, according to information the firm provided to NALP, the association for legal career professionals.

After the jump, we wonder how Robinson’s managing partner is enjoying his new gig.


It’s been a little more than two weeks since John B. Lynch took over as managing partner of Robinson & Cole. One of his first acts was to fire 30 people.

He could have mentioned the salary cuts at the same time as he announced the layoffs. Instead, the layoff press release simply stated:

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Lynch also said that the firm would maintain its summer associate and incoming fall associate programs for 2009.

Now that Robinson has revised the salary for incoming first years, maybe it will also change their start date?

Is it the curse of Thelen? There are quite a few firms that picked up former Thelen employees and then had to lay people off:

That decision came about five months after Robinson & Cole hired 34 attorneys and 17 staffers across several practice areas when the Hartford office of Thelen LLP dissolved; however, one attorney and staffer from Thelen were let go in March.

Mr. Lynch is starting out like a bogeyman. But if these are necessary cuts that allow Robinson & Cole to survive, his fellow partners will thank him.

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Robinson & Cole Announces Salary Cuts [Connecticut Law Tribune]

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Robinson & Cole Names New Managing Partner (And Conducts Layoffs)

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