Allen Matkins: Salary Cuts Hit Paralegals Too
Back in March, we reported on salary cuts for associates at Allen Matkins. At the time, we reported:
First year salary has been reduced from $160K to $145K. A number of other associates (excluding first years) were informed that their salary would be reduced by 15% or 30%. Those associates were told that they were selected to receive “adjusted” compensation based on their hours, although the actual method for determining which associate would be subject to this salary adjustment was not disclosed and remains unclear.
We now understand that many mid-level and senior associates took a 20% salary hit.
But we also understand that a 20% salary cut has also been executed on the firm’s paralegal contingent. A tipster reports:
You did not mention that paralegals were grouped with associates and also had their salaries cut by 20%.Associates and paralegals all met individually with two partners who notified us of the pay cut and told us that if we could manage to get our billable hours up to goal before the end of the year we would get the full 20% back. And if we could get to a slightly smaller goal, they would return 10%. There were no explanations about how they arrived at these various figures and at that time we didn’t know that first years’ salaries were only being cut 10%. We were told this measure was needed to avoid further layoffs although there were also a number of people let go that day.
We haven’t really heard about firms cutting salaries on paralegals. Paralegals have been fired for sure. But there just hasn’t seemed to be a lot of economic upside to shaving a few dollars on salaries of people who already don’t make very much money.
More news from Allen Matkins after the jump.
Paralegals and senior associates alike are not happy that their salary was reduced by a higher percentage than new first year attorneys:
We were also bewildered at how the partners came to the percentages they did for the different groups. The average salary of an Allen Matkins paralegal is around ½ of the salary of a first year. No one understands how they could have come to the conclusion that 10% was appropriate for those making $160K and 20% for those making half that amount. The larger group of associates that were also having their salary cut by 20% was, on average, making 2.5 to 3 times the salary of a paralegal. Of course a 20% pay cut is significant to anyone, however, there is a big difference in having your salary go from 200K to 160K vs. 80K and dropping to 64K. They offered no explanation of their reasoning and questions were not encouraged.
Even though Allen Matkins paralegals are apparently full participants in the economic downturn, it doesn’t appear that they were riding high during the boom times:
After the initial euphoria of still being employed began to fade, calculating on what this meant in actual dollars began in earnest. It was very sobering and for some just impossible. Allen Matkins’ salary range for paralegals is significantly less than other firms their size or larger but they emphasize that they are a quality of life firm with a lower requirement of billable hours, which is attractive to many of us. However, these lower salaries have been dormant for the last couple of years, our raises not even meeting cost of living increases, adding a 20% pay cut in cities with a high cost of living like Los Angeles or San Francisco is not reasonable.
Are there paralegals elsewhere that are having their salaries cut? Share your pain, paralegals.
Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Allen Matkins Continues the Layoff & Salary Cuts ‘Super Combo’
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Comments
The ship be sinking...
I'll say first but I'm guessing 4th.
You guys are recycling old news here. It's not worth a new post about old salary cuts to let us know that, lo and behold, paralegals are getting a haircut too.
cutting paralegal salaries? That's absurd. I'm sure the 5K flower displays are still in the lobby. Next, they'll cut out the 2-ply in the bathroom.
"... and told us that if we could manage to get our billable hours up to goal before the end of the year we would get the full 20% back."
I always love the responsibility shifting (not). Dear Partners, here's how it works: You assign the necessary amount of billable work to associates and paralegals, and voila - timekeepers meet their billable hour targets. Do they teach the concept of cause and effect to law firm partners? Or are timekeepers supposed to take a hint to pad whatever billable time they have in order to meet the target, or pay a financial penalty if they don't?
do paralegals really make $80k? Can a lawyer get hired as a paralegal?
Interesting. It would be cool it the ABA loosened the rules on non-lawyers/lawyer business partnering. I'm sure this would help our industry rebound faster than dumping 1st years, cutting pay or 'restructuring the law firm model'
6 - yes they do, plus OT (not happening now) and bonus...
#7 - Yeah! Skadden IPO!
Squisha squisha!
Um, why are paralegals getting cut? Because they don't really bring much to the equation. Glorified file clerks is what they are - and they're paid more than most non BIG LAW lawyers I know - for a community college degree, please.
Um, why are paralegals getting cut? Because they don't really bring much to the equation. Glorified file clerks is what they are - and they're paid more than most non BIG LAW lawyers I know - for a community college degree, please.
And what the fuck is allen matkins? Is ATL gone so down that it will tell us about firms which no one knows about?
Tell us about skadden, weil, foerster, and gump llp
And what the fuck is allen matkins? Is ATL gone so down that it will tell us about firms which no one knows about?
Tell us about skadden, weil, foerster, and gump llp
And what the fuck is allen matkins? Is ATL gone so down that it will tell us about firms which no one knows about?
Tell us about skadden, weil, foerster, and gump llp
a
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HACKS! -nuff said
-Denny Crane
Everything is fine here at Locke Lord Houston. Sorry about the rest of you. That's terrible.
They're lawyers, not accountants! Now they're screwing paralegals financially as well as literally.
I am pounding my secretary in her ass right now, as I type this!
*give myself a high five and Fresca
#11: no wonder you think paralegals are "glorified file clerks." they probably put all your work on the back burner and instead are busy taking care of business for the attorneys that treat them with respect.
support staff is the difference between a good lawyer and a great lawyer. this is a bs cut that will cause more harm than good.
Quote of the day: "questions were not encouraged."
Paralegals are good for one thing, and one thing only, ass pounding.
Former Paralegal Pimp
Where in this article is there anything about asslobsters, 14? You sir, are an idiot.
Paralegals can range from 30K - 55K at a small firm and from 65K - 110 at BigLaw, plus overtime. 110K being very senior level paralegals. So, a 10 or 20% paycut could save a firm a significant amount of money, depending on the number of paralegals at the firm.
If paralegals expect to be treated as professional legal staff instead of glorified file clerks, we should expect to take the hit when the associates do. It sucks for anyone to have to take a paycut, but share the wealth and share the pain.
Someone sufficiently motivated or insufficiently employed should compile a list of Big Law cuts (salary & associate ranks) matched with each firm's leverage ratio.
I'd be interested to know if there's enough of a correlation that would help current Big Law employees know whether they can except the guillotine to drop in the near future. Than again, the proportion of certain practice groups (corporate, real estate, ....) might be the better indicator. Either way, I think some firms are weathering the storm waaay better than others.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller National Home Price index released Tuesday reported home prices tumbled by 19.1 percent in the first quarter, the most in its 21-year history.
Obama's wave of change is ground breaking. Can these associates and paralegals live with the salary cuts? Three words for them: "Yes We Can!"
My paralegal's anal fortitude is spectacular.
25, you are a faggot. Get over with it. Wait for the next gay parade, you stupid obama voting liberal. This blog is about law and people those who work at law firms. Not for out of work secrataries.
--14
25, you are a faggot. Get over with it. Wait for the next gay parade, you stupid obama voting liberal. This blog is about law and people those who work at law firms. Not for out of work secrataries.
--14
Latham has several paralegals that make well over 200K. And plenty in the mid 100 range. But that is because they are hours-hoarding whores.
Laid Off Bitter First Year
What is an Allen Matkins? Is that something from Malcolm In the Middle?
paralegals make 80k? more than young govt lawyers? seriously?
Denny Crane used to work at Sutherland.
I recently heard that Latham has actually laid off first year associates - is this true?
"But there just hasn't seemed to be a lot of economic upside to shaving a few dollars on salaries of people who already don't make very much money. " Some firms figure switching coffee for flavia has an enough of a economic upside to go ahead and do it. More MWE bashing on this blog!
I hear that Thompson Hines and Latham have not made any layoffs and are increasing salaries for 2009. Can anyone confirm? TIA.
In some cases, the ink was barely dry on the original lease before the space went back on the market for sublet.
For example, Dechert, a global corporate law firm, has completed one year of a 15-year lease for the 25th through 31st floors at 1095 Avenue of the Americas, a 41-story office tower between 41st and 42nd Street, overlooking Bryant Park.
When the firm moved in last year, it intentionally took an extra floor, which it planned to use for future expansion, and from the start it has had a subtenant on the whole 31st floor. But that sublease expires in July, and the subtenant does not plan to renew. Since last year, the law firm has also had several rounds of layoffs, and it needs less space.
The starting salary for a paralegal at top law firms (the likes of skadden, weil, foerster, and gump llp) is between $35,000 - $40,000/year. Paralegals at these firms must have a B.A. or B.S. from a well respected university and prior legal experience and/or a paralegal certificate in addition to the 4-year degree is often required/preferred. If you work about 2500/year (billable + nonbillable), you may be fortunate enough to earn about $15,000/year in overtime. I don't know of any firms that gave paralegals bonuses for 2008.
This would be news if paralegals actually mattered.
The average salary of an Allen Matkins paralegal is around ½ of the salary of a first year.... Allen Matkins' salary range for paralegals is significantly less than other firms their size or larger but they emphasize that they are a quality of life firm with a lower requirement of billable hours, which is attractive to many of us.
I don't know which firms you're comparing this to, but I work as a paralegal at a big NY firm and make $45k (after multiple raises) plus OT (which doesn't exist any more) and have many friends at NY firms of comparable size that have similar salaries (maxing out at $55k + OT). And bonus? What bonus? I've been here for 2 years and have heard of only two paralegals ever getting a bonus... it was $1,500. None of these firms have a focus on quality of life, I know from experience, and yet they don't seem to be compensating us any more. I'd be happy with $80k or $64k especially in California where cost of living is significantly less than it is here in NY. Sorry, but I'm having a hard time feeling bad for these people. Talk to me about cutting a paralegal's salary that is $45k, which is already a struggle to live on in NY and then I might have some remorse.
Are they still trying to sell themselves as a "quality of life" firm? There is no quality of life at Allen Matkins...especially if you are a woman. What the paralegals lose in salary -- they will make up in sexual harrassment, favortism and fraternity hazing.
Firm-wide cuts for us. My legal assistant salary is seeing a 3% cut while others are losing up to 10%.
"but there just hasn't seemed to be a lot of economic upside to shaving a few dollars on salaries of people who already don't make very much money."
With overtime and bonus, I make about the same as a first-year at a biglaw firm.
In conclusion, fuck you Elie.
You have no excuse for not doing your own work -- you barnacle-assed, molleycolleddled, primaddano pieces of shit.
The economy is rapidly tanking. Wake up and smell the coffee, etc. And, put up or shut up; shit or get off the pot, and all that other crap, blah, blah, ...
Either way -- MOVE your lazy ass and mind! And, start earning your friggin' waste of space. Or, expect to move your shit from the shit firm that hired you, or select another profression to preach your bullshit shit.
The (billable) clock continues to be a tickin...
You have no excuse for not doing your own work -- you barnacle-assed, molleycolleddled, primaddano pieces of shit.
The economy is rapidly tanking. Wake up and smell the coffee, etc. And, put up or shut up; shit or get off the pot, and all that other crap, blah, blah, ...
Either way -- MOVE your lazy ass and mind! And, start earning your friggin' waste of space. Or, expect to move your shit from the shit firm that hired you, or select another profression to preach your bullshit shit.
The (billable) clock continues to be a tickin...
I was a paralegal for one of the top ten firms. In January, they let my assistant go, and I picked up her work. In March, they let ME go, so presumably some associate is doing his/her work, my work and the mind-numbing stuff that I used to hand over to my assistant. Are there really clients out there who want to pay $300 an hour for an associate to sort documents and prepare them for scanning?