DLA Piper to Move Away From Lockstep … Eventually
Back in May, we reported that DLA Piper decided to cut its associates’ salaries. Initially it was a 20% cut on some associates, but after our report the firm moved down to a 10%, across the board, salary cut.
But saving money was apparently only one of the goals for DLA Piper. We can also add DLA to the list of firms that want to end the system of lockstep compensation. The National Law Journal reports:
DLA, the largest firm in the United States, with about 3,785 attorneys worldwide, is one of several firms rethinking its associate program amid the need for cost-cutting brought on by the recession and in light of clients’ demand that they pay only for associates skilled enough to deliver consistent quality. The firm hopes by year end to have a new associate compensation, training and promotion structure that discards the traditional “lockstep” system of paying them based on years of service, the leaders said.“People really want to rethink the model,” said Lee Miller, one of the firm’s joint chief executives. “I don’t think the model is broken, but people want to rethink what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.”
The model isn’t broken, but the firm is going to change it anyway? That sounds like some excellent Shock Doctrine logic.
After the jump, more details about DLA’s new business model.
DLA indicated that it is planning on expanding its staff attorney program:
The firm expects that more work in the future will be done by staff attorneys, the leaders said. Such attorneys are employees, but are not on the firm’s partnership track and are typically paid at lower rates.Currently, DLA has about 30 staff lawyers. The firm will have larger pools of professionals who do certain things efficiently at a cost that makes more sense to the client, Frank Burch [DLA’s global chairman] said.
Interesting, the firm is talking about hiring more non-partner lawyers, but not talking about outsourcing work. Unemployed J.D.s, you know where to send your resumes.
In April, we told you about DLA practically begging its incoming first year associates to defer a full year. It appears that about half of the class decided to delay the start of their careers:
The delayed class of first-year associates entering the firm in January has 85 lawyers, and only half of those will actually take up posts at the firm, while the other half go into public interest jobs and join the firm in the fall of 2010, said Frank Burch … That class size is down from 100 last year and 120 in 2007, he said. The firm was also “careful” in hiring just 65 students into this year’s summer program, he said.
We’re not sure if that means that DLA plans to hire all of their carefully selected summers. Or if the firm plans to offer some of them the opportunity to be a staff attorney at the firm. Or what they’ll be paid. Or when they’ll be able to start.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Good luck to DLA’s band of merry pipers.
DLA Piper Plans to Keep Reducing Associate Classes, Discard Lockstep System [National Law Journal]
Earlier: Nationwide Salary Cut Watch: DLA Piper Joins the Party
DLA Piper Salary Cut Follow Up
DLA Piper Gives Back 10% of the Salary Cut
Nationwide Start Date Round-up… Yup, Another One
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Comments
First to say dla piper is TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
MysTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTal
Is there a donut sale at Krispy Kreme? SCOTUS just released some of its decisions and there is still no update on this "legal blog."
3 - wtf is SCOTUS?
I am an associate at DLA Piper, and I am incredibly annoyed to be hearing about this first in law publications and blogs and not directly from my firm in a memo.
Law firms should coordinate with the ABA & top law schools and strongly encourage them to make the third year of law school (or at least one semester of it) a mandatory clinic/externship/apprenticeship. First-year law grads would be a lot more valuable if they came with actual skills, and law school is at least 1 semester (and probably 2) too long anyway.
Piper at the Gates of PWN.
IT'S OKAY: Before the year's out, Obama's going to destroy this country anyhow. As Biden said: "Gird your loins!"
DLA Piper is the Shaq of law firms - used to be great and relevant, but now is just bloated and useless.
Nice shock doctrine reference.
And the entire DLA model is broken.
4 - Supreme Court of the US
TTTIME TO PAY THE PIPER!
SOOOO glad I got laid off from DLA...
8 = Pepperdine 1L
9--
But DLA Piper, just as Shaq, might be able to have some relevance in Cleveland, OH.
8 = paying attention.
Thank you, Frank/Lee/Terry, for telling us associates -- you know, the people whose salaries will be dramatically affected by whatever harebrained, half-baked concept you decide to implement -- about this directly, via an internal memo, before revealing it to some random interviewer. It's little things like that that make me grateful to be employed by such a well-managed, thoughtful, considerate law firm. I like it nearly as much as your considered, careful approach to the recent pay cuts. I know not everybody appreciated how you went about it it, but I thought it was quite cunning the way you told some people they were going to get 20% cuts, and then a few days later changed your mind. Clearly your intent was to make these people GRATEFUL for their 10% cuts -- you were actually doing them a favor. Not everybody is wise enough to pick up on things like this, of course.
The net result of all this nonsense is, of course, that anyone who can leave, will. Remember, "playing with my money is like playing with my emotions."
8 -
You are so right. It's all Obama's fault!
5, there were 2 memos in late May. This isn't news.
The model is definitely broken. In fact, its been smashed to pieces. BigLaw begging new associates to defer, laying off attorneys and staff in droves, firm dissolutions, etc. The model of BigLaw is being reconfigured by the market (or lack thereof) for legal services. There's nothing anybody can do but try and adjust to the market.
the ship is indeed sinking.
16, you are full of shit. I'm not saying I agree with the move away from lockstep, but this is not news to DLA Piper associates. Why don't you make your point without posing to be an associate at DLA?
5, there were 2 memos in late May. This isn't news.
______________________
18, the memos did not mention staff attorneys. The associates would probably appreciate it if management would give us all a heads up before comments about our associate structure and comp appear in articles.
When is ATL going to abandon its goosestep editor hiring system? Not a single white man on the ATL editorial board. Racists. Get rid of that fat toad Elie and replace it with a cracker, Lat.
21 is right. A firmwide e-mail went out two weeks ago announcing that a new compensation committee was being created to re-think how associates are compensated, and invited associates to give input on the system, which is supposed to be rolled out by the end of the year. This isn't anything new, if 1) you actually work at DLA; and 2) you actually read your e-mail.
23 is right. I declare all of Elie's posts racist.
LOL @9!
Above the law is the perez hilton of legal news, just a whore receycling real journalism....this is old news Mystical, or whatever your name is, it doesnt matter you dont really ad any value to this world anyway
Suck it, Mystal, you racist doughnut eater.
24 is an idiot (and, unfortunately is an example of the quality of today's DLA people). A memo regarding the formation of a compensation committee is quite different then the results and policy that the committee might have suggested and are now being implemented. Go back to your doc. review 24 -- but don't worry, a staff attorney will replace you on it soon enough and you'll be shown the door.
20, please send the coast guard your coordinates immediately. There is still hope.
This firm is made up of hacks. Do the world a favor and go away. (Certainly no clients or lawyers with any other options will ever knowck on your door, so shouldn't be long now.)
THIS WOULD NEVER HAPPEN AT LATHAM, IDIOTS.
LATHAM SECURE
Comment removed by moderator.
SKADDEN = CUTTING SALARIES CF. NALP
The only time staff attorneys were mentioned was in a meeting that happend prior to the Feb. layoffs, almost posed as an alternative to any layoffs. Then, of course, there were layoffs, and staff attorneys were never mentioned again, even in future memos regarding possibly compensation reviews and changes.
Here's an idea: take DLA, take Piper, take Rudnick, take Marbury, take Wolf, take Grey, take Cary, take Weare, and take every other little known, no talent, sub-par firm that this monstrosity merged with, and pretend "revenue" for revenues sake is not the end goal. Prentend being "global" is not such a great idea. Pretend like you don't have clients that are going to be willing to pay your over-inflated billing rates. And go back to practicing law for the small-town clients that you started with. Becuase the quality of your lawyers do not deserve more. So, if you want to do something right, help the people you can. John's Hardware store needs an emplyment lawyer. You're not too good to help him. Stop pretending you are.
Latham secure, ha ha its funny because its true.
Elie Fystall
Here's an idea: take DLA, take Piper, take Rudnick, take Marbury, take Wolf, take Grey, take Cary, take Weare, and take every other little known, no talent, sub-par firm that this monstrosity merged with, and pretend "revenue" for revenues sake is not the end goal. Prentend being "global" is not such a great idea. Pretend like you don't have clients that are going to be willing to pay your over-inflated billing rates. And go back to practicing law for the small-town clients that you started with. Becuase the quality of your lawyers do not deserve more. So, if you want to do something right, help the people you can. John's Hardware store needs an emplyment lawyer. You're not too good to help him. Stop pretending you are.
DLA Piper is a law firm.
35 -- how could staff attorneys be an alternative to layoffs? How could that possibly work? "Well, there isn't enough work to go around, but instead of getting rid of anyone, let's get some staff attorneys in here too." Come on, even DLA isn't that stupid. Well, actually, maybe they are. But if you believed it, that's pretty bad too.
The news just gets better.
Mystal,
Your moobs today are looking quite perky. You are still a racist, however.
David Duchovny
40 - this is 35. I don't know how they were supposed to be an alternative. I am only reporting what was said in a meeting ages ago before any layoffs. The point, I think, is to keep the attorneys but justify paying them a lot less because they are staff.
29, who is the idiot? When an e-mail announces that a compensation committee is being formed to establish a new compensation system, what do you think the result is going to be? Do you think they are going to announce that after months of deliberating, they decided lockstep was jsut too good to give up? Are you too stupid to realize that the result of that committee is going to be a merit based system?
10 - Meet sarcasm. Sarcasm meet #10.
-3
10 - What's the "US"?
#44 - You are an idiot. I can tell.
Mystal ate Farrah Fawcet. You are one cold hearted son of a bitch, Elie.
DLA has never truly been lockstep up till now anyways. They just claim to be for PR. There has always been a variance in salary within year level and departures from the stated compensation memo - that is not lockstep.
-former DLA associate
I am an associate at DLA. I think that having staff attorneys do document review makes sense. Sure, it isn't good for employing more associates, but it is a good business decision that clients are sure to appreciate. There is no reason that somebody billing out what associates bill out as should be reviewing documents. It is mindless and doesn't require top legal credentials. Besides, it is boring.
If you need me, I will be hiking the Appalachian Trail. Either that or tagging some Argentinian Tail.
29 -- you really are an idiot (you must be DLA management). Let me get this straight, your argument is that when an email was sent around saying that a compensation committee was formed to look into different structures and ideas, the result should have been obviously, and therefore no email to associates about what the committee decided was needed? If that is the case, why even form a committee? Go back to your DLA management. Idiot.
36 - Piper Rudnick was a fabulous place to work. I was never happier than when I was "growing up" in that firm. Smart lawyers, happy environment, work/life balance, decent pay. It was Disney World - happiest place on Earth (for lawyers anyway). I was especially lucky to be working in one of the best offices of that firm.
DLA ruined EVERYTHING.
D.L.A. = Dumb, Lazy and Arrogant.
- Another former (laid off) DLA associate.
I wasn't in Argentina, I was returning some video tapes.
3 - Sarcasm and I are intimately familiar. You are confusing sarcasm with his distant cousin, stupidity.
46 - now that's sarcasm
Hey 52, when a firm is lockstep and it says it is forming a compensation committee to revamp associate compensation, other than "merit based" compensation, what other formulas do firms use?
DLgAy
Nice, 7, very nice.
DLA Piper? Who cares? ATL should get on the major Boston firm having a huge cash flow problem. On the verge of collapse, I tell you.
c'mom 59, throw us a bone, does the name start with a B?
I would like to feel Kash's velvety walls.
Farrah Fawcett just died.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/FarrahFawcett/id=7464123&page=1
In theory I'm not opposed to a more merit-based compensation system, its just how will "merit" be defined. Seems like based on recent salary cuts it will all just be billable hours which in this economic climate especially often depends more on the work and your partner(s) than you. But whatever.
Also, this staff attorney idea sounds like a suspicious way to screw over a bunch of people on deferment if they still don't have enough work at end of it, or if the people starting in Jan don't have enough work (which seems likely).
Also, Fall of 2010 for the fellowship track? Last I heard it was still January 2011. Is this just a convenient slip or do they intend to actually start the fellowship people in Fall of 2010?
You can fault DLP for their communication skills but these changes are needed given the economy and bc clients are pushing back on the current billing model.
Clients are squeezing costs out of their businesses by outsourcing/automating and they want their vendors to do the same. So you'll see more staff lawyers/offshore across the board. In some ways the DLP 1st yrs are better off finding out now about the challenges with the BigLaw model and can focus on crafting their own future.
http://itunes.com/apps/mba101
www.mbadycamp.com
60, it's one of the big ones. It's having trouble paying its bills.
64 - I can fault you on your spelling skills. DLP? Really are you drunk. Also you misspelled your own web site you are trying to plug. Good luck with that.
DLA should force associates to contribute $150,000 of non-refundable capital in addition to taking their pay cuts and receiving their non-lockstep compensation reviews (which will result in no promotion or salary increase). But even this won't fix the model.
50 - its boring until you miss something. Then it gets really exciting. I mean, REALLY exciting....
They need to rethink how they handle RFPs or they won't have a need for staff attorneys or anyone esle. From a client POV, I don't get it. We issued an RFP for transactional work (hard to come by these days)and everyone seemed to comply except DLA Piper. They turned in boilerplate junk with repeat paragraphs about their size and location. Much better firms (MoFo and Latham off the top of my head) took great care to attach spreadsheets, answer fully, etc. Lawyers should be able to follow rules and procedures. And DLA wanted the work. The team lead they listed called my boss and asked to pitch. The pitch was answering the RFP. Good luck DLA.
I really don't see the need for ATL to report on this firm. They are middle market, the junk bonds of the legal world.
Whatever 70, you'd work there if you could. Pretty obvious you were let go. No one else would care enough to disparage the firm.
DLA is to Piper Rudnick, as AOL was to Time Waner -- A TOTAL disaster when it happened!!!!
DLA is to Piper Rudnick, as AOL was to Time Waner -- A TOTAL disaster when it happened!!!!
The salary system is broken. I think having 3 CEOs will help solve the problem - that's a common structure in successful corporate America.
Truth is, just like every other major firm, there are good and bad things about DLA. I think the day-to-day aspects of the firm are great - the work, the clients, the people I work with, actually doing meaningful pro bono work (seriously). On the other hand, I think management has its head up its proverbial balloon knot, and I think if there were any other jobs out there, half the associates would split in a flash. z
Just for the record - the salary restructure and idea of staff lawyers was expressed to the associates in Jan/Feb... at least in my office, which doesn't mean it happened anywhere else, but what the hell, too bad for those people.
Point being - I want my freakin 10% back. I note that my billing rate increased by 20% from last year, but my salary decreased by 10%? It's BS.
The salary system is broken. I think having 3 CEOs will help solve the problem - that's a common structure in successful corporate America.
Truth is, just like every other major firm, there are good and bad things about DLA. I think the day-to-day aspects of the firm are great - the work, the clients, the people I work with, actually doing meaningful pro bono work (seriously). On the other hand, I think management has its head up its proverbial balloon knot, and I think if there were any other jobs out there, half the associates would split in a flash. z
Just for the record - the salary restructure and idea of staff lawyers was expressed to the associates in Jan/Feb... at least in my office, which doesn't mean it happened anywhere else, but what the hell, too bad for those people.
Point being - I want my freakin 10% back. I note that my billing rate increased by 20% from last year, but my salary decreased by 10%? It's BS.