Deferral Stipend, Salary Cuts, Start Dates

Seyfarth Shaw: Salary Cuts and Deferral Extensions, Oh My

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Seyfarth Shaw is set to become the latest firm to flip its incoming associates the Bird. A very angry tipster reports:

[Seyfarth] just deferred all incoming associates to October 2010 with only $2000/month as a stipend beginning on our former start date of January 19, 2010! It’s a joke … we know for a fact that they were busy and could have afforded us. It is a firm managed by horrible, greedy, selfish individuals … This is amusing, in light of the fact that the firm turned a profit last year …
We would like to warn anyone considering accepting an offer from the firm to STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is particularly disconcerting for those of us who turned down offers from Biglaw in favor of a firm that apparently “cared soooo much” about us. Go Vault or go home.

Whoa, tell us what you really think. You have to wonder if these deferred incoming associates will come up with any fun banners about their would-be employer.
As angry as the deferred incoming associates appear to be, it is not at all clear that Seyfarth could have afforded to bring on a new class of people at this time. In addition to telling the incoming associates to wait for almost another year, today the firm announced that it was cutting first year associate salaries.
Details and a statement from Seyfarth, after the jump.


If incoming associates ever do start at Seyfarth, they won’t be making $160K. Spokespeople for Seyfarth Shaw furnished Above the Law with this statement:

We are continuing to manage our staffing levels in light of anticipated client demand and market conditions. As a result, we have decided to postpone start dates for 8 of 16 first-year associates who were scheduled to start in January 2010. We have rescheduled their start dates until October 2010 to ensure we are staffed appropriately to meet clients’ anticipated needs. Given the timing of this notification, we are providing each of these people with a $2,000 monthly stipend until October to offset any disruption this may cause. We are telling them that, as conditions improve, we hope to call them to start earlier.
We also have decided to reduce the base salary levels by approximately 5-10% for all the first-year associates joining us in 2010. While we see bright spots ahead in the economy for 2010, we also believe that economic conditions will continue to put pressure on our clients, including the costs of legal services, and we need to address those issues.

Blaming pay cuts on clients is starting to become commonplace. But regardless of who is to blame, there is an awful lot of writing Seyfarth is putting up on the wall for its incoming class.
Maybe you graduated this spring, focused on the bar, and reasonably believed that you would be able to start in January. If so, now is the time to change course. I wouldn’t advise people to sit around waiting and hoping that everything works out by this time next year — not that there is a lot of “sitting” you can afford to do on $2,000 a month anyway.
Take the hint, polish the resume, and see if you have any other options. It’s the only thing left to do. Next October is a long time away.
Good luck, Seyfarth friends.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of start dates
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