Late last week, Foley & Lardner released its new salary structure. Honestly, I can’t tell you what they’re doing. I’m a professional firm double-talk decoder, but trying to pull out key phrases from this memo made me feel like John Nash.
The memo starts off similarly to other announcements from firms that want to move to merit-based compensation. The firm has conducted a major review, the recession sucks, you know the drill.
Foley is breaking associates out into three tiers, similar to Orrick and other firms that have moved away from lockstep. But when the memo turns to “specifics” — like how much money people will actually make — the Foley & Lardner memo turns to mush:
Within Tier I, the compensation structure will be similar to what has been in place for the last several years. Specifically, there will be a set starting salary in each office for the stub year and the first full fiscal year following law school graduation. During the second and third full years, associates will have a base salary and a 1950 billable hour deferred salary payable at year-end if they achieve a minimum of 1950 billable hours and 150 investment time hours during the year.
The starting Tier I salary is the one thing that’s clear:
Salary schedules will be distributed in each office. The starting salary in New York this year will be $160,000. In our other major city markets (Boston, Chicago, Washington and all of our California offices), where the recently announced starting salaries of the major law firms have varied to a greater extent, the starting salary will be $145,000. The starting salaries in our other offices will generally maintain the differentials from the major city amounts which have existed in recent years.
Salaries for everybody else are not at all clear. See if you can understand what Foley is doing with Tier II and “Senior Counsel” associates.
Continue reading “Foley & Lardner: New Salary Structure Leaves More Questions Than Answers”
* A Seattle lawyer is suing Sallie Mae for harassment for “dozens of unwanted calls” on his cell phone, a.k.a. “pay off your law school loans” calls. [Puget Sound Business Journal via ABA Journal]
* After a successful class action suit against department store Windsor Fashions, the plaintiff’s attorney received a payout of $125,000… in $10 gift card increments, thanks to a grandstanding judge. [Los Angeles News]
* Washington, D.C. may make the switch to elected attorneys general, after Mayor Fenty appointee Peter Nickles rubbed the City Council the wrong way. [Washington Post]
* When “Amy” was a little girl, her uncle made her a star in the child pornography world. Now she wants $3.4 million in damages from those who downloaded her photos. [New York Times]
* John Grisham is The Innocent Man in a libel case against him. [Courthouse News Service]
* The “don’t ask, don’t tell” law is getting serious scrutiny. The Pentagon has appointed a military officer and a civilian to conduct a review of the policy: Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon’s top legal counsel, formerly of Paul Weiss, and Gen. Carter F. Ham, the commander of the United States Army in Europe. [New York Times]
Flat fee is the way of the future.
– Mark Howitson, deputy general counsel for Facebook, in his keynote address at LegalTech New York.
* Lost fans respect intellectual property laws. [Epicenter/Wired]
* Perhaps SEC employees missed out on Wall Street warning signs because they were so distracted by porn. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Texas defense attorney Adam Reposa has appeared on ATL’s pages quite a few times. He’s still trying to fight off a contempt of court charge for making a masturbatory gesture towards a prosecutor. Now his girlfriend is preggers, and he doesn’t want to be in jail during the birth. [Austin Legal]
* If you’re on fire, call this attorney. [Boing Boing]
* Hitting below the belt: Sex reassignment surgery is tax-deductible, but breast augmentation is not. [Feminist Law Professors]
* Facebook wants to have a legal throwdown over the ECPA. It would be “f-in’ awesome,” said Facebook deputy general counsel Mark Howitson. [True/Slant]
Ed. note: We apologize for the light publishing schedule today and any problems you may have had trying to comment. We were experiencing technical difficulties with our publishing platform.
Update: Howrey has confirmed that 94 people were laid off. More information here.
Howrey LLP has been generating a lot of news recently. Last week, the firm got hit with a $30-million racial discrimination suit by a former Brussels-based associate. But the rumor mill there was already churning with other, more depressing news here in the U.S.
Sources say that 100 people were laid off today. The firm has confirmed that layoffs took place, though it won’t confirm the numbers. Update (Feb. 3): Howrey gave solid numbers to AmLaw Daily today. The 100 figure was pretty accurate. The exact figure was 94 people: 29 associates and 65 staff. We’ve also heard reports that the firm asked some associates to go part-time
From a tipster:
Howrey has just internally announced sweeping layoffs, something everyone here saw coming for a very long time once the 2009 numbers came out. This is the first time I’ve heard Howrey actually use the word “layoff” in an e-mail to its associates.
An email went out this afternoon from managing partner and CEO Bob Ruyak. Here’s an excerpt from the email, available in full, along with a firm statement, after the jump:
While demand from clients for our services remains stable, it does not, unfortunately, provide enough work for all of our attorneys and staff to be fully utilized.
This contradicts what associates were told on a recent firmwide conference call…
Continue reading “Nationwide Layoff Watch: Howrey Can’t Utilize Everybody”
It looks like the game of salary chicken between Mayer Brown and Sidley Austin is just about over. On Monday we noted that Mayer Brown was taking its time to let associates know whether or not their salaries will be re-frozen. Today, Mayer Brown’s D.C. office announced that salaries will be raised back to market levels — a true-up raise for associates at the firm. (We also hear that true-up raises on coming out for New York, but we haven’t seen that memo.)
Bonuses are still to be determined, so we don’t know if Mayer will include a make-whole provision to get people back the money they lost while their salaries were frozen in place.
Still, it’s great news.
And now our eyes turn towards Sidley Austin. In January, Sidley indicated that it was waiting to see what it competitors did before it committed to a 2010 salary structure. So let’s review.
Kirkland & Ellis: Never froze.
Latham & Watkins: True-up raise. Make-whole bonus.
Mayer Brown: True-up raise in D.C. (and NYC we think).
Are there other firms that Sidley is waiting for? Jenner? Winston? Bendini Lambert & Locke? Come on, the salary market for top tier firms has been re-set at pre-2009 levels. Some would argue that the salary market for true top tier firms never changed in the first place. Sidley needs to get off it’s horse.
Congratulations to Mayer Brown. Now, about that bonus…
Check out the Mayer Brown salary memo after the jump.
Continue reading “Mayer Brown: True-Up Raises in Washington. Somebody Get Sidley on the Phone.”
It’s almost as if Westlaw (Thomson Reuters) had a crystal ball before this year’s LegalTech. From the get-go, they brought out the razzle dazzle in announcing their new WestlawNext. Before you could even enter the exhibit hall, they had music, giant television screens, and people running around with MacBook Airs showing off their new product. Hello smoke, meet mirrors.
However, all the fanfare failed to temper LexisNexis’s big announcement: a legal research partnership with Microsoft. From the ABA Journal
The competition for your legal research dollars just got a little more intense today as LexisNexis unveiled at LegalTech in New York its newest offering: a partnership with Microsoft.
Lexis will now be integrated into Microsoft Office products, allowing users to do legal and general research directly while working in Microsoft Word, Outlook and SharePoint. Users, who must have a Lexis subscription, need only click on a Lexis tab in the ribbon of utilities available in Microsoft Office 2007 and the forthcoming 2010 version to start researching, Shepardizing cases or even gathering information from Bing or Google search engines. There is no need to navigate separately to the Web and log on to Lexis or a search engine.
So the salvos here at LegalTech have been launched. Will Westlaw have to “Google-ize” themselves as well, or (dare I say) “Twitterize”? Let’s not forget about Bloomberg’s entry into the fray with BLAW. Who knows, maybe they will attempt legal research on Foursquare. Kidding, kidding.
One thing is for certain, the battle continues…
Ed. Note: We apologize for our technical difficulties. The commenting function should now be working again.
It’s official. Southern New England School of Law will be converted into the first Massachusetts public law school by the University of Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reports:
The Board of Higher Education today approved the creation of Massachusetts’ first public law school, a historic vote that opens the doors for the initial class of students to enroll in the fall. Under the controversial plan, vehemently opposed by three private law schools, UMass-Dartmouth will acquire the private Southern New England School of Law, which is donating its campus and assets to the state.
Of course the plan wasn’t just opposed by private law schools. It was also opposed by a number of people who actually care about whether or not graduates from UMass Legal will be able to spin off their legal education into an actual practice.
But, it sounds better to say that only “private” interests were arrayed in an anti-competitive attempt to block the new school. Never let facts get in the way of a good story.
More spin after the jump.
Continue reading “UMass Law School: All Systems Go.”
Jeff Hughes graduated from Loyola Law School – Los Angeles in 1992. Then, like now, law jobs were hard to come by. Hughes didn’t need an LLM in entrepreneurship to come up with an interesting business idea though. He and his paralegal wife decided to start a “coffee & counsel shop” aimed at middle class customers in need of legal services. It sounds like Starbucks, except you can get a skim latte with a shot of probate law.
Improbably, this California business succeeded. Fourteen years later, the baristas are still serving up espresso and express legal services.
Perhaps frightened by the competition, Jeff and Anne Hughes decided to go on the Shark Tank to get help franchising their business of serving up cheap legal services in a coffeehouse setting.
For the uninitiated, the Shark Tank is an ABC reality show, in which entrepreneurs present ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in hopes of getting funding. As you might expect based on the name, the VCs are not cute and cuddly.
When the Hughes made their pitch for $200,000 this week, the VCs smelled blood in the water. The gruesome footage, after the jump.
Continue reading “Loyola L.A. Law Grad Gets Savaged in the Shark Tank”
Back in June, Cravath took the aggressive step to preemptively defer associates that received an offer from the firm to be part of its 2010 incoming class. At the time, we reported:
Today’s announcement from Cravath also delays the start dates of this year’s summers until fall 2011. It’s a mandatory deferment, and they will get $65,000 plus health care (plus $1,000 in loan assistance).
But last night, Cravath indicated that maybe they pulled the deferral trigger on the incoming class of 2010 a little too early. Multiple tipsters report that Cravath has emailed its 3Ls and informed them that some members of the class may be able to start in the fall of 2010.
Not the entire class. A limited number of fall 2010 spots will be made available based on department need. The opportunity to start in 2010 will be determined by a lottery.
I bet that when people received a summer associate offer from Cravath, they weren’t expecting to have their careers reduced to a Powerball drawing. Personally, I would have gone with a Survivor-style reality show where we lock potential Cravath starters in a dorm and watch them cannibalize each other. But I suppose a lottery has enough of a “we’re making this up as we go” feel to it.
Details on who will be eligible for the lottery after the jump.
Continue reading “Cravath ‘Un-Defers’ Some in Class of 2010 via Lottery System”
* Kelley Drye has been hit with an age discrimination suit for forcing its partners to de-equitize at 70, raising the question once again of whether law firms that force retirement on their partners are breaking the law. [Chicago Tribune]
* Big pay day for J&J. Boston Scientific will pay Johnson & Johnson $1.73 billion to settle stent patent dispute. [Wall Street Journal]
* UC San Diego and California Western School of Law are getting ideas from Massachusetts. They’re in talks to establish a public law school. [San Diego Business Journal]
* The SEC sued Stephen Czarnik, a partner at Cohen and Czarnik LLP, yesterday for allegedly writing bogus opinion letters to help promote “penny” stocks. [Dow Jones]
* On white collar crime defense fees. [Dealbook/New York Times]
* Steven Tyler will sue if Aerosmith replaces him. [Rolling Stone]
We’ve devoted a lot of coverage to the NALP guidelines regarding summer associate hiring. At the beginning of the recruiting season, I suggested that the NALP guidelines were so toothless that law students should disregard them, just as the law firms have done. During the fall recruiting season, Sullivan & Cromwell was eager to ignore NALP, and they were stopped only by collective law school action, inspired by Harvard Law School.
After a second consecutive year of nobody being happy with the NALP guidelines, in January the organization finally indicated that it might change things up before the next recruiting season. The core of the proposed new program would be to set a date before which firms could not extend offers to potential summer associates. At the time, I was unimpressed:
I don’t know. Increasingly, I’m of the belief that the old system just needs to be blown up and a new one should be built from scratch. How can a firm make a realistic hiring decision nearly two years in advance based on one year of law school? How can a law student make an informed choice when firms straight-up lie to them?
We now know that my lack of confidence in NALP’s new proposals was nothing compared to what they were feeling at Jones Day. The firm has been all over the web today, making it known that it’s not at all impressed with NALP or the new proprosed guidelines, which it perceives as anti-competitive.
Continue reading “Hell of a (Jones) Day, Today”
It has been a whirlwind of a day here at LegalTech, and I still have a few meetings to go. I was going to live blog the panel where David Lat was speaking, but couldn’t get a signal, even with a Verizon internet cartridge. The irony is not lost on me being at a legal technology conference.
Lots to blog about, but the one thing I will say right now, this event is much bigger than last year. There is also a different vibe. People seem to have much more enthusiasm. Last year the mood was much more mundane, probably because everyone knew the economy was in the tank. The higher level of activity is a positive sign for anyone working in the legal industry.
I will try to write up a summary of the day’s events tonight or early, early in the morning. Right now I am off to two more meetings and then “B-Discovery,” which is a happy hour for e-discovery professionals. The “B” in B-Discovery stands for “Bar,” go figure. However this is the largest B-Discovery of the year and likely to draw over a thousand people. It will be held at Touch Night Club.
More later…
* I guess calling affirmative action “politically correct discrimination” is the new politically correct way to say “I am somehow incapable of understanding the value of diversity.” [SCOTUSblog]
* It’s not work if you enjoy doing it. Also, it’s not work if you’re not getting paid. [TechnoLawyer]
* Every now and again, it helps if a lawyer is also a stand up guy. [What About Clients?]
* When being interviewed by a panel of people, you need to understand group dynamics. Interestingly, mastering this core competency also helps you plan an awesome party. The lesson, as always, people with social skills do better in life. [Law.com]
* Who are the most powerful partners at Cravath? Do you get a prize for being the most powerful partner at Cravath? Can you score chicks by saying “I am the most powerful partner at Cravath,” or does the Corvette do that work for you? [Business Insider]
* You know, I had actually forgotten that today is the start of Black History Month. I don’t know, maybe I’m racist but there’s something about freezing my ass off all weekend that doesn’t scream “black people” to me. Why can’t we move it to June? It’d be warm, and the NBA Finals and Juneteenth are sitting right there. It’s perfect. In any event, Blawg Review did not forget that freezing ass February is a month of reflection. [Slaw via Blawg Review]
Occasionally, I am guilty of overselling my point. That slight personality flaw means that I have at least one thing in common with Brad Karp, chairman of Paul Weiss. American Lawyer reports that 2009 was the most profitable year ever for Paul Weiss (more on that later). The article contains an interesting turn of phrase:
Though the firm’s gross revenue slipped by 3.8 percent, from $692 million in 2008 to $665.5 million in 2009, profits per equity partner (PPP) hit $2.69 million, up from $2.65 million in 2008. Notably, the firm achieved its results without resorting to layoffs. In fact, lawyer head count at the firm increased slightly from 647 to 653.
No layoffs you say? None? Zero? Well allow this tipster to retort:
PW’s Load of S***.
I was among the one third of PW’s staff attorney program that was axed. I also know that more senior associates were given the “talk” about how they have no future at PW, so they better get their shit together to leave. One of them left into the “wild blue yonder” because he had no place to go.
They welcomed the first year class of 100, that is why it appeared that their numbers went up slightly without layoffs.
I can’t speak to secret talks that lead to mysterious disappearances, but we were all over the staff attorney layoffs at Paul Weiss, just a couple of months ago. Details after the jump.
Continue reading “What Did Paul Weiss Just Say?”
Hello to everyone out there in the legal blogosphere! My name is Gabe Acevedo, and I was thrilled and honored last month to be asked to blog at LegalTech New York for Above The Law.
To give a little background on myself, I am an attorney based out of Washington, DC, and have been a part of the e-discovery industry since I was first licensed in 2003. However, what I am most known for is a little blog I call “Gabe’s Guide to the e-Discovery Universe.” My blog is informative, but I also try to keep light and humorous whenever possible. I think the legal technology industry–or maybe just the legal industry in general–can always use a little hilarity every now and then.
An opening salvo from LegalTech after the jump.
Continue reading “Gabe Acevedo to be Above the Law “Guide” at LegalTech New York”
Your problems are our problems, and our problems are your problems.
– Northwestern Law School Dean David E. Van Zandt, discussing the relationship between law schools and law firms at the PLI Law Firm Leadership and Management Institute.
Is it me or has there been an awful lot of news coming out of Wisconsin recently?
Last week a Wisconsin prisoner was denied his fundamental Dungeons & Dragons rights — rights that would be protected by my class 8, Constitution of Living, artifact. Then we had a story about an attempt to bring cast members from the Jersey Shore to speak at the Wisconsin Law School graduation.
That attempt failed. We understand that Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle will be the commencement speaker. Perhaps Wisconsin law students can use the opportunity to convince the Governor to protect state jobs in Wisconsin’s district attorney offices. As it stands right now, a number of Wisconsin D.A.s are slated to be fired. But in a textbook example of “how to strike fear into the hearts of your employees,” Wisconsin D.A.s don’t know who will be shown the door, or when, or how many of them will be fired. The ABA Journal reports:
Prosecutors’ offices in Wisconsin have received notices from the state that they will face layoffs, leading to public safety worries and contingency plans.
It’s not known how many layoffs are planned or when they will occur, according to WQOW18 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The state budget crunch is forcing the cuts.
After the jump, press from around Wisconsin has watched enough Law & Order episodes to know that you can’t have successful crime fighting without capable district attorneys.
Continue reading “Government Lawyers: Welcome to the Recession”
This was the photo we gave you for our latest caption contest:
The backstory behind the photo and the winning submisson, after the jump.
Continue reading “ATL Caption Contest Winner: Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
