Which Law Firm Is Cynically Screwing Over Its Associates?

There's a firm out there that announces raises for rising associate classes effective January 1, but doesn't actually pay them their new salary until July.

Before you go hurt yourself scrambling to the keyboard to type “all of them,” let’s clarify our terms: when we’re saying “cynically screwing over,” we mean “holding associate salaries hostage for a full six months in an attempt to bind associates to their desks.” Let that sink in. There’s a firm out there that announces raises for rising associate classes effective January 1, but doesn’t actually pay them their new salary until July — including a lump sum of six months of back pay, available only to associates who make it to July. If a young lawyer wants to test the market during the beginning of the year lateral free-for-all, well… they don’t get their raise.

UPDATE (3:56 p.m.) It’s not like this policy is new. In fact, when asked, the firm explained: “Our firm has done raises for associates in June every year for the past 22 years and that is what we are doing this year as well.” Which doesn’t make it any less problematic, but does make it consistent!

Who would treat associates with the withering disrespect commonly reserves for chattel? Kasowitz Benson. Of course.

We’ve heard of firms withholding bonuses in a naked attempt to cripple an associate’s ability to lateral, behavior that also deserves our blistering contempt, but at least it’s a bonus. Holding back salary for work already performed is cartoonish supervillainy, exacting free labor from a fellow professional for the sin of putting their career ahead of the short-term needs of the firm. When the situation is reversed, the firm is unlikely to hold the short-term needs of the associate in comparable esteem.

And we know the situation will be reversed at Kasowitz, the firm that’s laid off associates every year despite soaring profits per partner.

Indeed, withholding salary would be despicable enough before you realize its role (UPDATE (3:56 p.m.): this year specifically) in an overall strategy to clamp down on lateral movement in the aftermath of the firm’s decision to lay off upwards of 40 people. That’s some ruthlessness right there. When you cut away all the fat, you risk cutting into the bone. Rather than keep extra staff around in case of emergency, Kasowitz took a financial hammer to their associates’ ankles to keep them on the job after aggressively slashing firm resources to eke out a few more pennies for next year’s PPP. Huzzah!

Even if the associate bows to this tactic and remains dutifully on the job until July, this also penalizes the attorney on another level, as the lump sum payment of six months of back pay is going to end up in the hands of the government until next year when the associate files a tax return, rendering a large chunk of that money inaccessible. About the only way this system works out for the associate is if he or she can earmark that bulk payment directly into a 401k, but I digress.

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The most important advice we can give Kasowitz associates is not to take any guff from these swine. While it feels like there’s a flurry of lateral activity at the beginning of the year, there are lateral opportunities throughout the year. Look around Above the Law for a minute or two and you’ll see advertisements as well as articles from prominent legal recruiters who can help you get a new job even after June 30. Tough it out, but — to borrow a mantra intended for a more noble cause —
it gets better.

So to those who think every firm is out to screw over its associates, consider this example. Yeah, firm life can be unreasonable, partners can be crazy, and clients can be hell, but that goes with the territory. Law firms, in particular Biglaw firms, adhere to a certain code of conduct. It’s an Eastern thing — call it the “Bullshido Code.” In any event, you can’t hate any specific Biglaw firm for running a promotional pyramid scheme and employing downright oligopolistic behavior when it comes to salary and bonuses. Don’t hate the player, hate the game, as it were.

But when a firm steps out of the industry standards and treats its associates as implements whose personal career decisions can be manipulated and crushed just to suit the firm, you’re no longer a law firm, you’re no better than an NCAA athletic director.

Earlier: Nationwide Layoff Watch: Sweeping Job Cuts For ‘Superior Legal Minds’

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