This is the Paul Hastings memo that went out earlier today (and previously posted in the comments). We have verified it with several sources at the firm.
Date: January 29, 2007
To: Stamford and New York Associates
cc: Stamford and New York Partners, All Office Chairs and AD Chairs, All Recruiting & Development
From: Jim Owens and Elizabeth Noe
Co-Chairs, Attorney Development
Subject: FY2008 Compensation Structure for Associates, New York and Stamford Offices
We are pleased to announce the Firm will be increasing base-level salaries for U.S. associates in Stamford and New York effective as of the new fiscal year which commences February 1, 2007.
FY2008 Compensation by Class Year is as follows:
Seniority Year / Class year
Stamford & New York
Entering 2007 160,000
1st / 2006 160,000
2nd / 2005 170,000
3rd / 2004 185,000
4th / 2003 210,000
5th / 2002 230,000
6th / 2001 250,000
7th / 2000 265,000
8th+ / 1999 280,000
These increases reflect the Firm’s commitment to paying at the top tier of the market in New York. The commitment to compete at the top tier extends to all of our markets. We will be making salary determinations in our other markets over the next several days. In all cases, any increase in base salary levels will made retroactive to February 1.
We thank you for and commend your performance, commitment and hard work throughout the year and your contributions to our success.
Please feel free to contact us or your local Attorney Development Committee Chair or Office Chair if you have any questions.
David Lat
Posts by David Lat
Here’s the Sheppard Mullin memo that went out earlier today:
To All Associates:
The Executive Committee is pleased to announce we are increasing the base compensation for all Associates. The 2007 base compensation for our first year Associates in New York will be $160,000, and for our Associates in all other offices $145,000. These new first year levels are consistent with those of our competitors. Base compensation for other classes will also be increased. The amounts for other classes will be announced shortly. The increases will be effective retroactive to January 1, 2007 and will first show up in your February 15, 2007 paycheck. You will also at that time receive the retroactive portion.
2006 was an exciting and successful year, and we look forward to working together to make 2007 even better. Thank you for the energy and hard work that has made our Firm prosper.
Are you familiar with the delightful song “One, Two Step,” by Ciara (featuring Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott, who used to live down the street from us)?
If not, do yourself a favor, and check out the video. It begins with voice-over by a rapper who exultantly announces, in major-domo fashion, “The Princess is here!!!”
The Princess is here!!! That’s how we feel every time we get to write about Shanetta Y. Cutlar. In case you’re new to ATL, as many of you are, Shanetta Cutlar is the divine diva who oversees the Justice Department’s Special Litigation Section.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve written a great deal about the colorful Ms. Cutlar (who is clearly a public official, by virtue of her influential DOJ post, even if she’s not a political appointee). We consider pretty much all of our coverage of her to be highly flattering. Far from reflecting any actual malice, it exhibits genuine affection for her.
But for those of you who don’t share our love of strong-willed women, we have some more conventionally positive feedback about Shanetta Cutlar. Check it out, after the jump.
Continue reading “Shanetta Cutlar: Some Praise for the Princess”
If you were hoping that Cravath was going to up the ante for associate base salaries, we’re sorry to disappoint you. As reported last week in the comments, CSM basically matched the Simpson Thacher scale (after a bit of a delay; perhaps they were deliberating about besting the market).
For your reading pleasure, here’s the official pay raise memorandum from Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which went around on Friday afternoon:
Earlier: Previous announcements of law firm associate salary increases (scroll down through “Skaddenfreude” archives)
Last week we opened up a reader poll concerning billable hours. We’ll keep it open until 5 PM today. You can check it out, and cast your vote, by clicking here.
A number of you had various quibbles with the poll — the wording of the question, the methodology, etc. Such is to be expected from an audience of lawyers. But we do admit our earlier poll was more complicated than necessary. (Also, it was rather narrowly targeted, limited to lawyers on the new “Simpson Thacher” payscale.)
Here are two more general polls for your consideration. One is for those of you at large law firms (defined as 100+ lawyers firmwide), and the second is for those of you who are not at Biglaw shops. Some quick notes:
1. These polls are highly unscientific, vague, etc. (and we’re sure that after we put them up, a number of you will come up with refinements to them). But just humor us and take them — they’re just for entertainment purposes, really.
2. In the second poll, for non-Biglaw lawyers, if you work in an office where you’re not required to bill hours — e.g., government — just provide what you regard as the rough equivalent of billables. (We are not going to get into such fine points as whether a particular meeting in your office is more like a billable meeting with clients or a non-billable, internal administrative meeting.)
3. If you didn’t work for the entire year in 2006 — e.g., you’re a first-year who arrived in the fall — just annualize your billables. Or come up with a rough estimate of what you would have billed had you been there for the whole year.
We are overlooking all sorts of little niceties. But we don’t care; we don’t want to complicate matters. These polls, while crude, will shed light on the questions we’re really trying to get at:
1. Do Biglaw attorneys work harder than non-Biglaw attorneys?
2. If so, how much harder do they work (and is it worth the extra money)?
THANKS!!!
Note: To see the results of these polls WITHOUT voting, click here (for the Biglaw poll) and here (for the non-Biglaw poll).
Earlier: Prior ATL reader polls (scroll down)
We have a number of associate base salary memos in the queue for publication (including some from last week, when tech problems frustrated publication). Rest assured, we will get around to posting them. (Considering that nobody is doing anything particularly exciting — e.g., besting Simpson Thacher — the time pressures for publication aren’t great.)
But for those of you who like your news to be breaking, here’s a memo that’s still warm from the photocopier. One of you already posted it in the comments. But for the record, and for those of you who only read the ATL main page, the LeBoeuf Lamb pay raise announcement is reprinted below.
Note that LeBoeuf will be paying New York salaries to its DC associates (as indicated in the addressee line for the memo). Note also that this memo is with all the horn-tooting enthusiasm of a press release, perhaps in the anticipation that it would get leaked outside the firm:
If you’re trying to figure out what the new standard salaries are going to be in DC, it’s hard to ignore Covington & Burling. Covington is regarded by many as the archetypal Washington law firm.
As previously noted in the comments, we have confirmed pay raises for Covington associates. We thank the multiple sources who sent us this memo (in various forms):
Our tipsters draw our attention to these highlights:
“Covington DC salaries are same as Hogan, but 7th and 8th years (1999 and 2000 classes) at Covington will be paid $5,000 less than at Hogan & Hartson (assuming billables of 1950 or more). No explanation provided for why senior associate salaries are now less at Covington than at Hogan.”
“Brussels is still being evaluated.”
Because, you know, it’s all about Brussels.
Or actually, “I’m missing you already.” Supreme Court justices have feelings too, y’know.
The former cheerleader and current Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader “Kiki” Ginsburg, misses having a “wing-woman” when she visits the highest ladies’ room in the land. Per Joan Biskupic of USA Today:
It’s been a year since Sandra Day O’Connor retired from the Supreme Court after a quarter-century tenure and left Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the lone woman on the nine-member court. Although it’s unclear how O’Connor’s departure will affect the law, this much is certain: Ginsburg misses her friend, and worries about the message court visitors get when they see only one woman on the bench.
“The word I would use to describe my position on the bench is lonely,” Ginsburg, 73, said in an interview with USA TODAY.
“This is how it was for Sandra’s first 12 years,” she said, citing the time from O’Connor’s appointment in 1981 to Ginsburg’s arrival in 1993. “Neither of us ever thought this would happen again. I didn’t realize how much I would miss her until she was gone.”
Awww…. Isn’t that cute? Who knew that someone who spent 13+ years dealing with admin law could be so sentimental?
(We aren’t joking about the supreme judicial ladies room. As indicated here by Jan Crawford Greenburg, aka the Eve Harrington of One First Street, the justices’ robing room has a women’s bathroom — even though it didn’t back when Justice O’Connor first joined the Court.)
Ginsburg ‘Lonely’ Without O’Connor [USA Today]
Madame Justice [Legalities via How Appealing]
We have confirmed pay raises in the New York and Los Angeles offices of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. Our understanding is that the information was communicated in meetings, so there’s no memo or other official documentation.
We have verified the following pay scales with sources in Stroock’s NY and LA offices:
STROOCK & STROOCK & LAVAN
New York:
Class of 2006 – $160,000
Class of 2005 – $170,000
Class of 2004 – $185,000
Class of 2003 – $210,000
Class of 2002 – $230,000
Class of 2001 – $250,000
Class of 2000 – $265,000
Class of 1999 – $280,000
Class of 1998 – $290,000
Los Angeles:
Class of 2006 – $150,000
Class of 2005 – $160,000
Class of 2004 – $175,000
Class of 2003 – $185,000
Class of 2002 – $200,000
As for Stroock L.A. associates in more senior classes, we’re told that raises are “discretionary.” If you can clarify that opacity, please drop us a line.
Earlier: Previous announcements of law firm associate salary increases (scroll down through “Skaddenfreude” archives)
Blind items: they’re not just about adulterous tycoons and drug-addicted celebrities.
Sometimes they’re about antitrust lawyers at large law firms. Here’s a blind item from, of all places, Antitrust Review:
We hear that the entire antitrust group of a major firm is moving to an even more major New York firm, effective Monday Jan 29 (all partners, special counsels and associates, both in the NY office and in the DC office). The group has been at the current firm only for a relatively short time and is now moving again. And this time, none of the group are staying behind.
Keep your eyes peeled on Monday, this move will be big news, we’ll post more detail once the story hits the papers.
The story has now hit the papers, including the Wall Street Journal. It’s the antitrust group of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, which just left for Skadden Arps.
The group is led by Steven Sunshine (above right), a former DOJ antitrust official who is based in Washington, and Jess Biggio and Matthew Hendrickson, who practice out of New York. Sunshine and Biggio are coming onboard as partners; Hendrickson is joining Skadden as counsel.
Major Antitrust Group Moves [Antitrust Review]
Skadden Adds Sunshine To Its Antitrust Practice [Wall Street Journal via WSJ Law Blog]
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Hong Kong/China and Singapore US Associate Lateral Markets Improving With New Openings In Cap Markets, M&A, Fund Formation, Project Finance And FCPA / White Collar Litigation
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Ed. note: The Asia Chronicles column is authored by Kinney Recruiting. Kinney has made more placements of U.S. associates, counsels and partners in Asia than any other recruiting firm in each of the past six years. You can reach them by email: asia@kinneyrecruiting.com.
Deal flow has clearly picked recently up for most US associates, counsels and partners in Hong Kong/China and Singapore. We are on the phone with a lot of these folks on a daily basis, many of whom we have known for years. Further, the head of our Asia team, Evan Jowers, and Kinney’s founder and president, Robert Kinney, frequently meet in person with leading US partners in Asia to assess their needs and keep on top of the inside scoop at as many firms as possible. The need for legal recruiting help in Asia from experienced recruiters appears to be live and well. In March, Evan and Robert were in Beijing at such meetings, in April, Evan was in Hong Kong, and for half of June Evan will be in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Thus its pretty easy for us to tell when there has been an across-the-market pick up in capital markets and corporate work.
On an average day in Asia when Evan and Robert visit firms, they typically have 5 to 9 meetings a day, mostly with US partners in the market. The reason they have these meetings is not simply because Kinney makes a lot of US attorney placements in Asia and that a particular firm may have openings; instead these are just visits with friends. After years of working together as business partners, the folks at Kinney are actually these peoples’ friends. The firms Kinney work closely with in Asia (which is just about every law firm – call us if you want to know the one firm in the world we will never place anyone with again, ever, and why) look forward to the visits, or at least act like they do. After seven years in the market, many of the client partners are former associate candidates. Also, these US partners see Kinney as a very good source of market information as well, because they know how deep their contacts are in the market and how frequently they are speaking to counterparts at peer firms.
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