Cheapness

We’ve been covering the latest round of law firm associate pay raises largely from the perspective of the associates. But what about the people who have to pay for all this largesse: the partners? Several recent articles offer a partners’-eye-view of the compensation arms race. We’ve collected the links below. Despite the cheery announcement memos […]

We like your idea of drawing up a list of major law firms that have not (yet) joined in the latest round of associate pay raises. Such lists have been floating around in the comments over the past few weeks. But we thought we’d try and prepare an “official” LIST OF SHAME. Law students, law […]

Yesterday we invited those of you with firsthand knowledge of Aaron Charney to share what you know with us — whether pro- or anti-Aaron. We received some absolutely intriguing responses. Neither of these comments is “firsthand firsthand,” so please file them under “rumor” rather than “news.” But they are both extremely interesting. Both are somewhat […]

Los Angeles-based O’Melveny & Myers just raised base salaries for its associates in D.C. And it’s talking smack to Washington law firms that are too cheap to follow its lead: “D.C.-area firms will have a difficult time competing for talent if they don’t move off the $135,000 number,” says Brian Brooks, O’Melveny’s recruiting partner. “National […]

After we posted the press release recognizing the Sullivan & Cromwell and Kaye Scholer lawyers who worked on the recent Onex / Kodak Health Group transaction, one of you pointed out: Respectfully, you missed the lede in the Kodak post. Read Exhibit C to the Charney Complaint (PDF) re: Kodak’s complaints regarding fees and overstaffing. […]

It’s not as awful as being recorded on video using racial epithets. But this must still be pretty embarrassing for comedian Jerry Seinfeld: Supreme Court Justice Rolando T. Acosta has ruled that Seinfeld must pay a real-estate broker a commission of at least $98,750 for the $3.95 million townhouse he and his wife purchased in […]

Dewey Ballantine partners, have you no sense of decency? If your associates are going to act in completely undignified fashion, can’t you at least give them dignified surroundings in which to do so? No amount of tinsel and mistletoe can disguise this basic truth: making out with a paralegal in the cafeteria is beyond humiliating. […]

Last week was marked by a flurry of celebrity legal woes. And the trend continues — even if the latest “celebrity” to get busted is pretty C-list. [Rapper] Foxy Brown was sentenced Tuesday to three years’ probation for a fight with two nail salon employees, finally ending an assault case that dragged on for more […]

Good morning. David Lat is in Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand for the weekend for what has been euphemistically called “elective surgery.” Rest assured, D-Lat will return Monday, safe, sound, and happy to blog, if having to sit on a comfy pillow to do so, and we should all be supportive of the very […]

Gossip aficionados love it when disgruntled ex-employees talk trash about their former workplaces. Today’s victim: McDermott Will & Emery, a firm that has experienced significant revenue and profit growth over the past few years. According to a lengthy expose in The American Lawyer, however, some of that success has been driven by good old-fashioned tightwaditude: […]

We used to work in a U.S. attorney’s office, so we know firsthand that federal government service ain’t Fat City. Having to chip in $25 to attend a colleague’s farewell party, at a venue bearing a suspicious resemblance to a Knights of Columbus Hall, would never happen in the private sector. Law firm good-bye lunches […]