Here’s the verified Davis Polk memo (which we received by email; it was also previously posted in the comments):
From: Ferrell, Kathleen L. On Behalf Of Management Committee
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 5:33 PM
Cc: all.partners
Subject: Associate Salaries
We are pleased to announce that associate base salaries will be increased as follows, effective January 1, 2007:
Class of 1998 – $290,000
Class of 1999 – $280,000
Class of 2000 – $265,000
Class of 2001 – $250,000
Class of 2002 – $230,000
Class of 2003 – $210,000
Class of 2004 – $185,000
Class of 2005 – $170,000
Class of 2006 – $160,000
Entering Class of 2007 – $160,000
As always, we appreciate your efforts.
Earlier: Previous announcements of law firm associate salary increases (scroll down through “Skaddenfreude” archives)
Davis Polk
Davis Polk has fallen into line. This post went up on Greedy NY a few minutes ago.
Then we received the Davis Polk bonus memo, by email, from a DPW address. So consider that news CONFIRMED.
The Davis memo looks pretty much like all the other memos, so we won’t use up front page space for it. If you’d like to see it, including all the numbers that are mind-numbingly familiar to you by now, check it out after the jump.
Update: The memo was also posted by an ATL commenter over here. Thanks for all your help, everyone!
Continue reading “Associate Bonus Watch: Et Tu, Davis Polk?”
- Biglaw, Bonuses, Cleary Gottlieb, Covington & Burling, Davis Polk, Debevoise & Plimpton, Legal Fee Voyeurism, Mergers and Acquisitions, Money, Sidley Austin, Simpson Thacher, Wachtell Lipton
Legal Fee Voyeurism: Merger Mania Moolah
By David LatToday is a banner day for mergers-and-acquisitions lawyers. Our big brother takes note of Blackstone Group’s gigantic proposed buyout of Equity Office Properties Trust, the nation’s largest office-building owner and manager, for roughly $36 billion ($20 billion plus $16 billion in assumed debt).
And that’s not the only deal. The WSJ Law Blog ticks off three more billion-dollar transactions: Bank of America acquiring U.S. Trust, Freeport-McMoRan acquiring Phelps Dodge, and Evraz Group acquiring Oregon Steel Mills.
Biglaw shops are involved in all of these transactions. The lucky law firms: Sidley Austin, Simpson Thacher, Cleary Gottlieb, Howard Rice, Wachtell Lipton, Davis Polk, Debevoise & Plimpton, Covington & Burling, and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt (of Oregon).
Okay, “lucky” may not be the right term for people who have probably been pulling one all-nighter after another over the past few weeks (or months). But let’s look on the bright side: the fees from these deals will be delicious. And they’re likely to mean very good associate bonuses for 2006.
How delicious? This is where you come in. For this latest edition of Legal Fee Voyeurism, we’d like to ask you for any information, rumors, or quasi-informed speculation about the fees that firms will be earning on these deals. And, of course, we’re always interested in the related subject of associate bonus scuttlebutt.
Please send any such tips our way, by email. Thanks!
The Biggest LBO Ever: Does The Blackstone REIT Deal Mark the Beginning of the End of Public Companies? [DealBreaker]
M&A Mania: Good for the Lawyers! [WSJ Law Blog]
- Baker Botts, Biglaw, Cadwalader, Davis Polk, Dorsey & Whitney, Federal Government, HP, Irell & Manella, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Milberg Weiss, Money, Musical Chairs, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Pillsbury Winthrop, S.D.N.Y., Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Attorneys Offices, White-Collar Crime
Musical Chairs: 10.05.06
By David LatOodles of juicy moves today, especially out of and into the federal government. As the leaves change, so do the lawyers.
Government to Private Sector:
* Federal prosecutor John Hueston, a leader of the team that prosecuted Enron execs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, is heading for the greener pastures of Irell & Manella.
All around the country, AUSAs with white-collar criminal experience are leaving U.S. Attorney’s Offices — including our former workplace — for the more lucrative precincts of private practice. The trend is especially pronounced in the legendary Southern District of New York, as noted by Anna Schneider-Mayerson.
Private Sector to Government:
* Corporate and securities lawyer Michael Halloran, a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop, has been appointed to serve as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lateral Moves:
* Broker-dealer compliance specialist Steven Lofchie, to Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, from Davis Polk & Wardwell. (In this day and age, compliance is a hot area. We’re guessing Lofchie got offered a nice deal.)
* Tax lawyer John Narducci, to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, from White & Case.
* IP lawyer Robert Wasnofski Jr., to Dorsey & Whitney, from Baker Botts.
* M&A lawyer Sandy Feldman, to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, from Torys.
Retirements:
* Plaintiffs’ lawyer Alan Schulman, of Bernstein, Litowitz — and formerly of the indicted Milberg Weiss — is retiring at the end of the year.
Not Going Anywhere — Yet:
* Apple CEO Steve Jobs and HP CEO Mark Hurd are sticking around — despite the problems that their companies face.
NY Practice Leader Leaves One Elite NY Firm for Another [NYLawyer.com]
More NY Partners Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
Milberg Weiss: Merger Talks Break Down; An Alum Retires [WSJ Law Blog]
Enron Prosecutor John Hueston to Join Irell & Manella [WSJ Law Blog]
The Gang That Shot Straight Is Disbanding, For a Profit [New York Observer]
- Arent Fox, Biglaw, Cravath, Crowell & Moring, Davis Polk, Dorsey & Whitney, FTC, Kirkland & Ellis, Musical Chairs, Paul Hastings, Weil Gotshal, Wilson Sonsini
Musical Chairs: 09.13.06
By David LatThe latest news on the most notable moves within the profession:
Government to Private Sector:
* Seth Silber, to Wilson Sonsini (as counsel), from the FTC. (Quips our tipster: “What a lovely week to join that particular firm!”)
New Office Openings:
* Crowell & Moring — aka “Cruel & Boring”*** — is opening a New York office. They’ve grabbed litigator William McSherry, from Arent Fox, and patent lawyer Janet McLeod, from Dorsey & Whitney, to kick things off.
* The exceedingly profitable, Houston-based Susman Godfrey is opening a New York office, headed by name partner Stephen Susman.
Lateral Private Sector Moves:
* Bankruptcy guru Paul Basta, to Kirkland & Ellis, from Weil Gotshal & Manges.***
* Patent litigators Joseph O’Malley and Bruce Wexler, to Paul Hastings (NY), from Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto.
*** “Cruel and Boring” is just a silly nickname for Crowell & Moring that we’ve heard around town. We have no idea as to whether it has any factual basis. We just think using nicknames for law firms is fun.
Other law firm nicknames we’ve heard: Weil Gotshal & Manges = “We’ll Getcha & Mangle Ya” (self-explanatory); Cravath Swaine & Moore = “The Death Star” (self-explanatory); Davis Polk & Wardwell = “The Teahouse on Lexington Avenue” (for their penchant for hiring geishas attractive Asian-American females — don’t get mad at us, we didn’t make it up).
(Feel free to add more law firm nicknames in the comments to this post.)
On The Move [Antitrust Review]
Basta Says Hasta to Weil Gotshal [WSJ Law Blog]
DC Firm Opens NY Office [NYLawyer.com]
Houston Firm Opens Manhattan Office [NYLawyer.com]
Firm Adds NY Patent Litigators [NYLawyer.com]
* A juror in the Vioxx case that resulted in a $32 million verdict against Merck took interest-free loans from the plaintiff in the case. Hmm… [Associated Press]
* Another dispatch from ConflictsLand: McKesson wants Duane Morris disqualified from representing two Georgia residents against a McKesson sub. [Fulton County Daily Report]
* We were only joking when we said that a class action by Blackberry addicts was “only a matter of time.” It’s getting less funny by the minute. [WSJ Law Blog]
* Who knew that Weil Gotshal lawyers were so attractive? That was supposed to be the niche of Davis Polk (nicknamed “House of the Hotties” by our law school class). Hey, how big is Weil’s ERISA department? [New York Times]
- Biglaw, Cleary Gottlieb, Cravath, Davis Polk, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Simpson Thacher, Skadden Arps, Sullivan & Cromwell, Vault rankings, Wachtell Lipton, Weil Gotshal
Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Most Prestigious of All?
By David Lat
Each year, just in time for fall on-campus recruiting season, Vault releases its prestige rankings of the nation’s biggest law firms. Here’s a report on the results of the latest survey, from The Recorder:
In big law, prestige is important. And an annual survey from career-oriented Web site Vault attempts to gauge just how impressive it is to work at the country’s top firms by asking more than 15,000 associates to rank their prestige factor.
The top ten firms were: Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Sullivan & Cromwell; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Davis Polk & Wardwell, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton; Latham & Watkins; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
Executive summary: New York firms rule the roost. Nothing new there.
But lawyers at Latham & Watkins, based out in La-la-land, were happy with their top 10 finish:
“It’s certainly important and it is impressive that Latham has the reputation it has,” said Kimberly Posin, a fourth-year associate in Latham’s Los Angeles office. “Clients look to and appreciate the prestige factor.”
It’s also a key factor for law students who are interviewing at various firms and scouring the rankings to help make decisions, she said.
Within the firm itself, it was fun to get the e-mail detailing the results.
“It’s something that’s nice to talk about,” Posin said, “[to] call our friends at competing firms and say ‘Look at this.’”
Calling your friends to brag about how your firm is more prestigious than their firm? Isn’t that a tad obnoxious, Kimberly?
Top 100 Law Firms [Vault]
Associate Survey Finds NY Firms Win Bragging Rights [The Recorder]
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