Last month we mentioned merger talks between K&L Gates and Kennedy Covington. Just to close the loop on this, the firms have made it official. From the K&L Gates press release:

Partners from the law firms of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP (K&L Gates) and Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, LLP (Kennedy Covington) today voted to combine the two firms, effective July 1, 2008.

The combination creates a firm of more than 1,700 lawyers in 28 offices located throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, including the largest Carolinas presence of any global law firm. The firm will maintain North Carolina offices in Charlotte, Raleigh and Research Triangle Park.

In the comments to our earlier post about the merger talks, opinions were all over the map -- about Kennedy Covington's relative standing among Charlotte law firms, whether a merger would be good for the KC attorneys, and whether a merger would be a smart move for K&L Gates. What does everyone think of the merger now that it's a done deal?

K&L Gates, Kennedy Covington Partners Approve Combination of Firms [K&L Gates]

Earlier: Law Firm Merger Mania: K&L Gates + Kennedy Covington?

Thanks to the worsening economy, law firms don't have enough work for the lawyers already on their payrolls. Some firms have decided to save money by having incoming first-year associates start later than originally planned. What's the point of bringing new kids on board, at starting salaries of $160,000 each, if you don't have enough work to give them?

The latest Biglaw shop to push back start dates: K&L Gates. The original firm-wide start date was September 15; the new start date is October 20.

We contacted K&L Gates for comment. The firm's director of recruiting, Roz Pitts, explained that the change was made not for any economic reason, but due to "crazy scheduling." She explained that the firm's partner retreat in Phoenix is taking place in early October, and they didn't want the first-years to start work only to have the entire partnership disappear a few weeks later. She added that the firm stands by all its offers -- i.e., no offers have been rescinded -- and that all incoming associates will be notified of the start date change by today. (Some offices started notifying associates on Friday, which is when we learned of this change.)

But even if K&L Gates were making this change for economic reasons, would there be any shame in that? Other prominent law firms have already announced postponed start dates:

1. Pillsbury Winthrop: start dates pushed back, possibly as far back as January 2009 (the firm told the Wall Street Journal that it "is staggering start dates over several months").

2. Thacher Proffitt & Wood: the start date for non-litigation first-years has been pushed back to October 20.

3. Thelen Reid: start dates for first-year associates pushed back from September 2008 to January 2009.

Do you know of a Biglaw shop that has announced it's pushing back start dates? If so, feel free to drop us a line. Thanks.

P.S. When it comes to start dates, maybe there's no way to please everyone. Back in February, some Sidley Austin associates complained about excessively early start dates.

Merger talks between K&L Gates and Kennedy Covington are underway. From a tipster at K&L Gates:

Merger mania strikes again, although it's not exactly major. See this press release.

I find it interesting that we are expanding into this region, especially because of the recent high-profile layoffs and other cutbacks happening at other firms in North Carolina.

The tipster has a point. It's an odd time for K&L Gates to be diving deeper into the banking / financial-services area and the NC legal market, considering all the turmoil they've seen over the past few months.

But sometimes it pays to zig when everyone else zags -- which may also explain the trend of some firms building up their structured-finance groups. The work has to come back at some point, doesn't it?

Kennedy Covington and K&L Gates Discuss Combining Firms [Kennedy Covington; see also K&L Gates]

When law students are choosing among law firms, they inquire into such predictable things. What's the firm's billable hour requirement? How is work distributed? What about pro bono? For lawyers involved in recruiting, it must get boring to have to answer the same questions over and over again.

So law students, next time you interview with a firm, ask about something that really matters: What is the firm's policy towards associates who want to participate in reality television shows?

Is the firm supportive of such endeavors? Can I take a leave of absence for the show's filming, and then return in good standing? If so, will my year-end bonus get prorated?

As it turns out, Biglaw shops take different approaches to reality TV. It was rumored that Sidley Austin was none too pleased when associate David Otunga decided to participate in I Love New York 2 (and he is no longer at the firm). As for his performance on the show, the Harvard Law School grad made it to the final three, before losing to "Buddha" and "Tailor Made."

Contrast Sidley's reaction to that of K&L Gates. The firm allowed an associate in its Washington office -- the highly attractive Denise Gitsham, 30, a recent Georgetown Law grad and former Bush aide -- to take leave to be on "The Bachelor." Now it welcomes her back with open arms. From an email recently sent around by D.C.-based partner Mark Ruge:

All:

This Monday, at 9:30 p.m. on ABC, is the season premier of the hit television show, The Bachelor. ("The Bachelor" is the nation's highest-rated reality TV show in the 18-45 female demographic group. It is now entering its 12th season on network television.)

Believe it or not, one of the contestants this season will be our own associate Denise Gitsham, who was away "on location" during much of February. Here is a link to the show's web site and Denise's bio:

http://abc.go.com/primetime/bachelor/index?pn=bios#t=bachelorettes&d=85609

Denise's name, photo, and bio were submitted to the show by her cousin, and Denise was selected to be one of the show's 25 bachelorettes out of more than 12,000 applicants. She was under extreme confidentiality requirements during her adventure (and still is to some degree). At least now, though, she is free to admit what she was doing during her mysterious leave in February.

Just thought you would like to know...

Mark

K&L Gates lawyers: if you need to send something to Denise via intra-office mail, the delivery should be accompanied by a rose. Thanks.

P.S. We can't find Denise Gitsham on the firm website (although we did find a "Denise Stiffarm" in Seattle). We're guessing that Denise has been too busy filming The Bachelor to fill out all that pesky bar admission paperwork.

Denise Gitsham bio [The Bachelor]

A report on bonuses (such as they are) at K&L Gates in New York:

No notice -- not even an email. Apparently, the "highly confidential" memo appearing on ATL last year less than 24 hours after its release wasn't appreciated.

We were told that we would find out what the bonus was when it hit our bank accounts. The money hit our accounts this past Saturday, and it was a friggin' joke. Since our handlers are doing their best to hamper communication, we've been forced to piece together an unofficial chart. Here's the sad tale, by class year:

2007: Zero
2006: 0 -- $15,000
2005: $20,000 -- $30,000
2004: $30,000
2003: $35,000
2002: $35,000
2001: $35,000 -- $40,000
2000: $40,000 -- $50,000

The high end of each class's range was obtained by one, maybe two associates.

And that's in New York; we'd expect other offices to be lower. If you have info on them, feel free to email us.

The combined firm will have over 1,500 lawyers in 23 offices. It will "employ the K&L Gates brand and have the legal name of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP." Press release here.

Update: Some commentary from an inside source, after the jump.

K&L Gates, Hughes & Luce Partners Vote to Combine Firms Effective January 1 [K&L Gates]

Yesterday's tip about K&L Gates no longer making contributions to attorney 401k plans has been confirmed. We've obtained the memo, which our source introduced as follows:

Here's the memo re: today's post on K&L Gates. No further materials or communications have since occurred, save a videoconference from firm Chairman [Peter] Kalis, where in response to an associate questions as to why this benefit was cut, he essentially said that it was to make partners' compensation packages more competitive due to required combined firm IRS changes.

I like how it says firm compensation remains competitive. Check out what the firm pays in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. How is that competitive?

In case you're wondering, K&L Gates is not at the market rate of $160,000 in San Francisco and L.A. They instead pay associate starting salaries of $145,000 in those cities. See here and here.

The 401(k) memo appears after the jump.

Earlier: Biglaw Reversed Perk Watch: K&L Gates Cuts off 401(k) Contributions?
Biglaw Perk Watch: Retirement Benefits and Financial Planning

When it comes to perks and fringe benefits, Biglaw giveth, and Biglaw taketh away. From a tipster:

Did you see the internal memo at K&L Gates announcing that the firm will cease contributions to attorney 401k plans? I found it interesting because it mentioned that similar reductions are occurring at other "major firms." Which strikes me as stunning if true.

Of course, as noted in the comments to our earlier open thread on retirement benefits, many top law firms don't contribute to attorney 401(k) plans in the first place. But if you know which "major firms" are being referred to in the memo, please share what you know, in the comments.

We received this information from a reliable source, but we haven't seen the K&L Gates memo itself. If you have a copy to pass along, please email us. Thanks.

Earlier: Biglaw Perk Watch: Retirement Benefits and Financial Planning

This rumor has been around for a while, but we wanted to wait until it was official. Now it is (as of twenty minutes ago):

From: Miller, Charles
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 1:31 PM
To: WA ASSOC
Cc: Kalis, Peter; Fried, Susan V.; Graner, Glenn; Carson, Rodney E.
Subject: New DC Associate Salaries

All: This will confirm the new DC associate salary ranges that we discussed at the associates' lunch today:

1st years -- $160K
2nd years -- $170K
3rd years -- $185K
4th years -- $200K/205K/210K
5th years -- $205K/215K/225K
6th years -- $210K/225K/240K
7th years -- $215K/230K/250K
8th years -- $220K/240K/260K

These changes should be reflected starting 9/1/07 in the paycheck that you receive on 9/15/07. Please let me know if you have any questions.

-- Chuck

Oh, in case you're wondering, the salary "tiering" is apparently based on quantity (of billable hours) and quality (of work).

We've confirmed the news that Akin Gump has raised in Texas. Here's the message from Bruce McLean, the Akin Gump chairman:

We are pleased to announce that we will be increasing associate and counsel compensation effective August 1, 2007. For first and second years, compensation will increase to $160,000 and $170,000, respectively. For subsequent years, we intend to be competitive in the market. We are in the process of determining the contours of the compensation structure for our other associate classes consistent with our Firm culture and the evolving market.

We appreciate all that you do to make this a great Firm.

In other Biglaw Texas news, Hughes & Luce is in merger talks with K&L Gates.

Hughes & Luce in Merger Talks With K&L Gates [Texas Lawyer]

As we move into the weekend, we have a few more associate pay raise announcements to share with you.

After the jump, there's confirmed compensation news about Arent Fox, K&L Gates, Heller Ehrman, and Keker & Van Nest.

We've also heard the rumors about Jones Day (Dallas) raising to $150K, from multiple sources. But we haven't seen a memo, and neither of our sources is at the firm itself. So even though it's most likely true, we're going to hold off on calling it until we hear directly from someone at Jones Day in Dallas (or at least see a memo).

We summarized the past week in non-bonus news back in this post. Now, we provide a recap of last week in Biglaw and associate bonus news:

* In merger news, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and Preston Gates & Ellis are combining to form "K&L Gates."

* Meanwhile, the Dewey-Orrick merger will be delayed in its consummation.

* As for law firm associate bonuses, it was actually a pretty unexciting week, despite the flurry of announcements. With the obvious exception of Wachtell Lipton, every firm that announced essentially matched the market bonuses (as set during the prior week by Milbank).

* For the archives of our complete bonus coverage, click here, then scroll down. For bonus information about a specific firm, go to our firm-by-firm linkwrap, after the jump.

As helpfully noted by a commenter, the news is now official. As previously rumored, the law firms of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham and Preston Gates & Ellis are getting hitched. The merger will be effective January 1, 2007.

According to the official press release, the new entity will be called "Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP," but the firm will be BRANDED as "K&L Gates." Because these days it's all about the branding, kids.

We'll have more to say later. For now, we provide you with the press release announcing the merger, kindly sent to us by a law firm publicist. It's rather lengthy, and it reads like a geography lesson mashed up with a management consultant's PowerPoint presentation.

(Now we feel like real journalists. We're getting blast emails from PR folk!)

Check it out, after the jump.