Mayer Brown

Associate Bonus Watch: Mayer Brown (Chicago and DC)

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2009 Associate bonus watch above the law.JPGHere’s some news that might interest the mutineers at Mayer Brown. The firm has announced bonuses for its offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C. — and early word seems to be positive.
We don’t have a memo; bonuses were communicated in person or over the phone. But we’ve gathered some intelligence from sources in both Chicago and D.C. that give us an overall picture.
It appears that there is no longer a bonus for hitting 2000 hours. But associates who hit 2100 hours were rewarded handsomely, receiving the same bonus that 2100 hours would have gotten them last year. For example, we hear that second-year associates who hit 2100 hours received bonuses of around $28,500 — almost three times as much as second-years got under the Cravath scale (which is what Mayer Brown paid in its New York office). Furthermore, additional increments of 100 hours above the 2100-hour level resulted in $8,500 in extra bonus money.
Mayer associates also received news about raises….

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NYU 3L Takes Unemployment Plight to YouTube

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New York University Law School NYU Law School Above the Law.JPGReaders have been begging for a follow-up on the NYU 3Ls who threatened Mayer Brown with “Public Relations Disaster.” One reader suggests we set up a pay-per-view event:

ATL should sponsor a cage match, pitting the UT 1Ls against the NYU 3Ls, in a fight to the career death.

Well, boy do we have a follow up. The student we dubbed “Rosencrantz” sent out an email to the NYU Law School listserv.

Subject: Response to Your Comments About Me on AboveTheLaw…
Dear Friends & Colleagues,
Due to the overwhelming requests that I make a comment about the atrocities committed against me on above the law, I have decided to respond. I have however decided to make my response a video response as I’ve learnt that emails can be more easily misconstrued than audiovisuals. Below are the links for my response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RHha6fYzhY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xHbMHh9XDk
I hope you enjoy them, and please do feel free to leave comments.
Cheers,
[Rosencrantz]

The videos (to say nothing about the email to the entire listserv) make it impossible to keep up the “Rosencrantz” artifice, so I guess it’s time to start calling people by their given names….

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Mutiny at Mayer Brown?

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Mayer Brown LLP new logo.jpgApparently, people who summered at Mayer Brown in 2009 and received an offer are still waiting to hear whether they will be able to start work in a timely manner.
Two former MB summer associates and current NYU Law students decided to take matters into their own hands. They sent out an email to everybody in Mayer Brown’s 2009 summer class. The students hoped to put grassroots pressure on Mayer Brown. I’ve redacted the students’ real names.

Hello Mayer Brown Class of 2010,
You know [Rosencrantz] if you were in New York, and [Guildenstern] if you were in Chicago. We are writing because Mayer Brown has kept us all in the dark about our futures. Their delay in formally announcing any of the plans for our class is unique among top law firms — in their total lack of official communication regarding our start dates, stipend, and health insurance over the coming year, they truly stand alone.
This letter is a call to concerted action in order to require Mayer Brown to make formal announcements regarding our future. We urge that each Mayer Brown 2009 Summer Associate ask their Law School’s Office of Career Services to call Mayer Brown and request the immediate formal announcement of the terms of our offers.

The rest of this call to action, after the jump.

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Mayer Brown: True-Up Raises in Washington. Somebody Get Sidley on the Phone.

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Mayer Brown LLP new logo.jpgIt looks like the game of salary chicken between Mayer Brown and Sidley Austin is just about over. On Monday we noted that Mayer Brown was taking its time to let associates know whether or not their salaries will be re-frozen. Today, Mayer Brown’s D.C. office announced that salaries will be raised back to market levels — a true-up raise for associates at the firm. (We also hear that true-up raises on coming out for New York, but we haven’t seen that memo.)

Bonuses are still to be determined, so we don’t know if Mayer will include a make-whole provision to get people back the money they lost while their salaries were frozen in place.

Still, it’s great news.

And now our eyes turn towards Sidley Austin. In January, Sidley indicated that it was waiting to see what it competitors did before it committed to a 2010 salary structure. So let’s review.

Kirkland & Ellis: Never froze.
Latham & Watkins: True-up raise. Make-whole bonus.
Mayer Brown: True-up raise in D.C. (and NYC we think).

Are there other firms that Sidley is waiting for? Jenner? Winston? Bendini Lambert & Locke? Come on, the salary market for top tier firms has been re-set at pre-2009 levels. Some would argue that the salary market for true top tier firms never changed in the first place. Sidley needs to get off it’s horse.

Congratulations to Mayer Brown. Now, about that bonus…

Check out the Mayer Brown salary memo after the jump.

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Mayer Brown and the Infinite Silence

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Mayer Brown LLP new logo.jpgA quick glance at the calendar reveals that today is February 1st. 2010 is fully under way. Is there a reason why Mayer Brown associates still don’t know how much money they’ll be making in the current year? Mayer Brown had a two hour all associates meeting on Friday. Amazingly, management was able to babble for 120 minutes without saying a word about 2010 salaries:

We just had the quarterly meeting and no announcement of compensation news, lots of discussion of uptick in lateral hiring. WTF!?! Are Sidley and Mayer price fixing or what?

The Sidley quip refers to the fact that Sidley Austin is also waiting around — for no discernible reason — to make a hard decision about associate salaries.

Is this evidence of collusion among big Chicago firms? I’m going the other way on this.

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Open Thread: Firms That Have Raised Salaries As Usual

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lolmoney.JPGWe’ve been reporting on firms that have announced pay freezes for 2010, but at some firms, the salary outlook for 2010 is still unclear.
For example, associates at Mayer Brown and Willkie Farr are huddled in the dark, not sure if they’re freezing. From a junior Willkie associate:

I’m a second-year associate at Willkie. I just learned that traditionally, associates are told about their imminent salary bumps at their year-end evaluations. I’ve discussed it with some friends, and nobody has heard anything about salary freezes or bumps at WFG.

And from an MB associate:

Mayer Brown’s still frozen. Granted they’ve put off addressing salary raises until February in the past, but we got our first 2010 paychecks today with no raises, and not a peep from the partnership to let us know they’ve even considered the issue. As of now I’m two years behind where I’d be at Dechert. This sucks.

We can’t confirm whether salaries at these firms are frozen for the year, but we can encourage a conversation about firms that are raising salaries. We hear from a Paul Weiss associate, for example, that an email went out letting them know salaries there are warm. Our tipsters says that PW checks this month will have the “usual bump” up.
Here’s an open thread for discussion of raises as usual. Who’s warm and toasty this January?

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Associate Bonus Watch: Mayer Brown (NY) Matches

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2009 Associate bonus watch above the law.JPGWe haven’t received the official memo, but sources report that Mayer Brown (New York) has matched the Cravath scale for 2009 bonuses. A tipster simply reports:

Mayer Brown New York announced cravath bonuses today

That’s good news for the New Yorkers at the firm.

But for our tipster, wow, way to yawn about free money. You’re like the nutcracker that gets pissed about getting nuts for Christmas. (Sorry, those commercials are really annoying here in NYC.)

Perhaps the reason for the tipster’s ennui is that Mayer Brown hasn’t said anything about 2010 salaries yet. Details after the jump.

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Mayer Brown Re-Deferment: A December Surprise

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Mayer Brown LLP new logo.jpgLast Thursday, we asked you if deferred incoming associates were all set to start working. With a lot of associates scheduled to start in January, firms that extend the deferment in December might need a visit from Christmas ghosts.
Well, a few incoming associates received a large “bah, humbug” from Mayer Brown. The firm is asking people to “voluntarily” extend their deferral to October 2010.
On the positive side, the decision will only affect a few of Mayer Brown’s incoming class.
An explanation from the firm after the jump.

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A Mayer Brown Associate’s Supreme Court Debut:
A Post-Argument Recap

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Mayer Brown LLP new logo.jpgAs we mentioned earlier this week, Steve Sanders — a fourth-year associate at Mayer Brown, no relation to the 90210 character — argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.
When we emailed him on Wednesday to set up an interview, we received this rather straightforward Out of Office message:

I’ll be traveling on client and professional business Monday, 11/2 through Saturday, 11/7. I will have access to email, but my response may be delayed. Thanks.

How modest! If we had been in Sanders’s shoes, we would have used this Out of Office auto-reply:

Oyez, bitchez!!! Today I’m arguing before the freakin’ Supreme Court of the United States.
Later, haters!!!

But that’s not Steve Sanders’s style. He is dignified and professional, as we discovered when we caught up with him by phone after his argument.

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A Post-Argument Recap”

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Mayer Brown Associate Makes His Supreme Court Debut

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Mayer Brown LLP new logo.jpgAs we mentioned in our recent open thread on appellate work, Mayer Brown has one of the best appellate and Supreme Court practices in the country. The firm is also known for being rather democratic when distributing SCOTUS arguments; they tend to spread the argument wealth around, instead of funneling all the arguments to a single prominent advocate.
Steve Sanders Mayer Brown.jpgMake that very democratic about doling out SCOTUS arguments. Today Steve Sanders, a fourth-year associate in Mayer’s Chicago office, argued the case of Pottawattamie County v. McGhee before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Of course, Biglaw associates have appeared before the high court before. E.g., Lindsay Harrison of Jenner & Block, who also argued — and won — her first case at One First Street. But one thing that’s unusual about Pottawattamie County is that it’s a paying case, not a pro bono matter.
Sanders has some serious opposition. Read more, after the jump.

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