A law firm for which we have specialaffection here at ATL, Nixon Peabody, has raised starting salaries to $160,000 in its Washington office. Cue the theme song!
Oddly enough, this change isn’t reflected in the firm’s NALP form, which lists them at $145,000. But Nixon Peabody is advising recruits that it now pays $160K in DC (and perhaps it has raised in other offices, although we’ve only heard about Washington).
In case you’re curious, the firm’s email to recruits appears after the jump.
We have to step away for a bit. If any firm makes a bonus announcement while we’re gone, please note it in the comments, and we’ll investigate when we return. Thanks.
* In response to Professor Art Leonard’s question about the Charney settlement — “Will Aaron Charney ever have to work again”? — Professor Scott Moss writes: “Yes, unless Charney wants to experience his ‘early retirement’ in a rural trailer park.” [PrawfsBlawg]
* “A young and uneducated criminal defendant serving 30-to-life in a maximum security prison isn’t likely to be a specialist in appellate practice.” Unless his name is Jonathan Lee Riches. [Volokh Conspiracy]
* “Blogging is hard. Hard. The law is a jealous mistress. So is blogging… We’ve each written books, and law review articles, and supreme court briefs. This is harder. Much, much harder.” (Oh, and Happy Birthday!) [Drug and Device Law]
* Another transatlantic law firm merger: Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge swallows up Kendall Freeman of London. [TheLawyer.com]
* Do you enjoy your job? Take this test. [What About Clients?]
* YLS battle royal? Kate Stith lays the smackdown on Jed Rubenfeld. [New York Times]
We are waiting not-so-patiently for news of another major New York law firm matching Cravath’s just-announced bonus schedule. C’mon, S&C, Simpson, Davis… What are you people waiting for?
(If one of these firms HAS announced, you haven’t told us about it. For shame! To learn about how to send bonus announcements to ATL, on a confidential basis, please see here.)
Anyhoo, while we wait, let’s imagine what it’s like to be a lawyer in Oklahoma. From the Journal Record:
Oklahoma City attorneys receive starting salaries of about 88 percent of the national average, compared with 92 percent for their Tulsa counterparts, according to an analysis of salary figures in the 2008 Robert Half Legal Salary Guide.
This places projected salaries for first-year associates at Tulsa-area large law firms within a range of $102,810-$126,040, and from $98,340-$120,560 in Oklahoma City.
We’ve never lived in (or visited) Oklahoma City or Tulsa, but we’re guessing these salaries allow for a pretty nice standard of living out there. Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’! Starting pay for lawyers in state lower than national average [Journal Record]
We don’t watch the show, although we’ve heard good things. But we’re guessing that those of you who are fans of How I Met Your Mother appreciated the shout-out to fall recruiting in last night’s episode.
Here’s a capsule description, from Wikipedia:
“I’m Not That Guy”
When a corporate law firm courts Marshall, lawyer Jeff Coatsworth wins him over, forcing him to let go of his dream of saving the earth in favor of the almighty dollar. Guest star John Cho.
And a more detailed account, from a reader:
The 3L (I guess) character wanted to work for a nonprofit, but took an interview with a BigLaw. He was wined and dined (on Kobe-beef fed lobster!), then slept at the apartment of the recruiter (played by John Cho), doing the “walk of shame” the next morning.
He wasn’t going to take the job, but then he was “dragged off” to “Tuckahoe Funland” – I’m guessing it’s a Coney Island ripoff – for more playtime, where he’s given the sales pitch again, and told he will represent only the amusement park and protect it from overzealous developers. On the ferris wheel, he finally takes the offer.
Take 22 minutes and go over to CBS.com. It’s probably up on the web for viewing.
We don’t know anything about sports. Who just played in the World Series?
Thankfully, some of you are more informed. From a reader:
Scott Boras should be featured on ATL today, perhaps as “lawyer of the day” or whatever. [T]his story is hot, and should start a comment clusterf**k for you.
Baseball players’ agent Scott Boras has balls. Boras sent an email to the Associated Press on Sunday night announcing that his client, Alex Rodriguez, has opted out of the final three years of his contract with the Yankees and will become a free agent.
Rodriguez’s decision, announced by agent Scott Boras during Game 4 of the World Series, makes him eligible to become a free agent.
According to the terms of his $252 Million contract with the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez has ten days to opt out of the final three years and would lose approximately $72 Million of his contract.
According to Sports Illustrated, which broke the story, Boras said he attempted to notify Yankees general manager Brian Cashman of the decision Sunday but couldn’t reach him, so he left a voice mail.
See also this commentary by Murray Chass, in today’s New York Times. Chass doesn’t seem to be a fan of Mr. Boras.
A little more commentary, plus lots of links, after the jump.
People, you’ve been holding out on us. We’ve been hearing rumors about more Supreme Court law clerk hiring taking place for the next Term (October Term 2008).
For example, there’s gossip going around that Justice Samuel Alito has hired a clerk from Judge Harris Hartz (10th Cir.). We’ve also heard a rumor to the effect that Justice Thomas’s mysterious fourth spot for OT 2008 has been filled — mysterious, because he’s already hired at least one clerk for OT 2009 (Marah Stith; see here).
But nobody has let us in on what’s been going on. That’s just plain wrong.
A list of the OT 2008 clerks that we know of appears after the jump. Are you aware of an OT 2008 clerk who isn’t on the list? If so, please contact us, by email (subject line: “Supreme Court clerk hiring”).
(You can also post a comment, but we prefer email for this subject, for verification and possible follow-up. Thanks!) Update: We’ve been told, from a reliable source, that the rumor that Justice Alito has hired a clerk from Judge Hartz is not correct. As far as we know, Justice Alito has hired only two clerks for OT 2008: Dana Irwin (Yale 2002 / Scirica) and Jack White (Pepperdine 2003 / Alito).
Prior to the Cravath bonus announcement, McDermott Will & Emery said it would be announcing bonuses later than usual this year. But now that Biglaw bonus season has been kicked off early, will they stick to their previously announced timetable?
For those of you who are interested, the MWE announcement — which was made on October 11, well before the CSM news — appears after the jump.
As we first reported, Cravath, Swaine & Moore has kicked off the 2007 bonus season, with yesterday’s announcement of “special” and year-end bonuses for its associates. Here’s coverage from the New York Law Journal and the WSJ Law Blog, who actually got Cravath to talk to them. (CSM declined ATL’s request for comment.) Both sources credit ATL; we thank Anthony Lin and Peter Lattman for the shout-outs.
This leads us to the second stage of bonus season: waiting for the other shoes to drop. We intend to cover bonus developments as closely as we did last year. If a firm is a Vault 100 or AmLaw 100 law firm, or even if its name rings a vague sort of bell, we want to hear about its bonus announcement.
We can’t cover this subject without your help. We need you to let us know, as soon as possible, when your firm makes a bonus announcement. Per ATL standard operating procedure, we will NOT identify you as our source.
Here’s how to reach us with bonus news:
1. As you probably already know, you can send bonus news and memos to us by email (subject line: “Associate Bonus Watch: [firm name]“.
2. To be on the safe side, email us from a non-work email account (but preferably one with your real name, so we can confirm that you actually work where you work, by looking you up on the firm website).
3. To be on the super-safe side, save your email in draft form in your non-work account (e.g., Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.). When you’re ready to send, access that account using the web browser in your Blackberry or other wireless device, open the saved draft, and hit “send.” (You could also send the message when you get home, but that would take forever.)
4. Another way to contact us: send us a Facebook message. Even if your firm monitors the websites you visit, being on Facebook won’t get you in trouble (provided you do it in moderation).
5. Yet another way to reach us: by instant messenger or Gmail chat. If you’re a regular ATL tipster, or if you’re our Facebook friend, you know where to reach us on AIM and on Gmail chat.
6. Yet another way to reach us: by phone. Many of you have our phone number, which is also listed in our Facebook profile.
Nor does he want to raise your taxes, at least if you’re a member of the middle class (which many Biglaw lawyers are, at least if “middle class” is broadly defined). He actually wants to bring the middle class tax relief.
Since you all felt so strongly about it, judging from the hundreds of comments, we thought we’d bring you this quick follow-up to last week’s post about Rep. Charles Rangel’s new tax plan. In our write-up, we highlighted the 4 percent surtax for single earners with incomes over $150,000, or married couples with incomes over $200,000.
But Rep. Rangel argues that the bill is really all about abolishing the alternative minimum tax (AMT). He makes this argument today in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal (not the natural habitat of a Charlie Rangel byline).
More after the jump.
What the heck is going on? Is someone slipping Prozac into the Swiss Miss?
Why are Biglaw associates so darn happy these days? Is it the robust base salaries and generous bonuses, or is something else at work?
Over at the WSJ Law Blog, Nathan Koppel has this report:
Newsflash: Law-firm associates are happy!
… In one survey mostly of large-firm associates, 45 percent rated themselves “highly satisfied” while another 45 percent were “more or less” satisfied. Only five percent expressed strong dissatisfaction with their firms, according to survey, which is due to be released next week by legal consultancy Hildebrandt International. The survey was sent in June to more than 20,000 lawyers at firms with more than 80 lawyers. Some 464 associates completed the survey, 80% of whom were from “AmLaw 200″ firms….
In August, in its annual associate poll, the American Lawyer magazine reported that associate satisfaction has inched up over recent years to reach a record high of 3.81 on a five point scale, up from 3.64 four years ago.
What could account for this apparent change of heart among staff lawyers who, despite their six-figure starting salaries, traditionally are a notoriously unhappy lot?
Koppel floats the thesis that associate retention measures might be helping. He also notes:
There are other, more pragmatic reasons some lawyers may be complaining less. For one, the legal job market beyond big law is suffering. That’s a reason to be happy with a job if you have one.
Interesting. Is the misery of Biglaw in the eye of the beholder? Is “associate dissatisfaction” just a problem ginned up by whiny, self-entitled Ivy League brats? If you go into Biglaw grateful for your six-figure gig, and with realistic expectations for your professional satisfaction, will you end up “happy”? The Joys of BigLaw? [WSJ Law Blog]
* The war on punitive damages continues. [USA Today via How Appealing]
* Suspect from Burning Man burning to burn something else. [Reno Gazette-Journal]
* Senators want clarification from Mukasey on waterboarding. [Jurist]
* Lerach pleads guilty. [Los Angeles Times]
* Do we have a de facto moratorium on executions pending this term’s SCOTUS lethal injection case? We should find out today. [New York Times]
It’s very early, but it’s true: Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced bonuses today!!! Here are the numbers:
Class of 2007 — Year end bonus $35,000 (prorated), no special bonus
Class of 2006 — Year end $35,000, special $10,000
Class of 2005 — Year end $40,000, special $15,000
Class of 2004 — Year end $45,000, special $20,000
Class of 2003 — Year end $50,000, special $30,000
Class of 2002 — Year end $55,000, special $40,000
Class of 2001 — Year end $60,000, special $50,000
Class of 2000 — Year end $60,000, special $50,000 (same as 2001) Update (5:05 PM):
1. No official comment from the firm (we called their spokesperson), but this news is solid. It has been confirmed for us by multiple sources at Cravath, by phone and by email.
2. As noted in the comments, the “special” bonuses will be paid in November (on November 9, to be exact). The year-end bonuses will be paid in December.
Update (5:40 PM): If you’d like to compare this bonus table to what Cravath (and pretty much everyone else in New York) paid last year, you can check out the 2006 CSM bonus memo over here. As you can see, the year-end bonuses for this year and last year are basically the same; it’s just that this year, there are “special” bonuses that take total compensation higher.
Also, recall that the base salaries in effect in December 2006 were lower than current base salaries. The Simpson Thacher-led move to $160K didn’t happen until January 2007. So between the higher base salaries and the “special” bonuses, CSM associates this year are significantly better off than last year’s batch.
As for timing, last year’s Cravath bonus memo was issued on December 11, 2006. So this year’s bonus announcement comes quite early in the season. The 2006 bonus season was kicked off by Milbank, which announced on December 8, 2006. Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch [2006]: A Real Milbank Bonus Announcement Associate Bonus Watch [2006]: Cravath Announced; Cadwalader Rumored Breaking: Simpson Thacher Raises Associate Base Salaries!!! Related: Associate Bonus Watch 2007 archives (scroll down)
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: [email protected].
Since late last year, things have been booming in Hong Kong / China in cap markets, especially Hong Kong IPOs. M&A deal flow has recently been getting a bit stronger as well. Although one can’t predict such things with any certainty, all signs are pointing to a banner entire 2014 for the top end US corporate and cap markets practices in Hong Kong / China. This is not really new news, as its been the feeling most in the market have had for a few months now and things continue to look good.
The head of our Asia practice, Evan Jowers, has been in Hong Kong for about 10 days a month (with trips every other month to both Shanghai and Bejing) for the past 7 months (Robert Kinney and Evan Jowers will be in Hong Kong again March 15 to 23), and spending most of his time there meeting with senior US hiring partners at just about all the major US and UK firms there, as well as prospective candidates at all associate levels and partner levels, and when in the US, Evan works Asia hours and is regularly on the phone with such persons, as our the other members of our Asia team. Our Yuliya Vinokurova is in Hong Kong every other month and Robert is there about 5 times a year as well. While we have a solid Asia team of recruiters, Evan Jowers will spend at least some time with all of our candidates for Asia position. We have had long standing relationships, and good friendships in some cases, with hiring partners and other senior US partners in Asia for 8 years now.
Register today for the LGBT Bar’s Meet the Power Brokers: Financial Regulators event, held on Thursday, March 13 from 4:00 – 7:30pm. The event is specifically geared towards financial regulation and features an educational workshop and networking reception. Topics discussed will include the role of financial regulators, new rules and regulations related to the Dodd-Frank Act and developments in nation and international capital market regulation.
A reception will follow the workshop, allowing financial professionals to network and build relationships with individuals practicing in similar areas. The workshop will be streamed live via webinar for those individuals who are unable to attend the event in DC. For more information and to register, visit LGBTBar.org or contact Liz Youngblood at (202) 637-7661 or [email protected].
LeGaL, the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York, would like to cordially invite you to the 2014 Annual Dinner of the LeGaL Foundation on Thursday, March 20, 2014 at Capitale. We are incredibly excited for our event this year as LeGaL celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the bar association and the twentieth anniversary of the foundation (30/20 Celebration).
LeGaL, the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York, would like to cordially invite you to the 2014 Annual Dinner of the LeGaL Foundation on Thursday, March 20, 2014 at Capitale. We are incredibly excited for our event this year as LeGaL celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of the bar association and the twentieth anniversary of the foundation (30/20 Celebration).
The traditional job application and interview process can be impersonal, and applicants often struggle to present themselves as more than just the sum of their GPAs, alma maters, and previous work history. ATL has partnered with ViewYou to help job seekers overcome this challenge. ViewYou NOW Profiles offer a unique way for job seekers to make a personal, memorable connection with prospective employers: introduction videos. These videos allow job candidates to display their personalities, interpersonal skills, and professional interests, creating an eDossier to brand themselves to potential employers all over the world. Check it out today!
A law firm for which we have special affection here at ATL, Nixon Peabody, has raised starting salaries to $160,000 in its Washington office. Cue the theme song!
