Did you just pass the bar in Texas? Congratulations! Maybe now is a great time to find a job.

The Job of the Week, brought to you by Lateral Link, is with a stellar boutique that is looking for a superstar associate to join its growing ranks. Even in a strong economy, great opportunities like this one don’t come along very often.

Title: Litigation Associate

Location: Houston

Description: A high-end litigation boutique is seeking a 2007 or 2008 grad with general commercial or IP litigation experience. The firm requires stellar academic credentials and writing skills, and the ability to manage cases by yourself. Clerkships are preferred but not required. The firm is open to relocators.

For more information about this position, please contact Lateral Link’s Texas Director, Gary Cohen. Current Lateral Link members can also view Position #5397 on Lateral Link. Membership in Lateral Link is free and you can apply at www.laterallink.com.

In addition, we are still collecting salary data for the Career Center so please take a minute to tell us about compensation at your law firm — AFTER THE JUMP.

Lately, Big Law firms have been changing their salary structures more often than associates can keep up with. With an increasing number of firms abandoning lockstep compensation, associates have been left in the dark about what compensation levels actually are.

This week, our ATL / Lateral Link survey asks for your help to track the latest changes to starting salaries and the salary ranges for firms that have moved away from lock-step compensation. We’ll use the information to update the ATL Career Center and bring you the results next week.

If you have information about your firm that you want to share with other Career Center users, please email us at careercenter@abovethelaw.com.

A quick word of thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law:

Although Halloween is just around the corner, things are looking less scary in the Bay Area. With tech stocks soaring, start-ups and emerging companies are doing more deals and looking to grow.

Time for more lawyers! The Job of the Week, brought to you by Lateral Link, is with a prominent firm that’s back on the prowl for the best and the brightest corporate lawyers to handle these deals.

Title: Corporate Associate

Location: Bay Area

Bonus: This position qualifies for Lateral Link’s $10,000 placement bonus.

Description: A top-tier firm is seeking a mid-level corporate associate with 3 to 4 years of strong corporate experience at a reputable law firm, and excellent academic credentials. Experience should include public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, private equity, venture capital investments, and/or technology transactions. Candidates with strong experience representing emerging companies are preferred. California bar is required.

For more information about this position, please view Position #5440 on Lateral Link. Membership in Lateral Link is free, and you can apply at www.laterallink.com.

Earlier: Prior Job of the Week listings

A quick word of thanks to this week’s advertisers on Above the Law:

• American Bar Association

• The Atlantic

• Kinney Recruiting

• Lateral Link

• LexisNexis

• Soul Calibur 4 PSP

• University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Isenberg School of Management

• WesCary3D

If you’re interested in advertising on Above the Law or any other site in the Breaking Media network, download our media kits, or email advertising@breakingmedia.com. Thanks!

The 2009 billable year hasn’t even ended at most firms yet, but October has been full of announcements from Big Law firms across the country about major changes to associate compensation.  Check out the ATL Career Center, powered by Lateral Link , for the latest information from the legal markets and updates from users about who is paying what when.  In the last week, we have updated the firm snapshots for Schulte Roth & Zabel, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Morrison & Foerster, DLA Piper, Fenwick & West, Bingham McCutchen, Dorsey & Whitney, Foley & Lardner, and Nixon Peabody.  Below are some recent nuggets of golden and not-so-golden news about compensation from the Career Center’s firm snapshots:

• This firm announced that, in January 2010, it will move away from a lockstep compensation system to one that emphasizes merit-based factors as a more significant component of compensation decisions.  The firm says the combination of base pay and discretionary and productivity bonuses will keep overall compensation at or above current levels, but associates worry they may see significantly less pay if they don’t achieve the necessary merit marks.

• This firm has confirmed that it will be paying bonuses in early 2010, an announcement associates can only hope is the first of many.  Although the firm anticipates the amounts will be less than previous years, bonuses are still predicted to range from $5,000 to $50,000.

• This firm recently cut starting salaries to $145,000 in all of its offices (other than New York and Asia). The firm has indicated it will continue to monitor the situation and may re-adjust salaries (up or down) in light of legal market trends if necessary.

• This firm is also taking the merit-based compensation route: although it plans to retain a lockstep scale for base salaries, the firm has announced that its practice group leaders will now have greater discretion in awarding year-end bonuses.  Billable hours will continue to factor into bonus determinations, but so will qualitative and quantitative factors, such as financial productivity, profitability and teamwork.

Use the Career Center’s firm snapshots and comparison tool to find out what other bonus and salary changes firms across the country are making.  And as always, we encourage you to send information about your law firm experience to careercenter@abovethelaw.com.

The devil is going down to Georgia. Our very own Elie Mystal will be on the midnight train, and the party won’t stop until eight in the morning.

If you’ll be in Atlanta this coming Monday, November 2, please check out the following event:

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR LAWYERS
Monday, November 2, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
State Bar of Georgia
104 Marietta Street, NW
Atlanta, GA 30303

Please join GAWL and its distinguished panel presenters for a lively and informative session on Social Media for Lawyers. We will explore how legal blogs and web resources have become a vital source of law firm information for attorneys, and how firms and attorneys can use these resources to shape their image in the legal community - both from a career development standpoint and to enhance business development efforts. Our presenters and moderator are: Mike Allen, President of Lateral Link; Elie Mystal, Editor of Above the Law; Jenny DeVaughn, Social Media Specialist and Founder of Social Precision; and Jackie Hutter, Intellectual Property Strategist and Founder and Principal of The Hutter Group. A special thanks goes out to Jordan Abshire of Lateral Link for his help in coordinating this program.

You can register online at www.gawl.org. Hope you can make it!

Social Media for Lawyers [Georgia Association for Women Lawyers]

Are you familiar with the use of computer animations for presentations? Have you used 3D animation for mediation and/or trial presentations?

Please take our short, anonymous survey, sponsored by WesCary3D. To take the survey, please click here (or on the link below).

Thanks!

WesCary 3D Survey ATL [Survey Monkey]

The last couple Jobs of the Week have featured positions with AmLaw 100 firms on the East Coast and West Coast. We feel that we may be neglecting those of you in the middle of country, and since the hiring freeze is starting to lift at some companies, we decided to offer up an in-house position in Ohio for the Job of the Week, which is brought to you by Lateral Link.

Title: Corporate Counsel

Location: Cincinnati, OH

Description: Bank holding company with more than 1,200 branches in the Midwest and Southeast is seeking several attorneys with corporate experience to join their in-house team. Attorneys with experience in one of the following areas will be considered - general corporate (2-6 years), commercial creditors’ rights (5-15 years), bank regulation (4-8 years) and consumer regulatory (2-6 years). Candidates should have significant experience with a law firm or corporation in the relevant areas of expertise. Ability to interface successfully with senior management. Knowledge of the areas of expertise including technical knowledge. Good issue spotting, risk assessment, and problem solving skills.

For more information about each position, please view Positions #5458, #5457, #5456, #5455 on Lateral Link.  Membership in Lateral Link is free and you can apply at www.laterallink.com.

Earlier: Prior Job of the Week listings

* Iowa Supreme Court is asking for 50 hours of pro bono work from the state’s attorneys. I wonder if the Court would consider asking Iowa state law schools to forgo a semester of law school tuition? [Gazette Online]

* “Secretary with benefits.” Oh yeah. [Legal Blog Watch]

* Do you think anybody is going to run against Obama from his left? Matt Taibbi imagines a Harvard Law School challenger. [True/Slant]

* What’s the best credential to have as a sports agent, a J.D. or an M.B.A.? [Sports Agent Blog]

* How many docs can you review per hour? [Young Lawyers Blog]

* When Bar Examiners screw up. [New York Personal Injury Law Blog]

* I’ll go with whatever theory of economic development makes me a better engine first. [The Volokh Conspiracy]

* A quick note for husbands worried about the Brooke Hundleys in their lives: keep it in your pants. [WSJ Law Blog]