Salary Cuts

Way back in December, long before the cool kids started doing it, Squire Sanders & Dempsey froze associate salaries. Having already frozen salaries, Squire Sanders is now cutting them outright. Tipsters report that the firm has announced a 10% reduction in associate salaries across the board. The cuts will start in May. You’ll remember that […]

So far, salary cuts have been localized to mid-sized and regional firms. But it appears Baker & McKenzie has become the first national firm to slash associate salaries. A tipster reports that associate salaries have been cut between 10% and 25% for some associates at the firm. As we understand it, associates are receiving individualized […]

The list of firms cutting associate salaries keeps growing. Yesterday, the Connecticut-based firm Robinson & Cole reduced all associate and counsel salaries by $10,000. According to the Connecticut Law Tribune: On Wednesday, Hartford-based Robinson & Cole, which has about 240 attorneys, confirmed that it has decided to cut associates’ and counsel’s annual salaries by $10,000. […]

It has taken us a while, but Above the Law is now able to confirm that Greenberg Traurig has decided to cut salaries of its summer and first year associates. As with McGuire Woods and Allen Matkins, first year associates are looking at a 10% pay cut. A Greenberg spokesperson characterized the news in this […]

Yesterday, we reported that Allen Matkins is cutting associate salaries. We don’t think that Allen Matkins will start a deflationary trend back towards $145K. But The Recorder reports that top firms are “salivating” for at least one market leader to make it okay for top firms to cut salaries: But it’s clear that firms high […]

Allen Matkins, a mid-sized California firm, is the latest firm to offer the “hemlock package” of layoffs and salary cuts. The layoffs at Allen Matkins were relatively small. Only about ten people, six of whom were associates, according to ATL tipsters. But the salary cuts were more substantial. According to one tipster: First year salary […]

Admit it, you knew this was coming. We’ve got a firm capitulating to the market realities and cutting first-year associate salaries. McGuire Woods chairman Richard Cullen left a voice mail (!) to his attorneys last night. He let everybody know that the firm was cutting 10% off of first-year salaries, from $160K to $144K. UPDATE: […]

The song “Cleveland Rocks” always seemed like a bit of a stretch to me, and yesterday’s events did nothing to dissuade. We’ve received several reports that 400-attorney Midwestern firm Thompson Hine has been conducting layoffs in its Ohio offices, including its Cleveland one: 12 lawyers, 5 paralegals, and 29 secretaries. Another tipster reports that the […]

Here’s a little something to break up the layoff news. On Tuesday, we reported that U.K. firms might look to cut associate salaries (instead of just freezing them) in order to avoid layoffs. In response to our reader poll, 65% of you said that you preferred a salary cut to firm layoffs. We hope that […]

Another month, another round of freeze announcements. Here are the latest firms to announce the withholding of class year raises in 2009: Baker & McKenzie (“Slurpee” freeze– will be revisited on June 30) Cooley Godward Patton Boggs Seyfarth Shaw Jenner & Block is not freezing salaries, but it is giving smaller raises to New York […]