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

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]

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

• American Bar Association

• The Atlantic

• Charles Griffin LLC

• Kinney Recruiting

• Lateral Link

• Legal Reform Summit

• LexisNexis

• Soul Calibur 4 PSP

• 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!

Last week’s Career Center survey asked whether you think there will be enough work for the class of incoming associates at your firm.  The good news is that, despite the all the hype about some firms indefinitely deferring new associates, the vast majority — 91% — of new associates are starting at their firms in Fall 2009 or are scheduled to start in the first half of 2010.   The bad news is that a majority of respondents think there won’t be enough work for all this new blood, at least not in the practice areas they want to work in. 

Check out the full survey results after the jump, and visit the Career Center, powered by Lateral Link , for more on which firm unexpectedly pushed up start dates, the latest firm to offer new associates "walk-away" money, and a firm that has made major changes to their lock-step compensation structure. 

Survey results, after the jump.

Although Above the Law is based in New York, we adore our West Coast readers. We try to post stories that would be of special interest to them as often as possible, typically later in the day to account for the time difference. (We have one such post coming out after this one; we’re not done for the day.)

And we regularly visit the Left Coast. For information about two upcoming events that we’ll be participating in later this week — a talk at King Hall on Thursday, and a social networking conference at Boalt Hall on Friday — check out the links below.

• Social Networks: Friends or Foes? [Boalt Hall - UC Berkeley School of Law]
• King Hall LSA presents Above the Law’s David Lat [King Hall - UC Davis School of Law]
• King Hall LSA presents Above the Law’s David Lat [Facebook]

P.S. As previously explained, we generally don’t do event plugs on the ATL main page, unless we or one of our advertisers is involved. But if your event is free / non-commercial, you can promote it in ATL’s Community section. If your event is not free, you can advertise it with us. E.g., the Legal Reform Summit in D.C. (October 28), or the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference in Philadelphia (November 12-13). Thanks!

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

• American Bar Association

• The Atlantic

• Charles Griffin LLC

• Kinney Recruiting

• Lateral Link

• Legal Reform Summit

• LexisNexis

• Soul Calibur 4 PSP

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!

Although start dates have been deferred to 2010 for some new associates, many others have already started at firms and more will be joining them over the next few months .  Will there be enough work for the newest class of associates? 

Or are current associates still struggling to make their own hours?  Has the economy recovered enough to prevent a survival-of-the-fittest battle over due diligence and doc review?  In today’s ATL / Lateral Link survey, we ask what you think is in store for new associates.  We’ll let you know the results next week, but in the meantime, you can check out the ATL Career Center, powered by Lateral Link, where you’ll find the latest information on starting dates, billable hours expectations and the best firms for the kind of work you want to do.

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

ATL Career Center [powered by Lateral Link]

Fall is here, reflected in the chillier temperatures we’ve been experiencing here in New York. But here’s an opportunity for reminiscing about the glorious days of summer.

Check out this slideshow of photographs from our fabulous summer rooftop gathering, sponsored by our friends at Applied Discovery. If you’ve ever wanted to see our very own Kashmir Hill play Wii Tennis, this is your chance!

If you’d be interested in sponsoring an Above the Law event, please email us at advertising@breakingmedia.com (subject line: “ATL Events”). Thanks!

Earlier: An ATL Event: Rooftop Gathering with Applied Discovery

Welcome to the first in a series of monthly “Ask the Experts” posts, brought to you by the ATL Career Center, powered by Lateral Link. Over the next few months, we’ll be talking with legal career experts, everyone from recruiters to hiring partners to professional development staff. The conversations will focus on what associates and law students need to know to be successful in this turbulent job market.

This week, we spoke with Tricia McGrath, a Director at Lateral Link who works with partner and associate candidates on law firm searches, and with candidates seeking in-house positions. We asked Tricia for advice on what kind of résumés get an employer’s attention. Visit the Resources section on the Career Center to get the answers to the following questions, as well as advice on the one thing you should never do.

Q: How detailed should my resume be?

Q: My career counselor recommended that my résumé begin with my experience and end with my education. Is this a good idea?

Q: Should a résumé ever be more than one page?

Q: I was laid off from a Top-20 law firm a few months ago. When my severance ran out, I took a contract attorney position to help pay the bills. This isn’t the type of job I want to call attention to when I’m applying to firms - do I need to include it on my résumé?

Q: Should I bother explaining to prospective employers why I was laid off, or is the less said the better?

Read the full article, as well and see other resources, on the Career Center. If you have tips or questions that you would like covered in future Ask The Expert columns, please email careercenter@abovethelaw.com.

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

• U.S. Chamber for Legal Reform

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!

Which firms were the “hottest” firms for September — i.e., the firms whose profiles were most visited on the ATL Career Center, powered by Lateral Link? These were the top five:

1. This firm, based in D.C., “lives up to its reputation for being a lifestyle firm.”

2. This firm, also with a sizable D.C. presence, offers its lawyers “immediate substantive responsibility” on “high-stakes” matters.

3. This firm has a top-flight sports law practice, with clients including Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association.

4. This firm has a definite international bent, with more than half of its clients located abroad.

5. This firm, a litigation powerhouse, boasts an “eclectic group” of attorneys, with a “mix of personalities.”

The Career Center is constantly being updated with responses from users and the latest news from the legal markets. Unlike many other resources, it’s dynamic, not static.

Some recent highlights from the Career Center’s firm snapshots, after the jump.

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

As previously mentioned in these pages, your above-signed scribe has been named a Legal Rebel — one of “50 leading innovators” in the legal profession, as selected by the ABA Journal.

The profile, written by Rachel Zahorsky, appears here. For more background on the Legal Rebels project, see our prior post, or the Legal Rebels website.

Through the Legal Rebels team, we were given the opportunity to meet and interview a longtime idol of ours: Steven Brill, founder of the American Lawyer and Court TV (and a fellow Yale Law School graduate). Brill’s latest project is Journalism Online, which “is pioneering the effort to make the transition to a paid online model successful for publishers and easy for readers.”

You can check out the video of our interview with Steve Brill here, or read about it at the ABA Journal.

David Lat: Gossip at Law [Legal Rebels / ABA Journal]
David Lat Interviews Steve Brill [Legal Rebels / ABA Journal]
Ever the Tough Editor, Am Law Founder Hits Publication’s Websites [ABA Journal]

P.S. Elsewhere in shameless plugs: if you’re in D.C. and don’t have anything more exciting to do tonight, head over to Georgetown Law for a discussion of new media and the law. The panel will feature yours truly, Tony Mauro from the National Law Journal, and Matt Welch from Reason Magazine. Eileen O’Connor, former reporter and bureau chief at CNN, will moderate.

Earlier: Maverick Law: The ABA Journal’s ‘Legal Rebels’
Mr. Lat Goes to Washington

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

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

We mentioned this in passing yesterday, but in case you missed it, please take note of this event in D.C. next week:

On Wednesday, September 23, the Georgetown Federalist Society will be hosting a panel event on New Media & The Law at 7 PM in Hart Auditorium [at Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Ave. N.W., Washington, DC].

The panel will feature David Lat from Above the Law, Tony Mauro from the National Law Journal, and Matt Welch from Reason Magazine. Eileen O’Connor, adjunct professor at Georgetown and former reporter and bureau chief at CNN, will moderate.

The event will be followed by a reception.

The event is sponsored by the Georgetown Federalist Society. Hope to see you there!

New Media & The Law Event at GULC [Georgetown Federalist Society Blog]

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

Just a quick follow-up to yesterday’s discussion of whether Justice John Paul Stevens’s failure to hire a full complement of law clerks for October Term 2010 might shed light upon his retirement plans. In today’s New York Times, Adam Liptak has an excellent article on the subject. It begins:

A Supreme Court clerkship is a glittering prize and the ultimate credential in American law, one coveted by the top graduates of the best law schools. Until recently, though, only connoisseurs of ambition and status followed the justices’ hiring process closely.

It turns out those hiring decisions may be a sort of early warning system for hints about the justices’ retirement plans. “We’ve started tracking Supreme Court hiring in real time,” said David Lat, the founder of Above the Law, a legal blog.

Thanks for the shout-out, Mr. Liptak! When it comes to being “connoisseurs of ambition and status,” we plead guilty.

Justice David H. Souter’s failure to hire clerks this spring accurately signaled his decision to step down. On Wednesday, the court confirmed that Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 89, has hired only one clerk, instead of the usual four, for the term starting in October 2010. That ignited speculation that Justice Stevens may be planning to step down next summer.

Some thoughts on what’s going on here, after the jump.