Shearman & Sterling

Clerkship Bonus Watch: What’s Up With Shearman?

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A reader e-mails:

please do a post of shearman’s pathetic clerkship bonus, currently at $15,000!!!!!!!

Okay, you got our attention with the seven exclamation points.
Lat posted a clerkship bonus List o’ Shame last week that featured the top firms below the new standard of $50k:
1. Wachtell ($0)
8. Latham ($35k) [see update on Latham here]
10. Kirkland ($35k)
11. Covington ($35k outside NY)
14. Wilmer ($35k)
15. Shearman ($15k)
16. Sidley ($35k)
17. Williams & Connolly ($25k)
18. Gibson ($35k)
19. Arnold ($15k $35k)
20. OMM ($35k)
22. Jones Day ($35k)
23. MoFo ($35k)
24. Hogan ($35k)
25. Ropes & Gray ($35K outside NY but $70K for 2yr clerkship)
Shearman has really separated itself from the pack — and not in a good way. Again, the list above is itself a list of shame, so that $15k is really eye-catching. What gives?
Administrative note: The power just went out in our “office,” so in the grand tradition of ATL office hours, we’re hanging out at the Panera Bread in Greystone, Alabama. We trust we’ll be swamped with visitors soon!

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Skaddenfreude: So How Much Do Partners Actually Take Home?

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100 dollar bill Above the Law Above the Law law firm salary legal blog legal tabloid Above the Law.JPGWe’re all very familiar with the average profits-per-partner figures that are published as part of the AmLaw 100 law firm rankings. But since they’re just averages, they do raise some obvious questions:

– What’s the average take-home pay for a typical Biglaw partner?

– How much do newly minted, junior partners earn, compared to the most senior or most highly compensated partners of a large law firm?

– How much can superstars with enormous books of business rake in?

Information that goes a significant way towards answering such questions appears in this fascinating article, by Andrew Longstreth for the American Lawyer. You should read the whole thing for yourself; it’s socioeconomic voyeurism at its best.
A few excerpts, and some quick thoughts from us, appear after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Skaddenfreude: So How Much Do Partners Actually Take Home?”

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Skaddenfreude: The Shearman Memo

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100 dollar bill Above the Law Above the Law law firm salary legal blog legal tabloid Above the Law.JPGWe’re having major computer troubles once again. Please bear with us.
If we could post normally, we’d have already written about LeGal bitchslapping John Scheich, the juicy Wall Street Journal article on Sullivan & Cromwell’s troubles (aside from Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell), and the latest round of associate pay raise announcements.
One of them is Shearman. Hopefully this post will go through (and just once, not twice). Here’s the memo:
From: Rohan S Weerasinghe
Sent by: Halle Schargel
To: [Classes of 2006 through 1994]
Cc: Worldwide – Partners Only
Date: 01/24/2007 11:29 AM
Subject: U.S. Track Associate Salary Increases
2007 Salaries
I am pleased to announce that in addition to the bonuses announced on December 14, 2006, we are increasing salaries for U.S. Track Associates to the following levels:
Class of 2006 - $160,000
Class of 2005 - $170,000
Class of 2004 - $185,000
Class of 2003 - $210,000
Class of 2002 - $230,000
Class of 2001 - $250,000
Class of 2000 - $265,000
Class of 1999 - $280,000
Class of 1998
and above - $290,000
These increases will be retroactive to January 1, 2007 and will be reflected in your February 15, 2007 paycheck. The increases will be paid to those Associates who are in good standing and with the Firm as of February 15. Increases for those Associates who were on a leave of absence, worked part-time or joined the Firm after January 1, 2007 will be prorated.
On behalf of all of my Partners, I want to thank each of you for your contributions, dedication and hard work and, together with your help, I look forward to another strong year.
Earlier: Previous announcements of law firm associate salary increases (scroll down through “Skaddenfreude” archives)

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Associate Bonus Watch: Shearman Matches. Yawn.

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stack of bills cash money.jpgThis morning’s news is that Shearman & Sterling announced bonuses that match Milbank. We haven’t confirmed this yet, but we have no reason to doubt it, since it’s what everyone else is doing. If you have a memo, please send it our way.
While we were over at Greedy NY, our eye was caught by this plaintive post:

I hope this year of bonus numbers causes a revolt. But it wont. Because, lets face it we are all total dorks. The guys that never got dates, that got beat up in the playground. Thats why we sit here and take this beating and just gripe about it. As much as we hate bankers, they have the chutzpah to step up and do something about being wronged. We go into law because its a “safe” profession, the one where we are “guaranteed” a job.

Seriously, if you went to a top 5 law school as I did, if you compared the student bodies of our law school and the business school, the B-school students were better looking, more confident. The law school students, on the other hand, were total geeks. The partners know this, since they themselves are dorks and losers and make a living out of getting yelled at by 25 year-old bankers and as such there will be no Revenge of the Nerds this year (or any other year). So lets stop talking as if we are hard.

Whether you agree or disagree, it’s one of the most well-written and thoughtful postings we’ve read in a while (although, to be sure, the standards for message-board discourse aren’t set very high). If you have any reactions, please feel free to add them in the comments.
Shearman announced this morning [Infirmation / Greedy NY]
No revenge of the nerds [Infirmation / Greedy NY]

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Musical Chairs: 10.30.06

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musical chairs above the law legal blog above the law legal tabloid above the law legal gossip site.GIFLateral Moves:
Both of today’s moves are in the field of intellectual property law:
* Patent litigator Sandra Bresnick, to Sidley Austin, from Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
* IP transactional lawyer Warren Nachlis, to Jones Day (NY), from Shearman & Sterling.
(Interesting to leave so soon — Nachlis made partner at Shearman only just last year.)
Two NY IP Partners Switch Firms [NYLawyer.com]

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Musical Chairs: 09.21.06

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musical chairs above the law legal blog above the law legal tabloid above the law legal gossip site.GIFLateral Moves:
* Tax litigators B. John Williams, Jr. and Alan Swirski, to Skadden Arps (DC), from Shearman & Sterling (DC).
The WSJ Law Blog refers to the two men as “Tax Litigation Studs.” First: What do these guys look like? Second: Is using the word “stud” conduct unbecoming an MSM blog? (Just kidding, Peter.)
* Geroge Sullivan, to Greenberg Traurig (NY), from Morgan Stanley (where he headed litigation at the firm’s retail brokerage and investment management arm).
Government to Private Sector:
* Mark Feldman, to BDO Seidman’s litigation and fraud investigation practice, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (where he headed the office’s organized crime and racketeering section for over 10 years).
Shearman Tax Litigation Studs Decamp to Skadden [WSJ Law Blog]
Morgan Stanley Litigation Chief to Join Firm in NY [NYLawyer.com]
Organized Crime Prosecutor Joins BDO Seidman [NYLawyer.com]

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Musical Chairs: 09.12.06

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musical chairs above the law legal blog above the law legal tabloid above the law legal gossip site.GIFWe have oodles and oodles of moves — some actual, and some rumored — to share with you today.
Lateral Moves:
* Antitrust lawyer Jeffrey Brennan and mass torts/products liability lawyer Kathleen O’Connor, to Dechert, from the FTC and Merck, respectively.
(Can O’Connor be the “Countess of Toxic Torts”? The title of “Queen of Toxic Torts” is already taken — by Skadden’s Sheila Birnbaum, with whom we are obsessed.)
* Leveraged finance lawyer Christina Ungeheuer, to Latham & Watkins (Frankfurt), from Milbank Tweed (Frankfurt).
* William Nordwind (legislative and government affairs) and Michael Volpe (labor), to Venable, from Capitol Hill (an interminable subcommittee name) and Clifton Budd, respectively.
* Financial restructuring lawyer Stephen Peppiatt, to Bingham McCutchen (London), from Shearman & Sterling.
* Trusts and estates lawyer Kenneth Page, to Hughes Hubbard & Reed, from Coudert Brothers (where he headed their T&E practice).
Also, here’s more detail about a move that we wrote about last week — the move of Dennis Orr and three colleagues from Mayer Brown (NY) to Morrison & Foerster (NY).
Shoes Waiting to Drop?
* Over at scandal-ridden computing giant HP, Ann Baskins “remains employed by the company as general counsel.” But her days may be numbered. (The commenters at the WSJ Law Blog are certainly calling for her head.) [WSJ Law Blog]
Think Tanks:
* William Gale has been named Vice President and Director, Economic Studies, at the Brookings Institution.
NY Lawyers Switching Firms [NYLawyer.com]
MoFo New York hires four-partner litigation team from Mayer Brown [Legal Week Student]
H-P Mess Casts Harsh Spotlight on Ann Baskins [WSJ Law Blog]
Gale Named VP & Director of Economic Studies at Brookings [TaxProf Blog]

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