Last week, we told you that Katten Muchin was delaying its decision on associate salaries. The firm finally got around to telling people how much they’re paid this week, and we can see why there was a long delay. See, when you try to do 1,001 different things all that same time, it gets pretty complicated.
All of the salary news was communicated via individualized firm memos, so a tipster explains the top line news: Katten is moving down to a $145K pay scale:
They went down to the 145K scale (145,000; 160,000; 170,000; 185,000; 210,000; 230,000; 250,000; 250,000; 250,000). And no, those last 3 numbers are not errors.
Well, for Katten associates that were frozen last year, the new scale still gives some of them a pay bump, if they moved up a class year.
But not every Katten associate will be moving up a class year …
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Katten used merit based factors to determine whether associates moved up a class year. Not all of them made the grade:
More unfair, however, was their decision to hold back a significant number of associates. … As far as I can tell, there was no concrete hours test for determining who to hold back.
It should be noted that many of the associates who were held back (i) consistently made hours before the recession, and (ii) have stellar reviews.
Hitting hours wasn’t enough to move up the Katten payscale, but missing hours was more than enough reason for Katten to cut your pay:
They took a 15% cut off of that scale if you did not hit 1800 hours. Most people didn’t.
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So, if you missed your hours and you got held back a class year, well, you probably feel like this tipster:
F*** kaTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTen!
We can tell that tipster is really angry because of the exclamation point on the end.
Another tipster speaks from the bright side:
Single bump if you made 1800. If the firm really liked you it gave you a double bump
At least Katten associates now know how much they will earn this year (we understand the raises are retroactive to January 1). Good luck, Katten friends.
Earlier: Katten: Why Can’t You Set 2010 Salaries Already?