Earlier today, we heard that members of the management committee of McDermott, Will & Emery were gathering, which at this stage in the game led everyone at the firm to expect to hear about money in the very near future.
After all, the firm had already generously opened its coffers to benefit young lawyers this summer, so there was no way it intended to stiff them in the world of the new salary normal.
Then this happened:
LexisNexis Practical Guidance Rolls Out Dedicated Practice Area for AI & Technology
The new generation of AI-related legal issues are inherently cross-disciplinary, implicating corporate law, intellectual property, data privacy, employment, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.
Everyone expected the salary bump announcement after the management committee meeting ended at 2 PM central. At 2:05 we get an email from the cochairs with subject “Announcement”…. The email is about how the cochairs are stepping down effective 12/31.
Maybe not as big of an F.U. to the associates as Vedder Price offered the other day, but nonetheless a faux pas. And the cryptic “Announcement” header? People accuse this website of clickbait headlines, but seriously? Firm co-chairs Peter John Sacripanti and Jeffrey E. Stone had to know what they were doing. Congratulations, everyone in the firm immediately read about your impending departure from the captains’ chairs.
One reason we can forgive and even laugh about the antics of Sacripanti and Stone is that unlike Vedder, they rectified the situation a few hours later. The firm just announced a complete Cravath match up through the Class of ’09 receiving $300K. Beyond that, the compensation of senior lawyers will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but “in no event will their base salary be less than $300,000.” One tipster said the firm has to do this because of compensation similarities with income partners.
Summers aren’t mentioned in the memo, so the jury’s still out on them. UPDATE (6/15/16 6:24 p.m.): Apparently the summers are on retreat right now and were told in person that they would be getting the raise.
Protégé™ In CourtLink® Explains The Whole Case Faster
Designed to reduce manual docket work by prioritizing what litigators need most: on-demand full docket summarization that explains the whole case to date, followed by on-demand document summaries for filing triage, and AI-powered natural language searching for faster search and retrieval.
Congratulations!
Check out the full memo — the compensation one, not the stepping-down one — on the next page.
As always, when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches Cravath”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.
Earlier: Law Firm Fakes Out Its Associates Over Pay Raises
Biglaw Firm Increases Cash For First-Year Bar Stipend Ahead Of Summer Exam
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.