It’s been a crazy couple of weeks of law firm maneuvering and we certainly still haven’t seen the end of the exciting, frustrating, downright depressing announcements, and ubiquitous stock images of money. But we wanted to take a moment to look back at this week and address some of the most pressing questions readers have sent us about the shenanigans.
I understand firms jumping up to 180K when their direct competitors in their main market jump up. What market pressures are the global firms (Jones Day, Hogan Lovells, DLA Piper, Baker McKenzie, and Norton Rose Fulbright) feeling right now?
Norton Rose Fulbright is a great example: their US presence is based in Texas. Do they follow V&E in Houston? Or can they hold out because their focus is more on the global, as opposed to local, market?
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This is a great question and a quirk of being a partnership is that there are probably multiple answers among the firm’s leadership. I’d imagine a good number of those Houston partners see V&E as a peer. And, likewise, there are partners in the U.K. who don’t know what a Viney Elk even does. The matter is further complicated for firms with partnership structures that offer some degree of office autonomy. Fierce pressures to stay in line with the crosstown rival compete with the overarching firm’s interest in protecting it’s overall identity.
Ultimately, the fairest answer is probably “both.”
Obviously everyone who is at these firms is thrilled about associate salary raises. Any indication that they will also affect clerkship bonuses though? I realize it’s kind of a niche issue, but if clerkship bonuses stay the same then the opportunity cost of clerking just increased by $20K, which is nothing to shake a stick at when you have 6 figures of debt.
As someone who decided to skip a federal clerkship for exactly this reason, I know exactly what you mean. Back then though, the paltry clerkship bonuses of the time and the big raise the firms had just implemented meant leaving $70K-$80K on the table. I didn’t have the financial wherewithal to walk away from that much money.
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Firms are better about clerking now, but they’re also firms. It took almost 10 years to raise salaries, bank on at least a year before anyone figures out they’ve made clerking more expensive.
So amid the jubilation over the base salary increase, this neurotic summer has a troubling thought. Might firms who feel pressured to match, but weren’t anticipating it to happen so soon, not hire all their current summers despite a traditional 100% offer rate because they can’t afford us all?
David Lat already jumped on this question and I don’t have any quibble with his answer:
I doubt it. Low offer rates are awful publicity. Better to give everyone offers and stay at 160k than take on a pay scale you can’t afford & no offer.
Would love some analysis on what NY to 180 means for firms in smaller markets that don’t try as hard to keep up. The 80K hit I took to move to (major Seattle firm) from an SV office is now a 100K hit at a time when Seattle needs lawyers. It’s been complete radio silence here….?
Before last week, I’d have said that’s the cost of moving to a small market. The Northwest will get its raises, but at the slower pace more befitting a society where you get a contact high walking down the street. But, hell, everyone’s getting raises now.
Remember, this is a market that only recently bumped salaries, and those firms have to feel their moves in the last year put them where they should be. But an outsider like Orrick — who announced a $165K starting salary in their Seattle office — might push the local firms to comply.
Is anything happening for the Big Law support staff that have been torn apart, terrorized, fired and downsized and received 2 – 4% raises for the past 7 years?
Sadly, the answer is probably nothing good. We’ve already seen staff layoffs since raises were announced, and while those layoffs were unrelated to the raises, that kind of underscores the point that these raises — at best — won’t arrest the negative trend for firm staff. At worst, this could be the push partners need to trim the ranks even more.
Technologically savvy associates, new tools, and droid lawyers have put more and more pressure on staff. In my career, the only lawyers who really used their secretaries were the oldest attorneys who would still dictate memos. Most everyone else had moved to disposable, recently graduated paralegals for many of the tasks traditionally assigned to administrative assistants. And those partners are aging out of the profession.
It’s unfortunate, because it’s really amazing to watch a seasoned admin at work. There’s a lot of industry know-how garnered over years of working closely with top attorneys.
For the record, I think MoneyLaw is a silly name. Elite makes much more sense.
Except “Elite” doesn’t make a lick of sense. Would we call — absolutely no offense intended here — Crowell an elite firm but King & Spalding not? One has issued a raise and the other hasn’t (yet). There are firms whose attorneys’ pedigrees, financials, and practice make them “elite.” Some of those firms have raised to Cravath’s scale and some haven’t. Others who we would not, if we’re being totally honest, consider “elite” have raised and others haven’t. The point of MoneyLaw (or “PaidLaw” as I pushed to make the term, but lost) was to group firms by their willingness to pay associates — for good or ill — regardless of their prestige or lack thereof.
So there you have it. If you have more questions or tips, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us.
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.