Biglaw

Greenberg Traurig Explains Why It's Too Cheap To Raise Associate Salaries

Google tells me that Traurig is German for "sad, unhappy, sorrowful, miserable.”

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Greenberg Traurig, fresh off of divesting itself of the laughable Rudy Giuliani, has seen the associate raises… and decided to check out. It does not want its associates to pass Go and collect two hundred dollars. It wants everybody to WAKE UP, and it apparently thinks that a minor cost-of-living adjustment like the one offered by Milbank and other firms is courting disaster.

Firm chairman Richard Rosenbaum explained his thought process over on Bloomberg in Biglaw Business.

The good economy is lulling law firm management to sleep when leaders should keep the sense of urgency required to deliver innovation and value to clients.

Actions like adjusting salaries on an across-the-board basis are evidence of this. In a realistic, albeit optimistic, environment, these decisions should be, as they are for us, individualized, local, and tailored to what is best for the client, the associate, and the firm. Associates in many firms will end up frustrated due to enormous workload hours when work is there and intense pressure to bill when work ultimately slows down due to market conditions. Clients and partners in many firms will be unhappy with the pressure on rates to pay for these decisions. And for a number of firms who are following along with the rate increase because they think they must, it will hit partners in the pocket, because the practices at those firms don’t justify higher rates.

Somebody should put this guy in a pamphlet titled: “Why Trickle-Down Economics Is Always A Sucker’s Bet.”

The last part of Rosenbaum’s statement is undoubtedly true: associate raises will hit partners “in the pocket” if they can’t also increase billing rates. That’s obvious. It sure sounds like Rosenbaum doesn’t think his partners can justify higher billing rates, but I’m sure he’ll play it off by suggesting that he just wrote a whole column out of the goodness of his heart to look out for the little guy.

Really, it’s the first part of the paragraph that is most insulting, and/or is evidence that Rosenbaum thinks his audience is stupid. Associates will feel “frustrated due to enormous workload hours when work is there and intense pressure to bill when work ultimately slows down.” Umm… THAT IS ALREADY THE LIFE OF EVERY BIGLAW ASSOCIATE. Rosenbaum offers no argument or evidence for why an associate making $190K will feel this pressure, but an associate making $180K will not!

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Who the hell does he think he’s talking to? Is there even one Greenberg Traurig associate who wants to come forward to say “Man, I’m really happy I’m making less money here than I could be at Milbank, the intense pressure to bill is not for me.”

From there, Rosenbaum devolves into purely masturbatory rhetoric:

For us, our highest priorities remain excellence, delivering value and innovation and maintaining a wind-proof culture based on individual respect, trust, empowerment, and collaboration. Change can be empowering, but not when it is simply based on what the “pack” is doing rather than a solid strategy which is grounded in our core values. For over 50 years, we have found our best opportunities in change; it has allowed our firm to be diverse, entrepreneurial, nimble, and responsive over the years. But we do not base our changes on the whims of the marketplace or ill-advised, so-called experts.

Wind-proof culture? Really? Does Rosenbaum have an application in to be a writer on Billions that I don’t know about?

Whatever. Bottom line, Greenberg Traurig laid off associates during the law recession, it laid off staff during the Obama recovery, and it will likely lay off attorneys when the Trump recession hits, whenever that glorious day comes.

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And it’ll probably follow along with the salary raises, once Cravath and the rest of its competitors do.

Hanging out there like a flaccid sock does not make you “wind-proof,” it just makes you a wet blanket.

Raising Associates to $190K: The Economy is Lulling Law Firm Leaders to Sleep [Biglaw Business]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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