Biglaw

New Global Law Firm Touts Itself As Big Player... Gives Out Paltry Raises Anyway

We never expected a complete match, but this is an underwhelming announcement.

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When Bryan Cave and Berwin Leighton Paisner merged earlier this year to create a global megafirm, most observers expected the newly minted Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner to do two things: (1) make everyone wonder what the hell Berwin ever did to anybody and (2) leverage their new behemoth status to compete more directly with its global peers. And part of competing with the top firms in the world is paying like the top firms in the world, so associate raises were expected across the board.

Bryan Cave historically paid below the top-of-market figure, and it was too much to assume that a merger still in its first year would boost the firm to match the full $190K scale — a move that would require a $30K raise for first-years — but one would have expected a raise announcement placing them in a much better position to compete for top-notch talent. Yet, two months after Milbank pushed the envelope to $190K, BCLP remained silent.

This week, the firm broke its silence and the result was… well, let’s break down how BCLP broke the news:

The international reach of the new combined firm, along with the global cost savings from integration, would allow BCLP to compete globally in many new markets. The firm has been touting this merger as a new era, and has been recruiting top talent to bolster our credentials. So, when an office wide email went out yesterday afternoon announcing an associates meeting the next day, with the banner “ASSOCIATE COMPENSATION MEETING”, we were all excited.

Rookie mistake right there. With some exceptions, you can gauge a firm’s confidence in the raises it’s about to issue based on how they announce it. Here’s the primer:

1. Firm-wide email (Business hours) — You’re so confident that your associates will be overjoyed that you don’t even mind letting them know about their salary during headhunter business hours.

2. Firm-wide email (Afterhours) — The raise is good, but there’s also a stealth increase in billable hour targets or it takes effect next month or there’s no summer bonus. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning the associates will have absorbed everything and come away happy enough to not text Above the Law.

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3. Associate Conference Call — There are some problems here, and the partnership wants the opportunity to explain themselves. Hopefully hearing a human voice will quell concerns. And, of course, as long as associates are on the phone, they can’t be talking to other firms about lateraling.

4. Associate Meeting — The peer pressure of having to look at partners while they burst associate bubbles should keep anyone from visibly displaying dismay.

5. Individual Memos — The firm has contempt for associates as employees.

So when they call a meeting, it’s not going to be great news.

And so it wasn’t. The scale for first-year associates in the major BCLP domestic offices will get a $10K bump, moving the scale to $170K. Those in smaller markets will see a $5K raise. But raises for all other classes? Still to be determined. Looks like some firm decided they couldn’t roll into campus interviewing without at least $170K on their factsheet and isn’t worried about what happens next. Oh, and the raises don’t take effect until 2019, underscoring that this move is entirely about telling law students what they’ll be making in the future.

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It’s a strategy we’ve seen before.

Associates seem less than pleased:

We went into the meeting and were told first years would be getting $10k raises, effective 1/1/19, but all other years it was TBD. How cheap and reckless can you get. I guess they aren’t really trying to get any better. Mediocrity is BCLPs calling card

Another notes:

BCLP coastal offices in the USA will each get $10k raises (going from $160k to $170k). Middle America cities will likely get $5k raises. Raises are effective as of January 1, 2019. No summer bonuses. Nothing in writing yet, no email. This is absolutely pathetic especially given the firm just merged as is 1600 lawyers globally.

Not exactly an auspicious beginning for a firm issuing its first major public facing business decision since merger. There’s a niche to be had for a global firm offering slightly off the elite price point, and maybe BCLP sees that as its proper place. But even in that world, the firm still needs to recruit talent. Attorneys and law students should be able to see through this.

Earlier: Another Day, Another Transatlantic Biglaw Merger To Create A 1600-Lawyer Megafirm
Firm’s Complex Bonus Structure Provides Most Associates With Less Than Their Peers

HeadshotJoe 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.

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