Biglaw Firm To Eliminate Salary Cuts And Award Lump Sum True-Up Payment On New Year's Eve
Happy new year, associates!
(Image via Getty)
With holiday season upon us, it looks like Biglaw firms are doing more to spread good cheer than just announce bonuses. Some firms have decided to do away with their COVID-19 austerity measures.
Yesterday, Kelley, Drye & Warren — a firm that placed 135th in the latest Am Law 200 rankings, with $232,400,000 in gross revenue in 2019 — announced that the salary reductions it made earlier this year will be completely eliminated on the first day of the new year. Here’s an excerpt from a memo that James Carr, the firm’s chairman, sent to everyone on Thursday:
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We are now in a position to restore salaries to pre-COVID levels and will eliminate the remaining COVID salary reductions effective January 1, 2021, for stipulated payment partners, special counsel and associates, and impacted administrative staff. Salary withheld from May 1 through December 31, 2020 will be repaid in a lump sum on December 31. Equity partner draws will return to pre-COVID levels beginning in January. This decision reflects our optimism for the continued financial health of Kelley Drye as well as our sincere gratitude to everyone who worked so hard to make this possible.
If you recall, the firm cut salaries by 10 percent across the board for all lawyers and employees earning over $100,000, and slashed equity partners’ draws on a a proportional basis by as much as 20 percent. In September Carr announced that those reductions would be halved for everyone except partners. As if the end of the cuts wasn’t exciting enough, we imagine that everyone at Kelley Drye must be thrilled they’ll be receiving big checks with their withheld salaries as a New Year’s Eve gift.
Let’s hope more firms are able to roll back COVID-19 austerity measures before the end of 2020. That would help everyone have a really happy new year.
(Flip to the next page to read the full Kelley Drye memo.)
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If your firm or organization is slashing salaries or restoring previous cuts, closing its doors, or reducing the ranks of its lawyers or staff, whether through open layoffs, stealth layoffs, or voluntary buyouts, please don’t hesitate to let us know. Our vast network of tipsters is part of what makes Above the Law thrive. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477).
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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