Salary Freeze

All Rise: Promotion and Pay Freeze on Federal Law Clerks Has Been Lifted

Oh yes, it's time federal clerks got back to the good life. A memo went out yesterday from Senior Judge Thomas Hogan who heads the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Hogan informed the system that the freeze on promotions, step increases, and cash awards for federal clerks has been lifted for this year. It's cool to be a federal clerk again! Well, it's cool to be a federal clerk on a two-year or long term clerkship, again. But maybe only for this moment. Austerity could rear her ugly head right around the corner....

Associate Salary Watch: Wilson Sonsini Restores Pay to Pre-Freeze Scale

It appears that Larry Sonsini, chairman and name partner of the high-powered Wilson Sonsini law firm, is a very good golfer. Earlier this year, while playing golf to celebrate his 70th birthday, the legendary lawyer scored a hole in one. Sonsini isn’t the only one who’s scoring over at 650 Page Mill Road. His partners […]

Federal Lawyers: Hope You’ll Still Enjoy Your 2010 Salary in 2012

There was a time in this country where the holiday season was a time to be rewarded for a good year of work. People received bonuses. People received pay raises, so their salaries could keep pace with their growing experience and maturity (or at least keep up with inflation). The America where that kind of […]

Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: Pillsbury Winthrop

Back in February, we wrote about various compensation developments over at Pillsbury Winthrop. At the time, the firm said it was considering moving away from a lockstep model in favor of a more performance-based compensation system. The firm has not yet killed killed lockstep — a move that has historically generated mixed to negative reviews […]

Nationwide Salary Watch: Morgan Lewis Raises Salaries

We have good news for Morgan, Lewis & Bockius associates. Salary information is in and most people are getting raises. True-up raises at that. The class of 2008 pulled the short straw, but everybody else seems relatively happy. A tipster reports: Please post that yesterday MLB essentially unfroze salaries (most ’08 grades only went up […]

Winston & Strawn Kills Lockstep and Adopts a ‘Black Box’ Compensation System

Friday brought good news and bad news for Winston & Strawn associates. The good news is that the double salary freeze, which has apparently resulted in first- through third-year associates at Winston all earning $160,000, may be thawing. Managing partner Thomas Fitzgerald sent a memo — this time to its intended recipients — indicating that […]

MoFo Back to 160k! And Good Bonus News.

Is Biglaw getting over the gloom of the recession? Back in October, Morrison & Foerster was feeling pessimistic about attorney salaries. It decided to cut salaries for first-year associates from $160,000 to $145,000. Only associates in pricey New York and Asia — MoFo has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo, all expensive cities […]

Update: Sidley Austin (Finally) Announces Salaries

Sidley Austin associates, never underestimate the power of flipping out. Earlier today, we reported that Sidley Austin associates hit the proverbial roof (“proverbial roof” = hit send button on emails to Above the Law) when Winston & Strawn announced its salary structure (which we reported even earlier today). The Winston announcement, coupled with the fact […]

Another Frozen Pay Check from Sidley

After we published news of Winston & Strawn’s salary freeze, our Sidley Austin tipsters went apoplectic. A Facebook message I received moments after publishing the Winston news seems to sum up the mood of Sidley associates: My firm [Sidley] is more like Winston than it is like a good firm. I should have gone to […]

At Winston: Double Salary Freeze is On, But Rates Set to Rise

Another salary shoe has fallen in Chicago. Winston & Strawn froze salaries last year, and they are doing it again this year. A tipster reports: Chicago received salary memos yesterday; DC just received salary memos today – All are individualized with no general pay scale included – just the recipient’s salary information. Based on conversations […]

Pillsbury: Raises, Bonuses, and Other Sundries

It looks like Pillsbury is back to communicating important information via firm-wide memo, instead of via cell phone conversation on the Acela. Yesterday, the firm indicated that it is thinking about moving away from lockstep associate compensation, but it is not killing lockstep just yet. Instead, Pillsbury announced lockstep raises — they’ll be true up […]

Mayer Brown: True-Up Raises in Washington. Somebody Get Sidley on the Phone.

It looks like the game of salary chicken between Mayer Brown and Sidley Austin is just about over. On Monday we noted that Mayer Brown was taking its time to let associates know whether or not their salaries will be re-frozen. Today, Mayer Brown’s D.C. office announced that salaries will be raised back to market […]

Mayer Brown and the Infinite Silence

A quick glance at the calendar reveals that today is February 1st. 2010 is fully under way. Is there a reason why Mayer Brown associates still don’t know how much money they’ll be making in the current year? Mayer Brown had a two hour all associates meeting on Friday. Amazingly, management was able to babble […]

Associate Bonus/Salary Watch: Wilson Sonsini Announces Bonuses A Few Days After Firing Staff

Last week, Wilson Sonsini was busy shuffling staffers out the door. Today, Wilson Sonsini is proud to announce bonuses for the lawyers — just in case any of them were feeling bad about their recently departed secretaries. The firm-wide memo just went out; here’s the bonus news: Merit Bonus The firm will pay merit bonuses […]

Cooley Godward Unfreezes
(But New Salaries Are Still Chilly)

There’s good news at Cooley Godward Kronish. The firm was among the many that froze salaries last year. This month, Cooley announced it’s more of a hottie. The good news is that the firm is taking salaries out of the freezer. The bad news is that the salaries have suffered some freezer burn. The firm’s […]