Skaddenfreude

We received almost two thousand responses to last week’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on attorney morale. That’s way up from the survey we did in April. Your morale, not so much. Roughly 43% of practicing attorneys who responded to the survey are in poor spirits:   * 24% said their morale was “bad”, up […]

As many people have pointed out, being angry over “only” a $20,000 bonus is something that most of the working world finds appalling. We get it: “spoiled whiners,” “real people are losing their jobs,” “nobody should complain about a six-figure salary,” yada, yada, yada. But other people have pointed out that most of the working […]

Another law firm informed associates that their hard work was worth half of what it was a year ago. Davis Polk & Wardwell is the latest firm to announce Half-Skadden bonuses. The official DPW bonus structure is as follows: Class of 2008: $17,500 (prorated) Class of 2007: $17,500 Class of 2006: $20,000 Class of 2005: […]

As 7th year associates at Half-Skadden and Skadden-Mart come to grips with the fact that they will be getting a smaller bonus than 1st years at Skadden, let’s take a look at a curious article that came out on November 20th. The same day Cravath announced their reduced bonuses (and threatened their people about 2009) […]

“Not God Bless America, God-damn America.” We are now able to report that Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has matched bonuses with Half-Skadden: On behalf of the partners of the Firm, I would like to announce that year-end bonuses for associates in good standing will be as follows: Class of 2008: $17,500 (pro-rated) Class of 2007: […]

If you work at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, prepare to be very, very angry. From the bonus memo just issued by presiding partner Evan Chesler: Both 2006 and 2007 were extraordinary years for our Firm. In 2006 we paid large year-end bonuses to our associates, and in 2007 we further supplemented those bonuses. As a […]

When we last saw Bryan Cave, the firm was busy acquiring Powell Goldstein, and saying great things about their long-term future and financial health. Having just added so many new attorneys, the message ATL received this morning was surprising. Two pieces of news for Bryan Cave associates today: they’re deferring salary increases by three months […]

We expected this. Skadden has announced that they will discontinue the “special” bonuses from last year. Instead, they’ll be giving out the 2006/2007 standard package. From the memo, sent out by executive partner Bob Sheehan: [W]e will pay the year-end discretionary bonus at the same levels by class seniority which associates received in 2007 and […]

We’ve tentatively started the Associate Bonus Watch for 2008, with news of Orrick’s and McDermott’s bonus plans, and the not-really-news that Morgan Lewis will not make bonus decisions until after the holidays. With the dismal economy and the widespread law firm layoffs, we speculated last month that regular bonuses may be less than last year, […]

It is still way too early to get hard numbers on what Biglaw bonuses will look like for 2008. But because of the economic downturn, we expect it will be a rocky bonus season. As readers of The Shock Doctrine will note, it is important to be aware of fundamental changes to the way bonuses […]

Welcome to BACK TO THE FUTURE. In this occasional ATL feature, we’ll step into a time machine and take a look at what the legal profession looked like at some point in the past. In a post about staff layoffs at Fried Frank, a commenter drew our attention to this fascinating 1990 article from the […]

One of the “perks” of working in Biglaw is the ridiculous amount of money that gets direct deposited into your account every two weeks. Even if you work for a firm that pays below market rate, your earnings still beat the bag out of what they pay at the local 7-11. Can you imagine having […]

The top 25 California law firms are staying in lockstep with regard to associate pay: $160K for first years, $210K for fourth years, $265K for seventh years. According to The Recorder (via Law.com), only Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold paid below the market rate. They pay $130K to first years and only go to $197K […]

Earlier today, the American Lawyer published a report detailing declining profit margins in the legal industry. It is nice to see that somebody commissioned an entire report to figure out obvious facts like “the first half of 2008 looks very different from the previous six years” and “[t]he slowdown is hitting the most profitable firms […]

[Ed. note: This post is by SOPHIST, one of the finalists in ATL Idol, the “reality blogging” competition that will determine ATL’s next editor. It is marked with Sophist’s avatar (at right).] On Tuesday, American Lawyer published a follow-up report to their overall associate satisfaction survey, released last Friday. This report ranks midlevel associates’ satisfaction […]

Earlier this month, there was some discussion in the comments about law firms possibly cutting associate salaries to cope with the economic downturn. The scenario sounded far-fetched — but maybe it’s not as far-fetched as some might have hoped. Look, we aren’t saying that the sky is falling. There’s a world of difference between a […]

The Brokeback Lawfirm scandal folded its pup tent months ago. But there’s still stuff to cover at one of ATL’s favorite firms, the venerable Sullivan & Cromwell. Here are two items. First, from a tipster: If I recall correctly, Sullivan & Cromwell sent out a memo in December or January saying that even though they […]

The rumor making the rounds of lawyer and staff layoffs at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner is true. We just spoke to Thelen’s co-chair, Stephen V. O’Neal, who provided confirmation and details. The firm is in the process of laying off 26 associates and 85 staff members, on a firm-wide basis, “in response to […]

[Ed. note: Yesterday’s guest post about how Barack Obama’s tax plan might affect Biglaw associates, authored by Ted Frank, generated a record number of comments on ATL: 564 (and counting). It also generated lots of reaction throughout the blogosphere (links collected below). So we thought we’d invite Ted to do a follow-up.] Here it is. […]

[Ed. note: Today we bring you some “news you can use”: a practical look at how political choices might affect your personal finances. This post is by Ted Frank, who blogs at Overlawyered.com and PointofLaw.com, and who has guest edited ATL in the past. Take it away, Ted.] BigLaw lawyers love Obama. If one searches […]