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• Dewey & LeBouef's leaders explain the firm's collapse

  May 18 2012 This article gives an account of an interview in DealBook with Martin Bienenstock and L. Charles Landgraf, both of whom served as the ‘office of the Chairman’ at Dewey... more

• Jones Day announces pay rise for trainees, while Links raises all pay levels

  May 04 2012 Jones Day has announced a pay rise for trainees in its London office, increasing the starting salary from £39,000 to £41,000, with pay to be reviewed every year in... more

• Quinn Emanuel leads the pack on spring bonuses

  Apr 27 2012 Quinn Emmanuel has become one of the first large law firms to announce the award of spring bonuses, and though the figures have not yet been released, a firm memo from... more

• Debate over minimum wage for trainees in the UK

  Mar 27 2012 Debate rages over whether to abolish the national minimum salary for trainee solicitors in the UK. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is currently consulting on the... more

• Sullivan & Cromwell takes heat for silence on spring bonuses

  Mar 22 2012 Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers are waiting for an announcement from the firm on the issue of spring bonuses, having been promised in December of 2011 that bonuses would... more

• Age discrimination suit challenges de-equitization of partners

  Mar 13 2012 The issue of how law firms handle older lawyers who wish to keep working is becoming more acute as more lawyers challenge mandatory retirement policies. An age... more

• Australian firm Mallesons reviews lockstep ahead of merger with King & Wood

  Feb 20 2012 Mallesons Stephen Jaques is reviewing its lockstep remuneration system ahead of the merger with Chinese law firm King & Wood. The firm currently operates a 10-year... more

• Bingham McCutchen leads ranking for pay satisfaction in the UK

  Feb 10 2012 A survey of lawyer satisfaction with pay at UK firms has found that 100 per cent of Bingham McCutchen associates were completely satisfied with their pay, which is not... more

• US firms in Hong Kong attract top talent with big money

  Feb 08 2012 The legal services market in Hong Kong has long been dominated by British firms, but US law firms are now a potent force, attracting top talent by offer larger... more

• Orrick gives associates incentives to bill on time

  Feb 08 2012 Here is a brief article on the merit-based compensation system at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. According to this report there are two features of Orrick’s... more

• Profit at SNR Denton drops from £37.9m to £22.5m

  Feb 08 2012 The profit pool at SNR Denton dropped from £37.9 million to £22.5 million in 2010-11. Turnover in the same period fell from £166.1 million to £152.5 million. The firm... more

• Olswang's profits down, Charles Russell's profits up

  Jan 30 2012 Olswang’s limited liability partnership accounts show that the firm’s profits fell from £31.6m in 2009-10 to £29.3m last year. The firm’s highest paid member took... more

• Large law firms likely to award spring bonuses again this year, say experts

  Jan 27 2012 Legal industry experts predict that large law firms will again award spring bonuses in 2012, following on from a trend begun in 2011, but that spring bonuses are... more

• DLA Piper to vote on giving all partners equity status

  Jan 26 2012 DLA Piper is set to vote on a measure that would move all salaried partners to equity status. The firm currently has three classes of partner - junior salaried,... more

• Dechert bonuses based on performance requirement

  Jan 16 2012 Dechert announced its 2011 end-of-year bonuses for US associates just after Christmas, with a schedule of bonuses that broadly matches the standard set by Cleary... more

• Kirkland & Ellis increases pay for all associates in London

  Jan 13 2012 Kirkland & Ellis has increased the salaries of all associates in London, with newly qualified lawyers now £7000 better off on £97,000. The increases put the firm... more

• Davis Polk & Wardwell follows the flock on annual bonuses

  Dec 14 2011 Davis Polk & Wardwell has announced that it will match the bonus structure put forward by Cravath Swaine & Moore. Like Cravath, Davis Polk's bonus scale begins... more

• Sullivan & Cromwell repeats last year's bonus figures

  Dec 09 2011 Sullivan & Cromwell has announced that it will award year-end bonuses of the same size as were awarded last year, but sweetens the news by saying that associates can... more

• Salaries for Indian graduates double in five years

  Dec 05 2011 There is an interesting account – published in The Lawyer – of the dramatic increase in the salaries paid to graduates in top Indian law firms over the past five... more

• Top earner at Linklates takes home £2.2m

  Dec 03 2011 The top earning partner at Linklaters took home £2.2m in the last financial year, according to accounts just published by the firm. According to RollOnFriday the sum... more

• Hogan Lovells moves toward merit-based system across the board

  Dec 03 2011 Transatlantic firm Hogan Lovells is preparing for a full review of partner compensation as it moves toward integrating the pay structures of the merged firms Lovells... more

• Skadden matches Cravath bonus scale

  Dec 01 2011 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has matched the 2011 bonuses offered by market leader Cravath, Swaine & Moore, all but ensuring a steady and predictable bonus... more

• Salaries rise and bonuses fall at Canadian firms

  Nov 09 2011 Interesting article here that speculates upon bonuses and salaries in large Canadian law firms. According to Dal Bhathal, the managing director of legal recruitment... more

• Survey shows salary against cost of living in US cities

  Oct 29 2011 A new survey by the National Association for Law Placement has indexed median private practice salaries against the cost of living in 70 US cities to determine where... more

• Robert Half Legal compares US and Canadian salary statistics

  Oct 25 2011 Legal placement firm Robert Half Legal has released its annual Salary Guide, which tracks trends in legal compensation and hiring in the US and Canada. The survey... more

• Veteran Skadden partner Peter P. Mullen dies

  Oct 19 2011 Veteran partner Peter P. Mullen of the New York law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has died at the age of 83. Mullen joined the firm in 1961, when it... more

• UK firm Addleshaw Goddard raises pay for NQs

  Oct 13 2011 UK firm Addleshaw Goddard has effected a pay increase for newly-qualified lawyers, raising the salary by 4 per cent in the firm's regional offices and by 2% in London.... more

• Norton Rose overhauls lockstep system

  Sep 30 2011 Norton Rose has announced an overhaul of its remuneration system, modifying the lockstep to take greater account of merit. The lockstep system currently runs from... more

• Axiom Law finds success offering cheap legal services

  Sep 16 2011 Interesting article here about Axiom Law – a legal service provider successfully operating in Washington DC with a very non-conventional structure. According to the... more

• McGrigors proposes controversial changes to maternity policy

  Sep 16 2011 McGrigors has proposed some controversial changes to its maternity policy, suggesting that women who become pregnant within 18 months of their return from a previous... more

• Scottish law firms hover above minimum wage for trainees

  Sep 14 2011 An interesting article here about the pay in Scottish law firms. According to the article, leading corporate firm Dickson Minto is the most profitable firm in... more

• The unpaid economy - internships are on the rise

  Aug 31 2011 Interesting article here about the growth of unpaid internships in the legal industry. Young lawyers interested in working in publicly funded ares of law have... more

• New York judges set for a modest pay rise - the first in 12 years

  Aug 29 2011 New York state trial judges look set to get their first pay rise since 1999, after the Commission on Judicial Compensation voted in favor of boosting salaries from... more

• Pinsent Masons and Wragges freeze salaries for newly qualified lawyers

  Aug 24 2011 Pinsent Masons and Wragge & Co have announced the details of their associate slaries for 2011-12, with both firms freezing rates for newly-qualified lawyers in London.... more

• Berwin Leighton Paisner bumps up performance component of pay

  Aug 24 2011 Berwin Leighton Paisner has announced changes to the way that it remunerates equity partners, putting greater emphasis on performance when distributing the firm’s... more

• Indian firm Trilegal promotes two partners into equity lockstep

  Aug 16 2011 Trilegal has promoted two partners into the equity partnerhip. Mumbai corporate partners Nishant Parikh and Amit Tambe have been initiated into the first rung of the... more

• Top UK firms increase revenue by 4%

  Aug 16 2011 The Lawyer has published a survey that shows total revenues from the UK’s top law firms increasing by four per cent to £14.27bn in 2010-11. This marks the first return... more

• A good year for top equity partners: the million pound club is growing

  Aug 15 2011 The top end of the pay scale in the legal profession is making a recovery, according to a survey conducted by The Lawyer to assess how many equity partners are seeing... more

• New York judges haven't seen a pay rise in 12 years

  Aug 04 2011 Here is a very interesting piece from NPR about pay levels for New York state judges. Remuneration for the New York bench has remained static for the past 12 years,... more

• Negligence suit against McDermott Will & Emery puts spotlight on contract attorneys

  Aug 04 2011 A lawsuit brought against McDermott Will & Emery by a former client has claimed that the contract attorneys employed by the firm to review documents ‘negligently... more

• US general counsel pay on the rise

  Aug 01 2011 A survey on the compensation of general counsel by legal publication Corporate Counsel has shown that pay for chief legal officers has made some recovery after a... more

• Graduates in Nevada face a tough job market

  Jul 29 2011 Law graduates in the US state of Nevada face a tough job market and declining pay, according to reports. The State Bar of Nevada has published a survey showing that... more

• Cali firm Irell & Manella pushes ahead of the game with mid year bonuses

  Jul 26 2011 California law firm Irell & Manella has announced that it will be paying mid-year bonuses to associates. After being awarded bonuses that doubled the market... more

• Recent graduates in the US are earning less, says NALP

  Jul 07 2011 The National Association for Law Placement (NALP) has reported that recent graduates are earning less than their predecessors. The new NALP study shows that the median... more

• US firms pay top dollar for rainmakers

  Jul 06 2011 Interesting article here in the New York Times about the demand at large law firms for lateral hires that bring in large books of business. According to industry... more

• 12 year pay freeze for New York judges

  Jul 05 2011 Here is an interesting article about the remuneration of judges in New York, where the bench hasn’t seen a pay rise in 12 years. According to the article, judges have... more

• Pay gap between US and UK law firms widens

  Jul 05 2011 The pay gap between lawyers in the UK and thos in the US is widening, with a new survey showing that magic circle firms pay newly qualified lawyers around £61,000 US... more

• London firm Devonshires breaks its promise to pay bonuses

  Jun 27 2011 RollOnFriday has reported that London law firm Devonshires will not be paying the bonuses promised to associates last year. The bonus scheme was introduced to... more

• London firm Kyriakides & Braier offers graduates £6.10 per hour

  Jun 21 2011 In a troubling sign of the times, a London law firm is offering work to law school graduates at just £6.10 an hour. And contrary to what you might think, getting a... more

• The third tier of US lawyers

  Jun 16 2011 There is interesting coverage in the Wall Street Journal on the creation of a ‘third tier’ of legal practitioners in the US: temp or contract attorneys that perform... more

• Clifford Chance awards marginal pay rise

  Jun 14 2011 Clifford Chance has announced marginal salary increases for most lawyers. Pay for newly qualified lawyers will remain at £61,500 , while pay for those with one year of... more

• UK College of Law to make 30 redundancies

  Jun 07 2011 The College of Law in the UK is set to make up to 30 staff redundant across five of the eight campuses. In a less than smooth move, the announcement was made on the... more

• Herbert Smith freezes salary bands

  May 30 2011 Herbert Smith has frozen salary bands for associates, following the trend set Allen & Overy and Linklaters. Pay at the firm is set to stay at £38,000 for... more

• UK firm Cobbetts cuts NQ pay by almost 20% in 3 years

  May 30 2011 Mid tier UK firm Cobbetts has reduced pay to newly qualified solicitors by nearly 20 per cent over the last three years. In 2008, newly qualified solicitors in the... more

• Freshfields gives UK associates a pay rise

  May 24 2011 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has announced pay rises for all associates, taking the firm to the very top of the Magic Circle in terms of compensation. Associates... more

• US firms set more lawyers on the non-partnership track

  May 24 2011 An interesting article here about the creation of two-tier associate system in some of the biggest law firms in the US. These second tier associates do the same kind... more

• Merit-based pay does not seem to have caught on

  May 23 2011 Here is an interesting article about associate compensation. The article asks why merit-based compensation hasn’t caught on as a trend after a number of firms –... more

• 70% of US law firms plan to award pay raises or bonuses

  May 19 2011 In a new survey conducted by legal staffing firm Robert Half Legal, 70 per cent of lawyers polled said their law firms or corporate legal departments plan to award... more

• Allen & Overy and Linklaters freeze salaries

  May 13 2011 Allen & Overy and Linklaters have frozen salaries for associates. This means that lawyers will progress to the next salary band according to the lockstep system, but... more

• Slaughter and May announces marginal salary increases

  May 05 2011 Slaughter and May is the first magic circle firm to announce its 2011 salaries. The firm is giving a modest increase to junior associates of between 1.5 per cent and 3... more

• Texas-based Vinson & Elkins to pay spring bonuses

  Apr 21 2011 Texas based firm Vinson & Elkins, has announced that it will pay spring bonuses. The announced bonuses are below the scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore: • Class of... more

• Criminal law barristers under pressure in the UK

  Apr 21 2011 Interesting article here from the Guardian, which takes a look at compensation for criminal barristers. The article points out that only a tiny proportion of... more

• Mayer Brown to pay spring bonuses to US associates

  Apr 18 2011 Mayer Brown has jumped on the spring bonus bandwagon with the announcement that it will pay US-based associates according to the scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore.... more

• Philadelphia-based firm Dechert announces spring bonuses

  Apr 13 2011 International firm Dechert has announced the award of spring bonuses to associates and counsel. The firm will pay qualifying associates in May, according to the... more

• US News ranks law schools on basis of graduate starting salary

  Mar 31 2011 US News, those inventive list makers, has come up with yet another ranking system for prospective law students: “10 Law Degrees With Most Financial Value at... more

• UK firm Macfarlanes boosts maternity pay

  Mar 26 2011 Macfarlanes has announced an increase in maternity pay, moving from 14 weeks allowance to 23.5 weeks leave at full salary. The new policy is part of a raft of measures... more

• Boies Schiller posts 3% revenue boost

  Mar 22 2011 Despite increasing its gross revenue by three per cent to $305 million in 2010, litigation firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner saw profits per partner fall by 11 per cent... more

• Dewey & LeBoeuf follows spring bonus trend

  Mar 17 2011 Dewey & LeBoeuf has made the relatively late that it will pay spring bonuses at the top-of-market rate set by Cravath Swaine & Moore. These bonuses are additional to... more

• Banks won't tolerate problems at law firms: the collapse of Yoss

  Mar 16 2011 Yoss LLP has announced that it will close by 31 March, after negotiations with the firm’s bank broke down. Coming after months of partner defections and payment... more

• Cleary steps up spring bonuses to match Cravath scale

  Mar 01 2011 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has announced that it will be paying spring bonuses, following the scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore. The firm had previously... more

• Shearman & Sterling announces spring bonuses

  Feb 24 2011 Shearman & Sterling has announced that it will be paying spring bonuses in New York, following the scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore for the spring payment. As... more

• NY lawyers charging over $1000 per hour

  Feb 23 2011 While lawyers across the industry have suffered from redundancies and pay freezes as a result of the recession, there are some lawyers who are still enjoying high... more

• London firm Farrers asks lawyers to bill four hours daily

  Feb 21 2011 London faw firm Farrer & Co is clearly seeing tough times – last week the firm announced that salaries would be frozen, bonuses would be axed, and there may be... more

• Spring bonuses abound while partnership prospects wither

  Feb 14 2011 Just one month after firms handed out their end of year bonuses, it seems that it is bonus time again. A number of firms have made announcements regarding ‘spring... more

• Pay gap widens at large firms

  Feb 09 2011 Interesting article here about the increasing compensation gap at some large law firms – where star attorneys can be earning up to 10 times the amount paid to other... more

• DLA Piper hires star litigator in Washington DC

  Feb 08 2011 DLA Piper has hired star Washington D.C. litigator Jamie Wareham from Paul Hastings. Wareham was formerly the global chair of litigation at Paul Hastings, and with his... more

• Lawyer appraisals - DOs and DON'Ts

  Feb 02 2011 Here is an interesting article on law firm appraisals. It takes a look at the utility of providing feedback and professional development opportunities, and discusses... more

• Female lawyers in the Gulf earn half as much as male lawyers

  Jan 31 2011 A new survey has revealed that male lawyers in the Gulf region are earning twice as much as their female colleagues. The survey, conducted by Elizabeth Williams... more

• Sullivan & Cromwell announces generous spring bonuses

  Jan 24 2011 Sullivan & Cromwell has announced a generous spring bonuses for its associates. The firm has decided to the 2010 year-end bonuses, announced in December, with a... more

• Herbies to pay lawyers £10 in Belfast

  Jan 14 2011 Industry rumour has it that Herbert Smith's new Belfast outpost will pay its lawyers as little as £10 per hour, with paralegals earning a mere £7 an hour. The new... more

• Are US law schools cooking the books?

  Jan 13 2011 The New York Times has published an article that describes the financial hell faced by US students who have taken on huge student loans to pay for legal education,... more

• Compensation survey of law firm partners shows majority is 'somewhat satisfied'

  Jan 11 2011 Recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa has conducted a compensation satisfaction survey of law firm partners. Of the 1,873 partners that responded to the survey,... more

• Dewey & LeBoeuf announces new policy to give lawyers 'a reasonable amount of paid time off'

  Jan 11 2011 Dewey & LeBoeuf has announced a new policy on paid leave, removing the cap on vacation days. A memo outlining the scheme – in particularly vague terms – said... more

• Jones Day promotes 36 to partnership; offers no bonuses

  Jan 10 2011 US firm Jones Day has bucked the trend followed by every other large firm in the country with the decision not to award end of year bonuses to associates. "We... more

• Vinson & Elkins remembers the staff at bonus time

  Jan 06 2011 Vinson & Elkins did not forget their legal support staff when handing out end-of-year bonuses in December, and now the firm has announced that there will be an extra... more

• Disappointment over bonuses at Hogan Lovells

  Jan 04 2011 Hogan Lovells has announced its end of year bonus package, the first the firm has given since the merger Hogan & Hartson and Lovells. But associates hoping that the... more

• Hughes Hubbard introduces hardline policy for delinquent time-keepers

  Jan 03 2011 Hughes Hubbard & Reed has announced a scheme designed to ensure better time-keeping by associates. The firm’s plan means that associates who are more than five... more

• Clifford Chance follows Cravath bonus scale

  Dec 24 2010 London-based firm Clifford Chance has announced that its US associates will receive bonuses of between $7,500 and $35,000 at the beginning of 2011. The bonus package... more

• Sidley Austin announces 25% increase in total bonuses paid

  Dec 22 2010 Sidley Austin has announced that the number of associates receiving an end-of-bonus has increased by nearly 20%, and the total sum awarded for bonuses has increased by... more

• DLA Piper grants support staff slim pay rise

  Dec 21 2010 DLA Piper has announced a very lean pay rise for support staff – adding just 2 per cent to their salaries in the first pay increase in four years. As Roll On Friday... more

• US firm Debevoise & Plimpton follows Cravath bonus scale

  Dec 20 2010 Debevoise & Plimpton has announced its 2010 associate bonuses, following a slew of large law firms to match the scale set by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. The bonuses... more

• Susman Godfrey smashes Cravath bonus scale with 6-figure payments

  Dec 14 2010 The standard set by the Cravath Swaine & Moore end-of-year bonuses has been surpassed again, with Susman Godfrey - the 90 lawyer litigation boutique with offices in... more

• Bonus time at small US law firms: slim pickings

  Dec 09 2010 Above The Law has run an informal survey on the bonuses offered by small law firms, with highly variable results. A third of respondents reported getting no... more

• Dewey & LeBoeuf follows Cravath bonus scale

  Dec 08 2010 Dewey & LeBoeuf has announced bonuses for its US counsel and associates, with the firm essentially following the scale set by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. The... more

• What do Indian lawyers earn? Salve, Rohtagi and Manusinghvi at Rs. 25 Lakh per day!

  Dec 08 2010 This week’s edition of India Today gives a list of Senior Counsels and famous litigating lawyers and their average fee per appearance and per day. The list includes 8... more

• Debevoise hires former NY state insurance superintendent

  Dec 07 2010 Debevoise & Plimpton has hired former New York State insurance superintendent Eric R. Dinallo, who joins the firm’s partnership fresh from a run for New York attorney... more

• Proskauer Rose matches bonus scale

  Dec 03 2010 US firm Proskauer Rose has announced its 2010 bonuses, matching the scale set by Cravath, Swaine & Moore. The details of the bonus package are still not available,... more

• Is Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's draconian policy illegal?

  Dec 02 2010 US firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has implemented a new policy of docking pay by 20 per cent for associates who are ten days late in filing their time records. The... more

• BigLaw bonuses won't make you happy

  Nov 30 2010 This article points out that the big law model requires a high level of attrition, and maximum profit is achieved if a good number of associates leave after three or... more

• UK skilled migrant cap restricts entry for foreign lawyers

  Nov 25 2010 New immigration restrictions announced by the UK Government will make it tougher for law firms to conduct international recruitment April next year. The changes... more