In response to Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s salary increase implemented this week, several firms have matched their first year pay rate of $160,000. Miami’s Greenberg Traurig reported that first-year, mid-level, and senior associates’ salaries in its 330-lawyer New York office would be increased. Litigation boutique Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges also plans to increase salaries in both its Los Angeles headquarters and its 85-lawyer New York office. New York firms Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Shearman & Sterling and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson also announced associate pay raises yesterday. Some firms like O’Melveny & Myers, on the other hand, matched NY salaries, but didn’t apply them in all offices; first years in their CA office will receive $145,000. Morrison & Foerster also will match in New York, but keep its CA starting pay at $135,000.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Holland & Knight’s FL Expansion
At the beginning of the month, Florida firm Holland & Knight LLP announced the expansion through lateral hiring of its South Florida Securities and M&A practice. Three former shareholders at Akerman Senterfitt, Kara L. MacCullough, Laurie Green and Esther L. Moreno, joined Holland & Knight as partners. MacCullough, formerly the chair of Akerman’s Securities group, and Moreno focus on securities, mergers and acquisitions and international corporate transactions. Green’s expertise comes largely from her experience with the Division of Corporation Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Holland & Knight has one of the largest business groups in the country, with over 380 lawyers in its practice. Firmwide, Holland & Knight has more than 1,150 lawyers in 17 U.S. offices, along with several foreign offices. The firm is one of the top 15 largest firms in the world.
Source: www.lawdragon.com
A Match Made in Heaven?: CA Firms and NY Pay
After New York firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett raised first-year pay to $160,000, all eyes have turned to large California-based firms to see if they too will raise their rates. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, for example, was one of the few CA firms that had matched NY’s $145,000, but now it has another 15 thousand with which to contend. Other NY firms like Sullivan & Cromwell matched Simpon’s raise, but unlike Simpson, not all of them applied the new salary to all of their offices. Speculation abounds as to whether CA firms will rise to the challenge, but most likely the powerhouse firms will match NY to stay competitive, while the lower-performing firms will not. This difference will increase segmentation in the CA market.
Source: www.law.com
Houston Firm Expands to Philly
Next month, Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Martin of Houston, TX will be expanding. With the acquisition of three partners and one associate from the Philadelphia office of Washington, D.C.’s Miller & Chevalier, Chamberlain Hrdlicka will open their own office in Philly. Herbert Odell, Philip Karter and Kevin Johnson will join Chamberlain Hrdlicka as shareholders. Jonathan Prokup joins the firm as a senior associate. Chamberlain Hdrlicka started in 1965 as a regional tax boutique, but later added an office in Atlanta; there is the possibility that another office may open by the summer in Washington D.C.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Sedgwick Detert’s New Houston Office
On Jan. 17, San Francisco’s Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold opened in Houston with the arrival of four new attorneys. Carrie Weitinger, Julia Adams, and associate Monica Fendler are leaving Houston’s Westmoreland Hall to join the new office; former Germer Gertz associate Shannon Thorne is also coming aboard. Sedgwick’s TX managing partner reported that the firm wanted to open an office in Houston because the city is one of the country’s major litigation centers. Opened in 2001, Dallas was the firm’s first Texas office, and Austin was second in 2006. In total, Sedgwick has 370 attorneys in 13 offices worldwide.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
King & Spalding Opens in Dubai
Atlanta-based firm, King & Spalding, opened an office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, this week. Philip Weems, head of the firm’s international energy practice, moved from the firm’s 105-lawyer Houston office to Dubai to oversee the office. Besides Weems, three King & Spalding partners and three associates from Baker Botts’ Middle East outpost will staff the new office. King & Spalding’s Dubai office will focus on Islamic finance and energy, and has room for as many as 17 attorneys at the new office.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Increased Salary at Simpson
New York firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett has raised first-year associate base salaries to $160,000. This increase comes soon after the hike, occuring less than a year ago, which raised first-year salaries from $125,000 to $145,000. Because firms compete for the same group of top law school grads, there is great pressure to match each other in pay for junior associates. Salaries vary more widely when it comes to senior level associates.
Source: www.law.com
Salary Increases in NY and CA
About a year ago, LA firm Irell & Manella was the first California firm to raise associate salaries to $145,000, starting a trend that quickly spread. The CA raises were in response to the raises that first occured in New York. While some firms like Latham & Watkins held firm to their $135,000 starting salary, other smaller LA firms like Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges matched the NY salaries in their California offices. Associates wait with anticipation for the time when the salary increases become widespread.
Source: www.law.com
Ballard Spahr Adds Two Partners
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll recently gained a new partner in both its Washington, D.C. and Phoenix offices. Michael Vincent Hodge, the director of D.C.’s revenue bond program, joined the firm’s public finance department and will also work in real estate. Until joining Ballard, Hodge was also the CEO for planning and economic development with the district’s deputy mayor’s office. In Phoenix, John DiTullio joined the team as the head of that office’s zoning and land use practice. Previously a shareholder at Gallagher & Kennedy, DiTullio is also a certified city planner.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Big Bonuses in TX
Houston’s Susman Godfrey leads the pack for year-end associate bonuses, paying its associates double or more what high-performers at many large Texas firms could earn. At the 85-lawyer litigation boutique, 2006 bonuses for its partnership-track associates ranged $60,000 to $120,000. In comparison, for many big TX firms, $65,000 was the maximum bonus for their senior and top performing associates in 2006. Though the bonuses varied between firms, most agreed that for an associate to earn the maximum amount, he/she would have to be a great worker, have put in a large number of hours, and have made an overall contribution to the firm (eg pro bono work or business development).
Source: www.law.com
