A seven-attorney team from Alhadeff & Solar (A&S) has joined Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in California. The A&S lawyers will add to Buchanan’s existing San Diego, Del Mar office, as well as adding an office in downtown San Diego and one in Temecula. The two name partners, Sam Alhadeff and Keith Solar, lead the team which includes two senior attorneys, three associates, and eight staff members. In the San Diego market, where Solar is based, A&S was known for handling business law, litigation, and water law matters. Solar is well-known for his work in water rights and the tuna industry. A&S’s practice in Temecula focused primarily on land-use and environmental law. Alhadeff’s work here deals with real estate development, entitlement, and conservation.
Source: www.earthtimes.org

Where do New Jersey firms fit in the first-year associate salary increase race? In what follows are some of the highlights:
Latham & Watkins (Newark) and Drinker Biddle (Florham Park) top things out at $145,000. Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll (Voorhees); Flaster/Greenberg (Cherry Hill); and Proskauer Rose (Newark) are competitive at $130,000. Starting salary at McCarter & English (Newark); Lowenstein Sandler (Roseland); Gibbons (Newark); Sills Cummis Epstein & Gross (Newark); and Fox Rothschild (Princeton and Atlantic City) is $125,000.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Foley Hoag welcomed leading international arbitration lawyer Ronald E.M. Goodman to its Washington office. Goodman joins the firm as a partner in the International Litigation and Arbitration practice, along with associate Geraldine R. Fischer. Both attorneys came from Winston & Strawn. Goodman was formerly the co-head of Winston & Strawn’s global international arbitration practice; he has represented clients before all major international arbitral bodies such as the ICSID and the International Chamber of Commerce. Foley Hoag has 250 lawyers practicing in Boston, Washington, D.C., and Waltham, MA.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com

Besides hiking up salaries, some law firms are coming up with other ways to improve retention and recruitment. These special perks are becoming increasingly more important in this market where lateral defections are commonplace and associate attrition is close to 80 percent by the time lawyers are in their fifth year of practice. Nixon Peabody started a matching contributions 401(k) plan for associates who have been with the firm for two years, something most firms only do for partners and administrative staff. DLA Piper implemented a program that reimburses its lawyers $2,000 for purchasing ($1,500 for leasing) a hybrid car. This program is all a part of the firm’s global sustainability initiative which began in January. Other firms like Alston & Bird offer services targeted at mothers like childcare, nursing rooms, or parking spaces for expecting mothers.
Source: www.law.com