Cooley Godward Kronish has two new partners in its New York office, but one of their former partners has moved on. Laura Grossfield Birger, a white-collar criminal defense attorney, and Jennifer B. Coplan, a technology licensing and outsourcing attorney, will join Cooley Godward. Paul M. Ritter, a compensation specialist, has accepted an offer to head the executive compensation practice at Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel.
Source: www.nylj.com
Jones Day, Asbill & Brennan and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker are raising starting salaries in Atlanta by $15,000. The raise puts Jones Day up to $150,000 and the other two firms at $145,000. Pay increases for senior associates at Jones Day will be merit-based, and Paul Hastings will not announce 2008 salaries for other associate levels until the end of the year. Sutherland, on the other hand, will pay second-years $150,000, and third through sixth-years will be paid based on a deferred compensation structure that ranges up to $200,000. The raises will go into affect on Jan. 1, 2008.
Source: www.dailyreportonline.com
Two more Texas firms have announced first-year salary increases. Dallas-based firms Jackson Walker and Gardere Wynne Sewell are matching the new TX market rate of $160,000. Gardere’s new starting salary will be effective Sept. 1, but there is no bonus associated with it. Jackson Walker’s raise will not be effective until Jan. 1, 2008; it includes a base salary of $140,000 plus a $20,000 bonus, $15,000 of which the new associates will receive immediately. Neither firm has decided on a new compensation structure for more senior associates.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Fox Rothschild is saying “no” to first-year salary raises, keeping its starting salary at $125,000. The firm felt that raising salaries would be a disservice to its clients, partners, and ultimately its associates too, who would be working more to earn a higher salary. Other Philadelphia firms feel differently, however, and have announced pay raises – some retroactive to January and others effective in September. Pepper Hamilton, Dechert, Morgan Lewis, and Drinker Biddle & Reath have all bumped starting salaries to $145,000. Other firms such as Saul Ewing, DLA Piper, and Blank Rome increased pay in Philly to $135,000.
Source: www.law.com
Several firms in Los Angeles have recently launched or expanded practice groups focusing on the fashion, apparel, and textile industries. Loeb & Loeb unveiled their new fashion and luxury brands industry group this month, and in April, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton recruited fashion designer lawyer Ted Max from Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. Though fashion law is not a brand new area, mid-size firms are just recently getting into the game whereas before it was dominated by boutique firms. Part of the boom in business came from an increase in copyright infringement suits over textile designs and corporate deals in the industry. Loeb & Loeb’s fashion and luxury brands industry group includes ten attorneys from four different practice areas.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Bingham McCutchen has added employment law partner, Walter Stella, to its San Francisco office. Joining from Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Stella brings 15 years of experience in employment litigation and counseling. There are 50 attorneys in Bingham’s labor and employment group. The San Francisco-based firm has 13 offices worldwide and over 800 lawyers.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
IP and patent litigation expert, William Bohler, has joined WilmerHale in Silicon Valley. Bohler was previously employed with Townsend and Townsend and Crew, and his practice focuses on complex patent litigation and trials in federal district courts, U.S. International Trade Commission, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has a degree in electrical engineering and has worked with such clients as Hynix Semiconductor, Visa, and Kumho. WilmerHale has 1,100 attorneys worldwide.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is rapidly adding partners (20 this year) and offices (three this year), yet its total headcount is growing slowly. The total number of attorneys has only grown by five, reaching 650, because some lawyers have left as the firm sharpens its strategic focus. The firm’s new offices are located in Dallas, Charlotte, and Menlo Park. Sonnenschein aims to expand its litigation, corporate, and real estate groups, and hopes to grow to 1,000 attorneys by 2009. Along the way the firm has lost lawyers due to its increasing emphasis on profitability and productivity standards.
Source: www.law.com
Atlanta-based Ford & Harrison has done away with the billable hour for first-year associates. The 190-lawyer labor and employment firm has implemented a program that focuses on having associates spend their time observing depositions and and witness interviews and attending hearings and litigation strategy meetings. Having no billable hour requirement could be a draw for law students, despite the fact that the firm only pays first-years $125,000 in its larger offices. The firm hopes that the new program will enable new associates to handle more important matters more quickly, and it also eliminates the challenge of determining which hours billed by associates are valuable enough to bill.
Source: www.law.com
Randall Johnson and Bruce Wanamaker have formed a new NYC corporate boutique firm, Johnson Wanamaker. Wanamaker was previously a partner with Kilpatrick Stockton, and Johnson most recently was the general counsel and president of Xp Capital Inc., a company started to assist Latin American businesses in getting financing from Latin American banks based on their trade credits with U.S. companies. The firm will handle transactional matters and corporate counseling work for businesses that larger firms are not as equipped to help. The partners see themselves diving into a niche market for small firms who handle sophisticated matters but at a lower overhead cost than larger firms.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
