A group of five bankruptcy attornies is moving to Vinson & Elkins from a boutique founded by former partners of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The attorneys–Dennis F. Cronin, Jane Vris, Dov Kleiner, Laurence Cherkis and J. Ronald Trost–are all nationally known bankruptcy attorneys. Cronin & Vris represented Vinson & Elkins during the Enron Corp. debacle, as Vinson & Elkins were outside counsel for the company. This move is part of a trend among top firms expanding their bankruptcy practices in anticipation of increased filings.
Source: www.nylj.com

Trevor Chaplick, a corporate attorney whose previous work includes founding Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, has joined Proskauer Rose LLP’s Washington DC office as a partner. This move is the beginning of a major expansion planned by Proskauer for their Washington office. The firm currently boasts 700 attorneys, 40 of whom work in Washington. Proskauer hopes to up that number to 100 over the next couple years.
Source: www.bizjournals.com

Troutman Sanders raised first year salaries by $15,000 to $140,000 in their Atlanta, Washington, Virginia and North Carolina offices Thursday. The pay hikes will take effect on January 1, 2008, the same day as Alston & Bird’s recently announced salary jump. Representatives from Troutman Sanders claimed the same reason for the hikes as other firms have recently; that the move has been made to remain competitive both with law school students and in lateral recruiting markets.
Source: www.dailyreportonline.com

Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner and U.K. law firm Pinsent Masons have split their global construction law joint venture. Masons Thelen Reid, formed in 2003, was designed to help the firms take on a larger work load and attract new clients, and in that respect it was a profitable venture for both parties. The firms decided to split when they realized that they could achieve the same results without the administrative costs separately, and have agreed to maintain a “best friends” relationship.
Source: www.law.com

Day Pitney of Florham Park New Jersey has announced that as of January 1st, first-year salaries will be raised by $15,000 to $135,000. Although this is a non-traditional move, Day Pitney representatives say that was a simple decision to make in order to stay competitive. Midyear salary hikes are part of a trend which includes fellow New Jersey firm Lerner, David, Littenberg, Krumholz & Mentlik. Industry experts claim that the recent flurry of pay hikes nation-wide has been draw top law school graduates away from corporate legal departments.
Source: www.law.com

King & Spalding responded to Alston & Bird’s pay raise by making the same $15,000 increase to first-year associate salaries. Effective Jan. 1, 2008, the starting pay will be $145,000, but the firm made no similar announcements regarding senior associates’ pay. A firm spokesperson reported that K&S will “continue to evaluate” the pay structure for other levels of associates. Recruiters have ventured the guess that the firm quickly matched only the first-year salary rather than all levels in order to remain competitive during summer associate recruiting rush.
Source: www.law.com