Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has increased first-year associate salaries in California to $160,000. The Silicon Valley firm is not, however, applying that rate to its Seattle or Salt Lake City offices. Additionally, the associates receiving the raise will not benefit from the quarterly bonus program. Other firms that already made the raise include Orrick; O’Melveny; MoFo; Latham and Gibson; Paul, Hastings; Winston & Strawn; Akin Gump; and Cooley Godward Kronish.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Heller Ehrman has raised first-year associate salaries in California to $160,000. However, like Morrison & Foerster, Heller has also eliminated one level of bonuses. MoFo did away with the 1950-hour bonus, and at Heller its the 2000-hour bonus.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Gary Senior, Baker & McKenzie’s London managing partner, is ready to expand the firm during his second term. When Senior took the position in Dec. 2006, profitability was low in all firms. It took directed work increasing revenues and focusing on clients to turn things around and increase firm profitability. Specifically the corporate and banking practices have grown significantly during Senior’s first three-year term. In his second term, Senior hopes to expand all practice areas, but especially the IP practice.
Source: www.thelawyer.com

Greenberg Traurig announced the arrival of Francine Friedman Griesing to its Philadelphia office. Friedman Griesing joins the firm as a shareholder in the litigation department. Before joining Greenberg, she was a partner at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. Friedman Griesing has represented clients in the tourism, hospitality, restaurant, gaming, and manufacturing industries. With 1,600 attorneys and governmental affairs professionals, Greenberg Traurig is the seventh largest law firm in the U.S. based on the number of lawyers. The firm has offices in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

As first-year salaries go up on both coasts, firms in Texas are resisting the pressure to raise. Though some non-Texas-based firms applied have applied the NY/CA market rate of $160,000 to their Texas offices, large Texas firms are staying put. The resistance may come from the fact that most firms just went through salary increases in 2006, and TX firms do not feel the need to raise them again so soon. Moreover, these firms know that because the cost of living is lower in Texas than in CA or NY, they remain competitive even if they don’t match East and West Coast salaries. Many top law students want to remain or return to Texas for just that reason. However, if any firm in the Lone Star state breaks down and decides to make the raise, it is likely that more will follow.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Kevin Silverang, the former managing partner of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney’s Philadelphia office, has formed his own firm. With another former Buchanan Ingersoll attorney, Kelly Anne Donohoe, Silverang has formed a real estate boutique named Silverang & Donohoe. Silverang left Buchanan Ingersoll in 2004 to join O’Neil Properties Group, where he was executive vice president and GC; Donohoe later joined him there as vice president and assistant general counsel. The new firm opened in St. Davids, PA on April 2. About half of the firm’s work will be handling the legal needs of Silverang’s real estate development company; the other work will be in representing real estate funds. The founders are the firm’s only attorneys right now, but the firm wants to grow to about 5 to 10 lawyers.
Source: www.law.com