Litigation boutique, Susman Godfrey, is expanding its NY office. The Houston, TX firm recently added a new partner and relocated another from Dallas to New York. The 75-lawyer firm opened the NY office last fall, and it focuses on representing clients in antitrust, intellectual property, securities and accounting malpractice cases. Having won some of the largest damages awards and settlements in history, Susman Godfrey is most known for its antitrust practice.
Source: www.law.com
Three Atlanta firms followed Troutman Sanders’ lead in raising salaries. Jones Day, King & Spalding and Alston & Bird are implementing raises that actually put them above Troutman’s first-year associate increase from 115K to 125K. Jones Day’s starting pay will be $135,000, King & Spaulding will pay first-years $130,000, and Alston & Bird raised all associate salaries by 15K, putting first-year pay at $130,000. Alston will also raise salaries in D.C. and New York to match the market increases of last month; D.C. attorneys start at $145,000, and NY associates receive $160,000 in their first year.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference relocated from 1065 Avenue of the Americas to 61 Broadway in downtown New York, expanding by 11,250 square feet. The larger space will better accomodate the growing firm, which now has 25 lawyers and 13 support staff. The new office before was home to Healy & Baillie, which recently merged with Blank Rome and now operates out of the Chrysler Building. Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard has also moved from 460 Park Avenue to a larger, 17,300 square foot office at 900 Third Avenue. Fourteen attorneys and 10 professionals will work in the new office, but there is room for growth. The firm, which merged with Angel & Frankel last year, expects there to be additions to the staff over the next few years.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
New York has recently been a hotbed of activity for lateral moves and associates making partner. Blank Rome added James V. Masella III to its corporate litigation group as a partner. Three attorneys also joined DLA Piper as partners in its NY, DC, and LA offices. In offices across the globe, White & Case just named thirty-seven associates to the partnership. Two partners from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney left to join the litigation department of Carter Ledyard & Milburn.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Latham & Watkins and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher announced Friday that they will increase first year salaries in NY to $160,000, but only to $145,000 in CA and other offices. Because several firms have refrained from matching CA salaries to those of NY, other West-coast firms feel less pressure to increase. Billing rates, cost of living, and other issues make the two markets very different; most California firms are making pay raises to reflect that difference. However, one of the factors involved in the decision to raise salaries is whether or not the firm wants to be considered a top-tier firm.
Source: www.law.com
Eight lawyers from Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner have been recruited by Winston & Strawn to join its New York office. The group of attorneys is led by former vice chairman and litigation chief of Thelen Reid & Priest, Michael Elkin. Elkin primarly deals with copyright and other intellectual property issues within the entertainment, luxury goods, technology and financial industries. Chicago-based firm Winston & Strawn has about 150 lawyers in its NY office.
Source: www.law.com
Former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro has joined Blank Rome’s government relations group in New York. Ferraro was previously handling public relations work and lobbying as managing director of Global Consulting Group, a communications and public relations consulting firm. For Blank Rome, she will lead seminars and speak with clients, along with tackling various other projects. Ferraro’s experience as an ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and thus her wide international influence, are assets to the firm.
Source: www.law.com
Despite the New York pay raises, some California-based firms are holding their ground by increasing pay in NY, but remaining at $145,000 in their CA offices. Firms feel pressure to match salaries in NY because it is one of the most active and competitive legal markets in the world. In CA, on the other hand, firms will closely watch their competitors to decide their pay rate, recognizing the fact that the west-coast is a very different market than is NY.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Almost all of the attorneys from New York’s real estate law firm Solomon and Weinberg have relocated to Greenberg Traurig’s real estate practice. Seven attorneys – Gary Kleinman, Howard Shapiro, Joseph D’Angelo, Nicole Fenton, Howard Schochet, Bennet Deutsch and Steven Sinatra – will join the firm as partners. Founding partner Craig Solomon, as well as Dana Gallo and Andrew Kellner, will become of counsel. Seven of the lawyers will join Greenberg Traurig’s New York real estate group; the remaining two will join the REIT tax practice and the litigation group, respectively.
Source: www.law.com
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
