ALMResearchBlog

In London, One Firm Raises Associate Pay, Another Doesn’t

Clifford Chance recently announced pay raises of just over 4% for its junior lawyers, according to Legal Week, which brings the big firm in line with its “magic circle” rivals Linklaters and Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer. Allen & Overy, on the other hand, has frozen it associate salaries for 2008, Legal Week reported, the first magic circle firm to do so.

ALM Research has been tracking associate salary and bonus news in a spreadsheet. The Associate Salary Update is free to subscribers, and to non-subscribers with the purchase of any product from the ALM Research Store. Send an email to almresearch@alm.com for a link to the Update spreadsheet.

Associate Salary: Raises in London

Just in the last few days, several mega-firms in London have announced pay raises for their associates, according to reports in Legal Week. This story reported that Linklaters, in a "confident move," had raised salaries for junior associates by about 4%. In another story, the London office of Shearman & Sterling was reported to have raised salaries by 7%.  And this story,reports that  Bird & Bird (number 23 on Legal Weeks' 2008 Top 50 Firms list) raised salarieds by 9%. But the raises at those three firms may not signal the type of salary wars we saw last year here in the U.S. Herbert Smith, which ranked number 40 on the most recent Global 100 list, just instituted a freeze on salaries for 2008, according to this report.

ALM Research is tracking associate salary news in the "Associate Salary Update" spreadsheet, available free to subscribers. If you don't yet have a link to access the Update, contact us at almresearch@alm.com. Non-subscribers may get the link with the purchase of one product.

Law Firm Salaries on the Rise in India

As noted by Carolyn Elefant on Legal Blog Watch, referencing a report that appeared in the Economic Times in India, law firms are hiking salaries -- as much as 100 percent -- to retain talent. Although current Indian law does not permit foreign firms to open offices in India, firms like Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy, Elefant notes, are hiring Indian lawyers for their foreign offices. To compete with foreign firms, large domestic Indian firms have been forced to increase pay, either through salary hikes, end-of-year bonuses or promotions. New associates earn about the U.S. equivalent of $29,887, while a senior lawyer makes $199,252. The obvious question, as Elefant herself asks, is: What will these pay raises will mean for law firms and corporations that outsource to India?

Women Lawyers’ Salaries Slipping; Billing Rates are Lower than Male Lawyers’

The latest issue of Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine carries an article called Sexism in the Workplace  (mentioned on the Cal Law Blog, which borrows from a survey (PDF) by the National Association of Women Lawyers to make the point: the salaries of female lawyers are slipping in comparison with those of their male colleagues. We won’t pound you with the statistics here, but just cite one from Portolio’s article: according to the most recent statistics available, female attorneys' weekly wages amounted to 70.5 percent of male lawyers' in 2006, compared with 77.5 percent in 2005. The ABA Journal cited the same NAWL study in an article last November.

This issue was of particular interest to us because of one of the findings in our recently published survey of billing rates and alternative billing practices at small firms and solo practices (ALM Research Billing Rates & Practices). The data, based on the responses of more than 5,000 lawyers across the U.S., showed that female lawyers rather consistently bill at lower rates than males, regardless of firm size, years in practice, geography, and—with a few exceptions—practice area.

What gives? Are we heading backward in time?

Salaries: In-House Counsel in Southern California

As mentioned on the Wall St. Journal Law Blog, a survey of 324 members of the Southern California chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, conducted by First American CoreLogic revealed the following information about their compensation:

• Average 2007 Salary + Bonus for In-House Attorneys: $181,810 + $56,13
• Average 2007 Salary + Bonus for General Counsel: $220,164 + $82,640
• Male vs. Female Pay for In-House Jobs: Men were paid a cash salary of 13% more than women in 2007 (and men hold 60% of general counsel jobs.)
• Private Company vs. Public Company Pay: Counsel at private companies were paid slightly better than their public counterparts in 2007.

Salaries and Compensation: Corporate Counsel

A new survey report in the March 2008 issue of Inside Counsel says that, “as starting salaries for law firm associates continue to skyrocket, law departments are hard-pressed to keep up.” Inside Counsel’s 2008 Comp Report uses Hildebrandt’s Law Dept. Survey and Altman Weil’s Law Dept. Compensation Benchmarking Survey to offer a sampling of compensation at in-house legal departments.

CLOs/GCs in departments with more than 25 attorneys earned $645,000 in median total cash compensation in 2007, though there seems to be a huge variance between public and private companies and NGOs. Extra incentives such as bonuses and stock options are an important element of in-house compensation packages, according to the report, and the percentage of total cash compensation that comes from bonus is greater the higher one is in the department. Though billed as a “sampling,” there is a lot of useful information in the report, which can be accessed by clicking here.

For those interested in more information about in-house compensation, ALM Research offers the 2007 GC Compensation Survey (as well as data for the same from 1993 – 2006), which includes the 100 highest-paid General Counsels at major corporations, rank in the Fortune 500, salary, bonus, and where applicable, other forms of remuneration for each of the GCs ranked.

Associates Facing 2008 Salary Cap (?)

According to this post on the Wall St Journal Law Blog, yes—associates at big law firms shouldn’t expect to see another salary war this year. If the war hasn’t started by February, WSJLB says, it’s not going to happen this year. As expected, there were an abundance of comments to the post—some of them even thoughtful!

Here at ALM Research, we’ve been keeping track of changes in first-year associate salaries on a semi-informal basis. About this time last year, it was increasingly hard to keep up with the news and so we started a spreadsheet, using as our starter data the first-year associate salaries reported in the NLJ 250. And we’ve been keeping that spreadsheet ever since. If you are a subscriber, and want a link to our Associate Salary Update spreadsheet, which is updated about once a week as news is reported, just send an email to almresearch@alm.com and let us know.

Associate Compensation: The Law School-Law Firm Link

Big salaries are linked to big-name law schools, but also to biglaw firms, according to a National Jurist study, and reported recently in the ABA Journal. Similarly, there is a correlation between smaller law schools, smaller law firms, and smaller salaries.

According to the report, graduates of 58 law schools make average starting salaries of $60,000 or less, a fact ignored by many of the stories touting $160,000 starting salaries at big law firms. Instead, the reality is that there are two classes of law grads, the National Jurist reports: those who earn the big bucks and those who don’t. And the low-paying jobs are much more prevalent. While the nation’s largest firms increased associate salaries 86 percent over the last 10 years, firms with two to 25 lawyers increased salaries by only 33 percent, according to a chart published in the article.

Reminder to subscribers: If you’d like to keep up with the news of associate compensation and bonuses, send a note to almresearch@alm.com and ask for the link to the Associate Compensation Update spreadsheet, which is not posted on the ALM Research Online site. Alternately, contact client relations manager Chuck Lowry and ask for the link, as well as the link for the spreadsheet

Survey: What Law Firm Lawyers Earn

The Robert Half Legal 2008 Salary Guide provides a great synopsis of salaries of experienced lawyers. As reported on Larry Bodine’s Law Marketing Blog, as an example, a lawyer in in Chicago with 4 to 9 years' experience in a midsize law firm (35-75 attorneys) can expect an income of $120,00 to $185,700.  Naturally, your earnings rise with more years of experience, if you work for a large law firm (75+ attorneys) or practice in the following high-paying cities: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte and Raleigh, NC, Chicago,, Detroit (a surprise, Bodine notes), Hartford and New Haven, Houston and Dallas, Los Angeles, Irvine, Oakland, Ontario, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, CA, Manchester, NH, Miami, New York and White Plains, NY, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Paramus, NJ, Providence, RI, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Client industries that are currently paying top dollar are: healthcare, financial services, information technology, commercial real estate (in the Southeastern US only), manufacturing (in the Midwestern US only).

Hot practices include lawyers experienced in commercial litigation, intellectual property, commercial real estate and product liability, particularly for pharmaceutical companies. The globalization of law is creating demand for lawyers with international litigation and enforcement experience, and ability to speak multiple languages and function in different cultures, Bodine says. Robert Half predicts that attorneys with one to three years of experience at large law firms will earn between $114,000 and $147,500 per year, an 8.2 percent increase over 2007 projections. Senior attorneys with 10 or more years of experience at large firms will see starting salaries rise 7.9 percent, to the range of $167,500 to $234,000 annually.

Survey: GCs in Large Depts Earn More; In-House Counsel Salary Climbed 7% in the U.K.

According to a recent survey by Altman Weil and reported in The Daily Report, to earn top dollar—more than $600,000—GCs need to supervise legal departments of more than 25 lawyers. For GCs in one-lawyer departments, the average cash compensation was $200,000. The AW Law Dept. Compensation Benchmarking Survey shows GC median pay climbed to $300,000 for two- to five-lawyer departments, $400,000 for six to 10 lawyers, about $500,000 for 11 to 25 lawyers and more than $600,000 for more than 25 lawyers. According to the report, GC pay stood fairly close to law firm pay for most categories, according to another Altman Weil survey. The one notable exception was the biggest star at the biggest firms. The highest-paid partners at the biggest law firms generally earn substantially more than their own managing partners or the general counsel of their biggest clients. Managing partners in the biggest firms—130 lawyers plus—averaged $700,000.

Meanwhile, In-house lawyers in the U.K are earning more than ever before, according to new research from Incomes Data Services that reveals salaries for corporate counsel in the U.K. are rising at an inflation-busting average of almost 7 percent. The average salary for in-house lawyers in the U.K. is £114,658 (US$228,138), representing an increase of 6.8 percent on the year before. The highest salary referred to in the poll was £277,000 (US$551,173).

Survey: Women in Large Firms Advance at Same Rate as Men, but Earn Less

According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Women Lawyers and reported in the National Law Journal, the nation's largest law firms are in a bit of a holding pattern when it comes to the advancement of women within the firms. The group's second annual survey shows the numbers of women in equity partnership and management have stayed about the same since last year, while the pay disparity between male and female attorneys has increased at certain levels.

Librarian Salaries: 2007 SLA Survey Shows Pay Increases Outpace Inflation

The Special Libraries Association recently released the results of its 2007 Salary Survey and Workplace Study. The study contains salary information and other data from respondents in Europe, including the UK. According to the press release, the average salary increases for SLA members in the U.S and Canada have outpaced inflation yet again. Based on salaries as of April 2007 for U.S. based respondents, the increase in salaries for 2007 over 2006 was 5.1%. This is 1.1% higher than the increase from 2005 to 2006. The average salary for U.S. members who answered the survey was US$ 69,446, compared with US$ 67,400 reported in 2006. The average for Canadian members was CAN$ 67,171 compared with CAN$ 65,522 in 2006. Salaries for Canadian members were 4.9% higher on 1 April 2007, than a year earlier, while the CPI had increased just 2% in the same period. More information about the survey can be found here.

Marketing Salaries: North American Firms Pay 24% More to Their Managers

According to a recent “snapshot survey” on marketing salaries by PM Forum, North American firms pay 24% more than U.K. firms to their managers an directors, though they pay similar amounts to junior marketers. Global firms pay the highest, as do firms with headcounts of between 1,000 and 10,000.

The survey, which had 470 marketing respondents in professional services firms worldwide, also found that law firms pay 12.3% more to marketers than accountancy firms. A free report is available by click here .

Just Released: Report of Practice Group Management Survey

Altman Weil and ALM Research have just released a report of their survey of Law Firm Practice Group Management, which surveyed law firm leaders across the U.S. about their practice group operations and management. Key findings include the fact that, despite the time and money invested in their practice groups, more that half of law firm managing partners and executive directors surveyed rated overall practice group performance as average or worse. When asked to rate their groups on the ability to market, develop new business and cross-sell other practices, fewer than 20 percent of firm leaders rated their groups as “excellent” or “very good” on any one of those measures.

The report includes data and information about practice group structure, performance, operations, leadership, administration, and marketing. It is the first formal benchmarking survey of law firm practice group management to be published in the U.S. In addition, the report leverages the extensive expertise of Altman Weil, to provide actionable recommendations for improving and increasing the overall effectiveness of Practice Groups. The report is available through ALM Research Publishing.

Recent Release: 2007 NLJ 250

The 2007 electronic NLJ 250 provides demographics of the nation's largest law firms, and rankings based on the number of full-time attorneys. Data included in the spreadsheet includes: total number of attorneys, equity partners, non-equity partners & associates, starting salaries for first-year associates, branch office locations and number of attorneys by branch office, key marketing contacts, and more. This product is available free to subscribers and may be accessed in the ALM Research Store. Non-subscribers may purchase this searchable, sortable spreadsheet for $400.

Salaries: 2008 Guide from Robert Half Legal

Thanks to Geoffrey Gussis, who writes on Careers for the In-House Blog, for the tip that the 2008 Robert Half Legal Salary Guide  is now available. Gussis focused on the news for corporate attorneys: “In-house attorneys will see average gains of 3.8 percent over 2007 levels. First year associates can expect annual base compensation to rise 4.9 percent to between $63,750 and $91,000. Average starting salaries for licensed attorneys with 10 or more years of experience will rise 4.1 percent, to the range of $126,000 to $210,750 annually.” But the guide provides information for law firm attorneys also, as well as for paralegals, legal secretaries, and other legal support staff.

And don't forget that we offer a free Associate Salary Update spreadsheet to subscribers, which is free to non-subscribers with the purchase of one other product from the ALM Research Store. For more information, contact almresearch@alm.com or call 888-770-5647.

ALM Research E-Newsletter: Tech Focus

The October/November issue of the ALM Research e-newsletter, NewsLine, went out today. The focus of this issue is Technology. Technology surveys, technology studies, technology reports. Ratings of products, rankings of law firms, products law firms and legal departments are using, trends in budgets and salaries, trends in purchasing.

If you're not already a subscriber to the newsletter, you can access the current NewsLine by clicking here and you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here.

Associate Salaries: Story of the Year?

It’s one of the most popular topics on the blog. Mention “salaries” or “compensation” and the links light up. In response to one of our last postings on the subject, a reader, “Judy,” suggested that we mention LawWages.com, a “comprehensive career portal and resource center” for the legal profession. Of course, our parent company, ALM Media, also sponsors the LawJobs.com site, which includes a salary calculator from Salary.com.

We reported last month on American Lawyer’s September feature and rankings having to do with associate salaries. And blogger Dennis Kennedy did a great round-up of links to on-going buzz about associate salaries (“Recruiting, Paying and Retaining Lawyers: Quite a Discussion Going”).

So, we’ll mention once again that we’re offering a spreadsheet of updated salary information for NLJ 250 firms and beyond. This file is free to subscribers, and free to anyone else who has purchased a product from the ALM Research Store recently. To get the link, just send an email to almresearch@alm.com, asking for the Associate Salary Update.

NALP Study on Women in the Profession

NALP (National Association for Legal Placement) recently published a report called Women in the Profession, which is part of their on-going longitudinal research project, “After the J.D.,”  which is following the careers of 4,500 lawyers, over a 10-year period, who were admitted to practice in 2000. The study on women is based on a portion of the data collected.

A story in the National Law Journal about the report focused on the fact that fewer women work as solo practitioners and fewer women than men work in private law firms. A few other salient points in the report include men work more hours than women and earn more, men are more likely to join partners for meals and recreation, women report more experiences of discrimination in the workplace, and were less satisfied with their opportunities for advancement.

The full report is available from NALP by clicking here.

In-House Law Departments: Salaries, Spending

According to Altman Weil’s  2007 Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, total compensation for in-house lawyers in management jumped 8% to 14% this year, and 4.5% to 23% for non-management lawyers. A report of the survey appeared in the National Law Journal. For chief legal officers, salaries rose 5.8% to a median $300,000 in 2007, while bonus dollars spiked 43% to $157,400. Division general counsel collected a 10.2% salary increase for a median of $232,000, plus a median $104,600 bonus. The survey includes data from 343 law departments with 8,148 lawyers and 72 one-lawyer departments.

Another recent NLJ article (In-house costs outpace outside counsel spending) reported on Hildebrandt International’s 2007 Law Department Survey and said that corporate legal spending increased 6% over the past year, with increases in internal spending (8%) outpacing external expenditures (3%). Total cash compensation for in-house attorneys, including salaries and bonus, climbed 10% last year, compared with 7.5% during the previous year, according to Hildebrandt’s study, which included 202 companies employing an average of 4.2 lawyers. They also surveyed companies' U.S. and international operations, and found that the median company has global revenue of $10 billion, spends nearly $30 million on legal matters and staff and has a U.S. law department with almost 30 layers and 60 staffers. The median company also shells out 58% of its U.S. legal spending on outside counsel and 40% on inside legal costs. Chief Legal Officer's total cash compensation rose $50,000 to nearly $900,000, with the median total at $800,000. General counsel's average cash compensation spiked 19% to $700,000.

Commentary on Survey of Law Firm Librarians

Several web sites have posted commentary about the report of the  2007 Law Librarian Survey, published recently in Law Firm Inc. Joe Hodnicki, on the Law Librarian Blog focused on the issues of budget cuts, vendors, and knowledge management, and referenced another post which focused on the fact that “librarians are spending more time on rainmaking by performing marketing and competitive intelligence research which increases their prominence and influence with the lawyers who employ them.” The feature article accompanying the survey report in LFI focused on the fact that Librarians Like Their Jobs But Are Displeased With Vendors.

The survey results are available from the ALM Research Online Store in searchable spreadsheet format and includes data from both the 2007 and 2006 surveys for comparing trends. For a direct link to the product, click here.

2500 Marketers in the Am Law 100

According to a study called Career Journal: Looking at Law Firm Marketing Depts. in 2007, authored by Eva Wisnik and Jennifer Johnson, there are more than 2,500 marketers in the Am Law 100. The study, published in the ALM Media newsletter Marketing the Law Firm, is free to subscribers and $15 for non-subscribers, but was reviewed recently by Larry Bodine on his Law Marketing Blog. Bodine noted several “tidbits” of news that emerged from the study -- Marketing directors are hiring “specialists” who are ranked between the marketing coordinator and marketing manager positions. Firms are looking to hire “Proposal Center Managers” who oversee the RFP, pitch and proposal process, and track wins and losses.  Salaries for law firm marketers are also included in the study.

Recent Release: 2007 Law Librarian Survey

The July/August issue of Law Firm Inc. includes the sixth edition of the Law Librarian Survey, which solicits feedback from the nation's top legal librarians. This year’s report, which combines the responses of 95 Am Law 200 firm librarians includes: average salaries for law librarians; average library budget & expenses; librarian satisfaction with major information providers; staffing and resource information; and more. The 2007 Law Librarian Survey is available in electronic spreadsheet format from the ALM Research Store.

ALM Research Offer: Free Associate Salary Update

ALM Research is offering the 2007 Associate Salary Update free to subscribers, and free to non-subscribers with the purchase of one other product. The promotional code for non-subscribers to use is when requesting the Update is "ASU." Email almresearch@alm.com for the link to download the Update in searchable spreadsheet format.

The Associate Salary Update includes information tracked by ALM Research about raises in first-year associate salaries and bonuses since November 2006 for almost 300 firms. Data includes the firm name and headquarters city, the highest first-year salary reported, the high and low first-year salaries reported in the most recent NLJ 250 survey (November 2006), which offices receive the highest salary, and the sources for updated information.

This free product will be updated once a month until the publication of the 2007 NLJ 250 Survey in The National Law Journal in late November of this year.

New ALM Research Newsletter is Out

The July/August issue of our newsletter, ALM Research NewsLine is now available. Topics covered in this issue include a look at trends in the history of the Pro Bono Survey, 1993 - 2007, the methodology behind the A-List, historical trends (2002 - 2006) in the Law Librarians Survey, with a focus on the top librarians' salary and spending on library staff. In addition,  Also mentioned are the various salary surveys included in the ALM Research database. And related to that topic, ALM Research is offering a free Associate Salary Update spreadsheet to non-subscribers who purchase any other product from the ALM Research Store. Contact us by email to take advantage of this offer: almresearch@alm.com.

If you want to receive NewsLine every other month by email, sign up here. It's free!

Associate Salary Update

ALM Research is offering the Associate Salary Update free to subscribers, and free to non-subscribers with the purchase of one other product. The Associate Salary Update is an Excel spreadsheet with information tracked by ALM Research about raises in first-year associate salaries and bonuses since November 2006 at almost 300 firms. Data includes the firm name and headquarters city, the highest first-year salary reported, the high and low first-year salaries reported in the most recent NLJ 250 survey (November 2006), the office/s with the highest salary, and the sources for updated information.

This free product will be updated at least once a month until the publication of the 2007 NLJ 250 Survey in The National Law Journal in November of this year. Please use the same link to get next month's update.

To receive this free product, please email almresearch@alm.com and reference the promotional code: ASU. Non-subscribers will need to verify that they have recently purchased a product.

Legal Writing: Survey, Web Site, Politics

The Association of Legal Writing Directors and the Legal Writing Institute have just made the results of the 2007 Survey available online. Over 92 % of all ABA accredited law schools responded to the survey.  In addition to salaries and other terms of employment for legal writing professors, the survey results include information on staffing models for first-year legal writing programs, curricular choices, upper-level writing courses, technology use, non-lawyer writing specialists, and teaching assistants.  Data from the past three years are reported next to this year's data, so trends are easily discernible.  Survey results going back to 1999 are also available.

On related notes, the Legal Writing Institute has just launched a Web site for the Journal of the Legal Writing Institute. And Joe Hodnicki of Law Librarian Blog wrote recently about the Politics of Legal Writing, the title of a July conference for legal research and writing program directors, and provides a link to the edited proceedings of that conference.

Salaries: Judicial Salary Resource Center

This is the new Judicial Salary Resource Center (JSRC). As explained on the web site, The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has published an annual Survey of Judicial Salaries for more than 30 years, and the JSRC web site reflects a transformation to the collection and storage of the information more accessible, though print editions will not be discontinued as a result. Two additional national position categories have been added: the presiding judges of intermediate appellate courts and the presiding judges of general jurisdiction courts. The salary database will still present available salary data for judges of limited jurisdiction trial courts and quasi-judicial officers-and they remain open to adding other positions for ranking and comparison. To get right to the source, click here.

Salaries: National Compensation Survey

The U.S. Dept. of Labor has released its periodic National Compensation Survey: Occupational Wages in the U.S., based on June 2006 data. Interestingly, the report says that hourly wages are lower for those in private industry ($18.56 per hour) than in state and local government ($23.99) because "high-paying professional and related occupations are relatively more common in state and local government than private industry."

Salaries: Clients are Not Happy Campers re Associate Raises

Although Altman Weil's recent Survey on Recent Increases in Associate Salaries is marked "confidential," I've now read about it on two different sites, and its available on AW's site. Gerry Riskin, on his Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices blog can't help but have a "harsh" message, as he puts it himself. "If killing the golden goose is stupid, then this is not harsh at all." And Patrick Lamb writes on his blog In Search of Perfect Client Service that he views every announcement of increased starting salaries for new associates "as good news. The firms who march to that beat are putting their client relationships at risk. And for those of us who view our relationships with clients differently," he says . Well, read the survey results.

Salaries: Supreme Court Bonus Babies

A New York Times article about Supreme Court clerks, and the bonuses they receive from the large, elite firms they join post-clerkship (Supreme Court Bonus Babies), has generated a lot of buzz on the web. The associate gossip e-rag, Abovethelaw.com is responsible for much of it, as the writer of the article, David Lat, is an editor there. He recently pleaded with readers to email the article to their 50 closest friends because he was "desperately trying to crack the NYT's "Most Emailed Articles" list. As of this posting, his article had made it to #17.

The clerkship bonuses are indeed jaw-dropping. As described by the NYT, signing bonuses are expected to reach $250,000 this year - paid on top of starting salaries approaching $200,000 - for the select few "young legal geniuses who spend a year assisting the justices in selecting cases for review, preparing for oral argument and drafting opinions. Thus some former clerks, in their first year practicing law, will earn twice as much as their former judicial bosses (the chief justice earns $212,000 a year; his colleagues earn $203,000 each)." Normal clerkships - that is, within an appellate court - earn the average AmLaw 100 firm associate about $50,000.

But Lat argues that the economics of this situation are just. "Even if the astronomical Supreme Court clerkship bonuses may be dubious investments for law firms," he writes, "they are good news for our legal system. By promising clerks a financial windfall on the back end of their clerkships, firms encourage bright young lawyers - many of whom carry loads of educational debt - to render service to the court and country."