Home Daily News As law firm culture changes, being a partner… Law Firms By Debra Cassens Weiss August 12, 2019, 10:58 am CDT Image from Shutterstock.com. Law firm culture has changed since the American Lawyer began publishing financial data in 1985. Partners looking at compensation information realized they could make more money at other law firms, which has led to a more robust lateral market, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the same time, law firms continued to grow and offer one-stop services to clients. “A focus on data replaced tightknit camaraderie,” the Wall Street Journal article reports. “Firms closely track how many billable hours each lawyer has logged, which clients are late on payment, and how many hours an assignment usually takes.” In the late 1960s, the country’s largest law firm, Shearman & Sterling, had 169 lawyers, the article reports. Today, 29 law firms in the United States have at least 1,000 lawyers. The … [Read more...] about As law firm culture changes, being a partner ‘is all but dead’
Partner at law firm salary
X-Ray Vision and the Law Firm
In August of 1978, outside the ABA convention in New York, an upstart journalist named Steve Brill could be found handing out free sample issues of an experimental publication. He had launched it on the hunch that there was an appetite for news about the clubby, closed-off world of attorneys and their law firms. The publication was called The American Lawyer magazine, and Brill’s hunch was dead on. Last year, Brill related the story of The American Lawyer’s humble beginnings in an interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_EHc_csX_o) with David Lat, the managing editor of the wildly popular legal gossip site Above the Law (http://abovethelaw.com/). Those two men stand as bookends on a three-decade period in which law firms have gone from faceless institutions distinguished only by variations in the grain on their embossed stationery to entities that, willingly or not, are now dissected, commented on, and analyzed from every possible angle. Brill … [Read more...] about X-Ray Vision and the Law Firm
Some Atlanta Law Firms See Business Uptick, and Associates Benefit
Some associates in Atlanta are benefiting as their law firms detect hints of a turnaround and increased business.Some examples, reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Labor and employment law firm Fisher & Phillips gave its associates a $10,000 pay raise, citing business from companies seeking advice on labor issues and defending labor lawsuits. Morris, Manning & Martin has hired nine lawyers in the last six months, reinstated its summer associate program and restored pre-recession salaries in select practice groups after 10 percent pay cuts.Morris Manning managing partner Louise Wells told the newspaper that her firm has definitely seen signs of improvement. “We don’t have crystal balls, but all our core groups are up,” she said.Fisher & Phillips chairman Roger Quillen said his firm never experienced a downturn. “While the whole legal industry was way off, we showed substantial growth in every category,” he told the … [Read more...] about Some Atlanta Law Firms See Business Uptick, and Associates Benefit
It’s not the associate salaries, it’s the human skills that challenge law firms
Earlier this month, New York-based Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy announced it will increase its associate salaries across the board by $10,000 to $15,000—a starting salary of $190,000 for those fresh out of law school. What followed was an outcry in the legal media and reports that unhappy clients are saying they won’t pay for it. Other legal markets have reported steep increases in associate salaries by the big international firms. JUVE, the German legal weekly, reported competition for talent with some international firms paying up to 130,000 euros ($153,000) for a first-year associate—a development that has left many German law firms worried. A WAR FOR TALENT With so many emotional reactions, I will try to put things in perspective. As explained on my blog, being an excellent lawyer will revolve less and less around legal knowledge. In the future, clients will not primarily be looking for knowledge of the law, but will increasingly engage lawyers because of … [Read more...] about It’s not the associate salaries, it’s the human skills that challenge law firms
Law firms are having the best financial-growth year in about a decade, two reports conclude
Home Daily News Law firms are having the best financial-growth… Law Firms By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted December 12, 2018, 7:00 am CST iCreative3D/Shutterstock.com. Law firms increased revenues this year, posting gains during the first three quarters that are the best in about a decade, according to two new reports. The numbers differed slightly, but the conclusion was the same: 2018 is shaping up to be a good year, thanks to higher billing rates and higher demand for legal services. Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group found revenue growth of 7 percent among its surveyed law firms, while Citi Private Bank’s Law Firm Group reported revenue growth of 6.3 percent. Wells Fargo said demand increased by 3.3 percent, while Citi Private Bank found demand growth of 2.5 percent. Billing rates grew even more, increasing by 4.3 percent, according to Citi Private Bank. The New York Law Journal covered the Wells Fargo report, while Citi Private Bank released its … [Read more...] about Law firms are having the best financial-growth year in about a decade, two reports conclude