Law Practice Management
Attorney Layoff Alternative: Temporary 10% Pay Cut at Much Shelist
Posted Feb 23, 2009 4:42 PM CST
By Martha Neil
Amidst the latest news of law firm layoffs and salary restructuring announcements, a Chicago-based business law firm has temporarily imposed a 10-percent pay cut on partners and associates.
The measure will be in effect until May 31, when the fiscal year ends at 80-attorney Much Shelist Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Although the firm has let four staff members go, the only attorney layoff was not for economic reasons, says chairman David Brown. However, he makes no promises for the future: "I don't think there's any business out there that can tell what next month is going to look like with any certainty," he tells the newspaper.
Lawyers who aren't busy are being encouraged to spend a few hours at client offices without billing for their time, he says, describing the plan in military terms as "embedding ourselves."
Other law firms in the news because of changing compensation schemes include Patton Boggs and Thompson Hine, which, in addition to recent layoffs, has also cut associate pay, notes the Am Law Daily.
WolfBlock also cut associate pay by 10 percent recently.
Related coverage:
Above the Law: "Nationwide Pay Freeze Watch: Pillsbury Two-Step"
- How B of A’s GC Got Fired: Leave Now, and Leave Your BlackBerry Behind
- Schools Ranked by 'Super Lawyers' Produced
- Law Firm Price Wars Break Out as Some Try ‘Loss Leader’ Bids for Work
- Five Questions for Law Firms Abandoning Lockstep Compensation
- Judge Jails 2 Attorneys for Contempt in 4 Days
- Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay
- Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer's Paperwork
- Skadden Jumps on the Bonus Bandwagon
- ABA Executive Director Resigns
- Nasty Attitude to Co-Worker, Naughty Word in E-Mail Cost 2 Their Jobs
Should Supreme Court Justices Be Able to Review News Accounts Before Publication?
Comments
B. McLeod
Feb 23, 2009 5:11 PM CST
Yaar! Much she list, with ‘er sails in rags (and the cook in the scuppers wi’ the staggers and jags).
Flag this comment
Al Veoli
Feb 27, 2009 5:19 AM CST
Is this a law firm? It sounds like some kind of place you go to recover from Montezuma’s curse!
It may not be a bad idea—sharing the pain. Of course, you do have to put up with silly comments like the one above from B. McLeod—just what they need, a drunken Irish Sailor?
Flag this comment
Harcourt Fenton Mudd
Feb 27, 2009 7:21 AM CST
I’d rather take a 10% pay cut than be “laid off”.
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Feb 27, 2009 8:14 AM CST
“Scottish sailor,” Sheketovits (and you’re fooling nobody with the new identity).
Flag this comment
Chicago lawyer
Feb 27, 2009 8:43 AM CST
Having worked there, I can say I’d rather be laid off than take a pay cut and be forced to endure.
Flag this comment
AndytheLawyer
Feb 27, 2009 9:15 AM CST
Lawyer embedding at client offices without lawyering? What are they supposed to do there? Make coffee? File? Collate? Take phone messages?
Flag this comment
Doode
Feb 27, 2009 9:22 AM CST
“embedding” question - for clients without in-house, having an outside counsel show up and essentially hold “office hours” is valuable. The clients get to ask the tons of little legal questions they never get to ask otherwise.
Flag this comment
Comentator
Feb 27, 2009 11:29 AM CST
B. McLeod
Must you comment on every article? You must be someone who likes to hear themself talk.
Flag this comment
Survey Says!
Feb 27, 2009 12:03 PM CST
I think the more important point her is - oh wait… I just got laid off… I’ll have to finish this later.
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Feb 27, 2009 12:16 PM CST
Comentator, you must be new to the site. I don’t comment on every article. Also, I don’t read my posts aloud. So, in a two-sentence post, you managed to be 100% off base.
Congratulations.
Flag this comment
EmJayCee
Feb 27, 2009 11:03 PM CST
I thought #1 was f***ing hilarious! Avast, ye maties!
Flag this comment
SAF
Feb 28, 2009 7:19 AM CST
B. McLeod is my boy (or girl, if that’s the case). His/her innane commenatry is better than 95% of the posts here anyway. Keep ‘em coming!
Flag this comment
Peden
Feb 28, 2009 4:24 PM CST
Ahhh… 10% pay cut as opposed to layoffs. Well, I think I would have to choose the pay cut. Especially since their 90% salary is probably still more than mine at a smaller mid-size….
Flag this comment
Best yet
Feb 28, 2009 4:57 PM CST
I agree with 11 and 12, McLeod’s comment is likely the best I’ve ever read here. Too funny!
(That’s what they get for naming their firm Much Shelist!)
Flag this comment
EmJayCee
Feb 28, 2009 8:19 PM CST
>”(That’s what they get for naming their firm Much Shelist!)”
My thoughts exactly!
Flag this comment
Allen Sheketovits
Mar 1, 2009 9:04 PM CST
Don’t let it get to your Head, McLoud. A couple of funny posts and all of a sudden you think you’re Groocho Marx.
Trust me, your no Groocho!
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Mar 1, 2009 9:31 PM CST
Hey, Hooray for Captain Spaulding, the African explorer. . .
Ah, Sheketovits, my old friend, I’m afraid you are right this time. I am not he, and he is not me. But in his time, was he not great? So many peole he made happy!
Flag this comment
Add a Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.
Commenting has expired on this post.