Holland & Knight Cuts Associate Pay by Up to 10 Percent

Holland & Knight is cutting associate pay, but not everyone will see a pay cut.

The pay cuts will average about 7 percent, but the amounts will vary, the Daily Business Review reports. As many as 50 South Florida associates will see pay cuts as high as 10 percent, the story says.

Joe Ankus of legal search firm Ankus Consulting told the Miami Herald he expects other law firms to follow with similar pay cuts. “They're all playing follow the leader, and it's like dominoes,'' he said.

The firm also plans to announce a change in its associate compensation system later this year, with the changes taking effect next year.

Above the Law was the first to post a statement announcing the pay cuts from the firm’s managing partner Steve Sonberg.

“Like many other firms, Holland & Knight is reducing the base salaries of its associates, with limited exceptions,” the statement says. “The associate salary reductions range from 0 to 10 percent. In addition, the firm is reducing the base salaries of some senior counsel/professionals. The total reductions approximate 7 percent.”

Other Florida-based firms that have announced pay cuts include Akerman Senterfitt, cutting associate pay by 10 percent; Ruden McClosky, cutting the pay of associates and nonequity partners by 9 percent; and Greenberg Traurig, cutting pay of summer associates and first-year associates by 10 percent, the stories say.