Associates

Dewey Adopts New Vacation Policy Allowing ‘A Reasonable Amount of Paid Time Off’

In a policy change that, Dewey & LeBoeuf says, better reflects today’s realities for practicing lawyers, the firm has eliminated a cap on vacation days. Instead, starting Jan. 1, associates and counsel are “entitled to take a reasonable amount of paid time off … subject to client demands and your…

Jan 10, 2011 7:18 PM CST

Music Critic Hails Latest Hip-Hop Album by Katten Muchin Associate

The Chicago Tribune’s music critic is impressed with the latest album by hip-hop artist Capital D, who goes by the name David Kelly in his day job as an associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman. David Kelly’s law firm bio says he concentrates his practice in mergers and acquisitions, general corporate…

Jan 7, 2011 5:08 PM CST

Percentage of Part-Time Lawyers Trails Rate of Other Professionals

The percentage of lawyers working part-time at major law firms has risen from 2.4 percent in 1994 to 6.4 percent in 2010, but the rate is still lower than that of other professionals. The percentage of part-time professionals in specialties such as engineering, architecture and medicine was 13.5 percent in…

Jan 6, 2011 3:16 PM CST

Ex-Associate Gets Prison Time for Stealing $500K from Greenberg Traurig

A former Greenberg Traurig associate who pleaded guilty to stealing about $500,000 from the law firm has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. The disbarred lawyer, Michael Shaw, 37, will also have to perform 100 hours of community service, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Shaw submitted phony invoices…

Jan 6, 2011 12:43 PM CST

As 6 Partners Leave Fla. Trial Firm, Ex-Associates Get Top Billing

The sudden departure of six Lytal & Reiter partners last year has opened a door to a new opportunity for four former associates of the venerable West Palm Beach personal injury firm. Stepping in initially, along with the Florida firm’s retired founder, to help handle the unexpectedly heavy workload after…

Jan 5, 2011 8:21 PM CST

Partner of Bankrupt Rothstein Law Firm Faces Pay Clawback Trial Next Month

Russell Adler and his lawyers say he did nothing wrong and never even saw a financial statement for his now-shuttered former firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. But Adler, who apparently wasn’t a partner there, even though he was listed in the firm’s name and served as RRA’s vice president, is facing…

Jan 5, 2011 5:45 PM CST

Merit-Based Compensation Backlash Has Ex-Partner Evaluating the Merits

Some law firms that adopted merit-based compensation as recently as a year ago are now abandoning the idea, according to a one-time BigLaw partner who wonders if that’s a good thing. Writing for the Am Law Daily, former Kirkland & Ellis partner Steven Harper says a backlash against merit-based systems…

Jan 3, 2011 2:20 PM CST

Blog’s 2011 Forecast: Lawyers Will Still Be Miserable, and the Billable Hour Won’t Die

In 2011, law firms will continue to blather on about alternative billing, work-life balance and lawyer morale. But the billable hour won’t die and lawyers will continue to be miserable. Those are the predictions of The Careerist, who says law firms will push lawyers on two fronts: first, to put…

Jan 3, 2011 12:49 PM CST

Eye-Popping Bonuses at Boies Schiller Top Out at Over $200K, Average $75K

Another elite law firm known for its litigation work has shown associates the money, bigtime. After a “very busy” year, Boies Schiller & Flexner is paying its top-performing associates annual bonuses that exceed $200,000, partner Phil Korologos tells Above the Law in a written statement. The average bonus for associates…

Dec 22, 2010 6:04 PM CST

Quinn Emanuel to Pay Associate Bonuses of Up to $82K, As Boies Schiller Tops Out at Over $200K

Updated: Associates at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan may be tethered to their smart phones. But the firm is showing them the money, recognizing their work with year-end bonuses of as much as double what some top New York law firms are paying. They range from about $8,500 to $82,500,…

Dec 21, 2010 6:11 PM CST

Law Firm Group Decides to Have a Ball, Lose It All in Flash Mob Dance (See Video)

Updated: Lawyers and staffers at the Toronto law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon got a good reception when they danced to a Black Eyed Peas song at their office Christmas party, so they decided to do it again. A group of nearly 50 people from the law firm staged a…

Dec 21, 2010 5:06 PM CST

Law Firm Trajectory Has Nine Stages, Followed by a Re-examination of Life Stages

Associates who attain partnership are only one-third of the way through their law firm journey, according to a new white paper by a legal consulting firm. Successful lawyers go through nine career stages in their law firms, according to the white paper published by Hildebrandt Baker Robbins. There are three…

Dec 21, 2010 1:48 PM CST

Clifford Chance Shows US Associates the Money, Will Pay Year-End Bonuses of Up to $35K

Matching the end-of-year moolah being paid by a number of other top BigLaw firms to associates for their work in 2010, Clifford Chance has announced that its United States associates will get bonuses of between $7,500 and $35,000 at the beginning of 2011. The London-based megafirm says, however, that “individual…

Dec 16, 2010 9:23 PM CST

Legal Recruiters See More Hiring, But Laid-Off Associates Aren’t in Demand

Legal recruiters are reporting an uptick in law firm hiring, but the news isn’t good for laid-off associates. Law firms are mostly looking for lawyers who are currently employed, recruiters tell the Am Law Daily. Margie Grossberg, a partner at legal search firm Major Lindsey & Africa, tells the publication…

Dec 16, 2010 12:00 PM CST

Career Consultant Castigates Yale Law Grad for ‘Very Immature’ Attitude About Doc Review

A career consultant had a one-word answer for a recent Yale Law School grad who wanted to know if being a “fantastic writer” could offer a guaranteed escape route from the dull routine of document review as an incoming law firm associate: No. But then Ann Israel went on to…

Dec 13, 2010 8:16 PM CST