Careers

AmLaw 100 Profits Up, Partners Down

Updated: Once again, the major law firms in the AmLaw 100 reportedly have posted an impressive earnings year. And, in a webinar today, as American Lawyer is about to detail the results of its latest survey of the nation’s top-grossing law firms in its May issue, the magazine’s top editor…

Apr 29, 2008 7:20 PM CDT

Big Firm Lawyer Works Part-Time—and Largely at Home

Victoria Wells has a job that many a lawyer might envy. As counsel to a major United Kingdom law firm, she works part-time from her home in Yorkshire, where she moved after marrying a farmer there, and only goes to work at Allen & Overy’s office in London one day…

Apr 29, 2008 4:55 PM CDT

Survey Says Law Firm GCs Make More Than Ever Before

Most major U.S. law firms continue to have an in-house general counsel, and the position is better-paid than ever before. On average, law firm GCs earn $750,000 in cash compensation if they hold the position full-time, according to a new survey by a legal consultant. The $750,000 represents a 34…

Apr 29, 2008 3:57 PM CDT

Worried Partners Secretly Seek Business Development Help

Worried about drastic cuts in compensation and possible de-equitization, many partners at major law firms in the Philadelphia area are trying something new to enhance their marketability. An unprecedented number reportedly are secretly seeking help from career counselors with their business development skills. “Pretty much 100 percent of marketing consultant…

Apr 28, 2008 7:45 PM CDT

Big Firms Often Pay Bar Exam Costs, Sometimes Pay Signing Bonuses

Most of the big law firms help their lawyers pick up the costs of bar exam fees and bar review courses, according to an informal survey of readers by the blog Above the Law. Fewer readers were paid a graduation bonus, a salary advance or a “stub bonus” for the…

Apr 28, 2008 5:46 PM CDT

Young Professionals More Willing to Discuss Salaries

The New York Times refers to frank discussions of salaries on websites like greedyassociates.com as evidence that younger professionals are more willing to discuss pay than their parents. “For people old enough to remember phone booths, a blunt reference to salary in a social setting still represents the height of…

Apr 28, 2008 1:57 PM CDT

Former ‘60s Radical, Now a N.Y. Judge, Still a Magnet for Trouble

Notorious as a law student in the late 1960s for his role in Columbia University campus protests, Gustin Reichbach is now a New York Supreme Court judge. But his long-ago days as a long-hair in bell-bottom pants didn’t seem so far away recently, when the judge returned to Columbia at…

Apr 25, 2008 10:58 PM CDT

Boalt Beefs Up Calif. Bar Prep After 2007 Pass Rate Dips to 82 Percent

Rattled by a pass rate on the California bar exam among its graduates in July 2007 that dipped to 82 percent, one of the state’s most prestigious law schools is focusing on better preparing its students to succeed on the ticket-punching test. In particular, graduates’ ability to pass the bar…

Apr 25, 2008 4:44 PM CDT

3rd Circuit’s Chief Judge to Chair Federal Courts’ Executive Committee

The chief judge of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been tapped to chair the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. Judge Anthony Scirica will take over the job May 1, according to a press release. He was appointed by Chief Justice John…

Apr 25, 2008 3:09 PM CDT

London Partners to Associates: At $125K, We’re Paying You Too Much

Although last year was particularly profitable for many major London law firms, corresponding raises for associate-level attorneys aren’t on the radar screen. In fact, while some magic circle firms may up the ante at least a little this year, some partners are complaining that junior lawyers already are overpaid, reports…

Apr 24, 2008 6:13 PM CDT

Meet Gordon Erspamer, VA’s ‘Worst Nightmare’ in PTSD Benefits Case

A busy BigLaw rainmaker who has for nearly 30 years made time to promote the rights of armed services veterans “is a big, unresponsive government agency’s worst nightmare,” a California newspaper says. Gordon Erspamer, a Morrison & Foerster partner who went to trial this week in a federal class action…

Apr 24, 2008 5:43 PM CDT

Pay Cut Prompted a Shearman Office in Mannheim, Germany, to Jump Ship

An across-the-board pay cut estimated at about 10 to 15 percent for all nine partners at Shearman & Sterling’s outpost in Mannheim, Germany, is reportedly what prompted the 30-lawyer office’s recent decision to abandon the mother ship and strike out again on its own. The pay cut, approved last month…

Apr 24, 2008 5:20 PM CDT

Diversity Manager Hiring Rises, But Are They Effective?

Corrected: Last year, 50 percent of law firms had designated diversity managers, and according to a new Altman Weil survey, that number has risen to nearly 60 percent. All 80 firms surveyed now have diversity committees as well. “This year, for the first time, more than half of law firms…

Apr 24, 2008 4:28 PM CDT

Judge, Former ‘Thug’ Who Kicked Whites Out of Courtroom, Teams Up With Bill Cosby

The black Atlanta-area judge who sparked controversy when he asked all whites to leave his courtroom so he could lecture the black defendants last month is partnering with comedian Bill Cosby tonight in an effort to spread their shared message to youth at risk. The pairing of judge/comedian makes sense,…

Apr 24, 2008 2:27 PM CDT

Law Practice Fear Factor: Caging the Tiger

There’s one common denominator among law students and lawyers in virtually any practice area: fear, says a Dallas psychotherapist who provides career coaching to lawyers. So learning to deal effectively with the constant concern that making a major mistake or losing a client or a case could eliminate a lawyer’s…

Apr 23, 2008 4:54 PM CDT