“As Above the Law has written many times in the past, compensation for Biglaw counsel is a bit of a crapshoot. At some firms, counsel watch senior associates blow by them in total compensation. While other firms reward special counsel with the top bonus tier, or provide some kind of off grid,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law.

“The newly merged Troutman Pepper decided not to leave its senior folks hanging. The firm previously announced special bonuses and raises for associates. Their most recent announcement focuses on the compensation of senior attorneys and counsel. Because 2021 is so unusual at least as far as attorney compensation goes Troutman.”

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“Law firm Boies Schiller Flexner will require attorneys and staff going into its U.S. offices to be fully vaccinated, effective Tuesday. The vaccine requirement also applies to vendors entering any of the firm’s 10 offices, a firm spokeswoman told Bloomberg Law. Boies Schiller will ask unvaccinated,” reports Chris Opfer in Bloomberg Law.

“The implementation of this vaccine requirement is critical to safeguarding the health of the lawyers, staff and families in our Boies Schiller Flexner community, the firm spokeswoman said via email. Our number one priority throughout the pandemic has been the overall safety and wellbeing of our people and that consideration.”

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“Attrition is a top concern across Big Law and I found last week that its spike cuts evenly across a group of 10 of the most prestigious firms and the 10 best places to work, as ranked by Vault. But the prestigious firms are hiring a lot more associates this year than the best places to work, I wrote. Underneath that top line data, one prestigious firm bucked the trend Cravath, Swaine Moore,” reports Roy Strom in their Bloomberg Law.

“The Wall Street firm placed No. 1 in the Vault prestige rankings this year and last. But that hasn’t made it immune to associate attrition. In fact, associate departures at Cravath are on pace this year to rise to their highest levels since at least 2017, according to data from Decipher, which provides due diligence for Big Law hires, and Firm Prospects, which tracks law firm rosters. Cravath had seen 68 associates depart this year through Monday, the data show.”

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“Fennemore, the fastest growing Biglaw firm in the country, added nationally renowned Denver litigation firm Reilly LLP to its roster. The group of accomplished trial lawyers, led by Dan Reilly, has a long history of success on complex trustee and fiduciary litigation including securing a $106 million,” reports Abbi Whitaker in Nevada Business.

“Reilly served as lead counsel defending the trust and estate plan of the former Denver Bronco’s owner. Recently the trial court dismissed the claims holding the trust valid and enforceable and that the trustees had full and complete authority to administer it as written. Reilly also has always had a deep commitment to pro bono work and proudly.”

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“I speak with Stacey Breen, Managing Director at Major Lindsay & Africa, about the twists and turns of her career that led her to her role at MLA, and the motivation behind their recent Return to Office Survey. We discuss the most surprising results of the survey, including generational differences.” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above The Law.

“Additionally, we talk about some of the challenges women faced during COVID and what the industry can do to fix them as we return to the office. The Jabot podcast is an offshoot of the Above the Law brand focused on the challenges women, people of color, and other diverse populations face in the legal industry.”

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“August is nearly upon is, and that means we’re getting closer and closer not just to the end of the summer, but the date when lawyers at many firms are expected to return to the office in person.  Some firms are going forward with a hybrid model, meaning that employee time will be split between the office,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above The Law.

“Weil Gotshal is one of those firms. As noted in a memo sent to all employees in May, the firm’s New York, Boston, D.C. Miami, Dallas, and Houston offices opened at 100 percent capacity in June with the Silicon Valley office opening at 100 percent capacity on June 15th, the firm will be fully back to business on September 7.”

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“After years locked in a conservatorship, Britney Spears has a new lawyer and an opportunity to get out of the arrangement that see says leaves her with a meager stipend and involuntarily stuck on birth control. Mathew Rosengart, a former Souter clerk from the justice’s days,” reports Joe Patrice in Above the Law.

“New Hampshire bench, represents Britney in the fight now and just filed a 120-page petition to remove her father as sole conservator. The petition alleges Jamie Spears paid himself $16,000 a month more than Britney is allowed to make and took percentages from Britney’s deals as if he were a manager or agent, despite performing.”

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“When a business suffers a cyber incident, a myriad of legal and regulatory implications follow. To handle such an incident effectively and legally. The current cyber threat landscape is incredibly active given the rush to remote work as a result of the pandemic,” reports Heather Bearfield, Frank Rudewicz and David Sun in Boston Business Journal.

“A significant increase in security incidents has occurred. Meanwhile, hackers both individuals and nation states recognize this and continue to exploit weaknesses in cybersecurity systems and practices. A recent global study conducted by Ponemon Institute and IBM Security noted the average cost of a data breach in the U.S.”

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“Poor Eric Grossman. It must be awfully hard for a humble lawyer to be suddenly catapulted to world fame. One minute he was simply the hardworking chief legal officer of Morgan Stanley, then overnight he was anointed the dinosaur of Wall Street,” reports Vivia Chen in Bloomberg Law.

“As first reported by Bloomberg Law, Grossman recently issued an edict of sorts that law firms stop the remote work nonsense and return full time to the office—tout de suite! If firms fail to do so, he intimated that they might lose the mighty bank as a client. In a July 15 email memo to outside counsel he writes: “We choose to hire you all because of the quality of your lawyers and the product they deliver. I strongly believe that firms that return to the office will have a significant performance advantage over those that do not.”

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“One by one, Biglaw firms have announced plans to return to the office, but not many have announced that all associates must be vaccinated. The majority of firms have strongly encouraged vaccination, but firms that are outright mandating vaccination seem to be few and far between. Today, we have news on a firm that’s not only requiring vaccination, but also has a relatively flexible remote work policy as well,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above The Law.

“This past Friday, Clifford Chance announced an agile working policy for its American offices, with a return to office-based working to start on September 13. That plan involves up to two remote days each week for both attorneys and business professionals (and time spent with clients outside the office will be considered time in the office). Once or twice a month, all employees will be expected to be in the office on specific days for specific events. The firm’s plan is relatively simple so that employees can “reap the benefits without heavy bureaucracy.” That’s a nice change of pace from what we’ve seen at most firms.”

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“Every Biglaw firm hell, most employers, regardless of industry is trying to figure out exactly what post COVID work looks like. Because, while remote work got us through, it’s unclear exactly how much of that will be in our future. One Biglaw partner has taken to sending pleas to attorneys asking them,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above The Law.

“Charles Chuck Palmer is the managing partner of Troutman Pepper’s Atlanta office. And he’d really, Really like folks to be back in the office. He links it to building the firm’s culture, and assures everyone that associates are MORE than just billing machines. We talk a lot about our firm’s culture about how we like each other and care.”

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“One of Wall Street’s top paid lawyers is telling his outside law firms to put an end to remote work and force their attorneys back to the office. Eric Grossman, chief legal officer at Morgan Stanley, sent a memo Thursday to law firms and legal service providers encouraging them to improve client service by having lawyers and employees return to the office, according to a company official. Grossman’s memo suggested that those continuing to operate remotely risk their relationship with the financial services giant,” reports Brian Baxter in BloomBerg Law.

“Grossman declined to comment on his missive, which comes as Big Law grapples with updating remote work policies stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Morgan Stanley has asked its own employees to plan on returning to the office by Labor Day. In a Thursday earnings call with analysts, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said the best mentoring comes from watching others in the workplace.”

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“Besides the pandemic itself, perhaps no topic has dominated recent conversation among white-collar professionals like working from home. The upsides. The downsides. How long it will last. Whether the nature of work has changed forever. Everyone has an opinion and a preference,” reports Lateral Link in their Above The Law.

“For most of 2020 and early 2021, the remote work debate didn’t have much immediate practical implication. Like it or not, Biglaw attorneys were mainly working from home. But now that offices are reopening, lawyers face a choice either accept whatever new policy their firm is adopting or look to move to a firm that better aligns.”

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“If you’re an associate who’s got a major case of the Mondays, there’s nothing that’ll boost your motivation like an announcement that not only will your firm be raising salaries across the board for all associates but it will also be doling out special bonuses for some Kasowitz Benson Torres had,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above The Law.

“Having taken out a PPP loan one which the firm has not yet disclosed if it’s been forgiven, but finished up the year with $219,396,000 gross revenue, landing it in 142nd place in the most recent Am Law 100 ranking. The firm is just now getting around to joining peer firms for special bonuses and commensurate salary increases.”

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“July 1 has come and gone, and Biglaw associates across the country whose firms have matched are now eagerly awaiting their fat new paychecks on the $205K Davis Polk salary scale. Of course, we’ve seen some stragglers when it comes to matching the market, and by that, we mean that a few firms took their time sweet time and decided to announce their matches yesterday,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above The Law.

“One firm that waited until the eleventh hour to match the new salary scale is really stretching its associates’ patience thin. Not only did partners wait to make their announcement until July 1, but these raises won’t be effective until February 1, 2022, a full seven months after nearly all other firms have instituted their salary increases. But, there is a bright side.”

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“For corporate law departments, doing more with less became a pandemic-era cliche, as many faced the combination of increasing legal challenges and reduced organizational revenue. While this led to a heightened focus on legal operations in 2020, a new survey shows that it also failed to slow the continued rise of Biglaw billing rates,” reports Jeremy Barker in Above The Law.

“The report also showed the 50 largest firms again taking a commanding share of this work, with 49 of outside counsel spending going to this group. The report wasn’t all bad news for budget-conscious GCs, however. The use of alternative fee arrangements also continued its steady growth for corporate counsel, with 16.8 of matters having a billing arrangement not entirely composed of hourly billing.”

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“Even though July 1 has come and gone, Biglaw firms are still announcing compensation moves. This weekend, yet another firm made fireworks when it notified associates that salaries would be exploding, as well as bonuses. Exciting news all around, but there’s a little caveat on the salary news: nothing will be happening until 2022,” reports Staci Zaretsky in Above The Law.

“Vedder Price, a firm that grossed $255,000,000 in 2020, landing it at No. 127 on the most recent Am Law 200, announced a new bonus program for associates on Saturday. Those with at least 1,800 annualized chargeable hours as of December 31, 2021 (including up to 100 pro bono hours) as well as a performance rating of 3 or better will receive base performance bonuses on the following scale.”

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“Good news for associates that haven’t, just yet, gotten the raises making their way through Biglaw firms are still announcing salary increases. The latest firm to make associates happy with well-deserved compensation bumps is Alston & Bird,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above The Law.

“The firm, which took in $851,601,000 in gross revenue last year, making them 53rd in the Am Law 100, announced a brand new salary scale yesterday. And it is a familiar compensation grid, at least for Biglaw observers, as Alston & Bird matched the raises set by Davis Polk.”

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“Listen, at the end of the day, any raise is better than no raise. And while associates may get pangs of jealousy when they hear about the $205,000 pay day for their peers, there’s still a place for Biglaw firms that don’t live up to the big raises going around,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law.

“Snell & Wilmer, a firm with $283,500,000 in gross revenue last year making it 115th on the AmLaw 200, announced raises this week. But they’re not quite as generous as other Biglaw firms are handing out. Announced during an associate town hall, salary raises will vary by location.”

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“There can be more than one motivation underlying that sentiment. The chance to earn more money tends to be part of the appeal, particularly if the lawyer is treating an especially successful client as the reference point. But beyond money, attorneys who yearn for a business role are often drawn to the notion of managing a P&L. In other words, they like the idea of being in charge of a business,” reports Lateral Link in Above the Law.

“The thing is, if you are a Biglaw partner, you’re already running a business: your practice. It might not feel that way. Maybe you view your firm’s managing partner as the person who is running the business, and relative to that leader, you feel like you don’t have much management autonomy. If that is your view, it may be worth considering that most of the clients on the business side are constrained by decisions made higher up the pyramid.”

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