Pittsburgh-based Biglaw firm K&L Gates has been steadily losing attorneys all year long, reports Above the Law, citing ALM Intelligence data.

The data show that “from December 2018 through October 2019, the firm lost a total of 96 partners, while only picking up 32 in that timeframe. That net decrease represents 7.9 percent of the total partnership. And across all attorneys, the firm is net down 56 lawyers.”

During that period the firm hired more associates than it lost — 164 hires and 154 departures.

Read the Above the Law article.

Forbes reports that the national average annual wage of an lawyer is $144,230, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is not far from being three-times the average annual salary for all occupations, $51,960.

But Forbes contributor Andrew DePietro explains that average salary is for the U.S. overall, which hides significant differences depending on geography, from state to state.

For example, the average lawyer salary in California, $171,550, is about double the salary in Montana, which is $88,600.

The report lists average salaries for all states.

Read the article.

Another Biglaw firm has announced its bonus scales for associates, but this one adds something extra for those lawyers who put in the really long hours, reports Above the Law.

Schulte, Roth & Zabel announced a bonus scale that is in line with other Biglaw firms that have already announced. Associates in the classes of 2010-2012 will receive $100,000, while more recent hires can expect bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $90,000, depending on their length of service.

The firm will provide extra payouts of $20,000 or $40,000 to associates who hit billable-hour marks of 2,300 or 2,500 hours, respectively.

Read the Above the Law article.

Lawyers have long been a reliable source of campaign funds for Democratic presidential hopefuls. But the legal set’s political contributions haven’t been this blue since at least 2004, according to a report by Bloomberg Law, citing a study by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Lawyers and employees of the nation’s law firms have contributed nearly $17 million to presidential campaigns so far this election cycle, and 95 percent of the total has gone to Democrats, the study found.

President Trump’s campaign raised slightly more than $785,000 from lawyers and law firms.

The report quotes Maya Sen, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School who co-authored a paper, “The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers”:

“Well-educated professions are very left-leaning at the moment. It’s a new dynamic in American politics. We really haven’t seen this before.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

Women make up as many as 50 percent of new associates, yet they leave law firms much more frequently than men, the American Bar Association found in a new study.

Bloomberg Law, reporting on the ABA study, summarized the findings:

“The report found that there are big differences in how the genders view their firm’s handling of promotions, leadership opportunities and equity partnerships.

“Some 91% of firm leaders, for example, felt their firms are “actively advocates of gender diversity,” while only 62% of the women lawyers responding thought the same thing.”

The study found that women cited the level of stress at work, care-taking commitments, differences in pay, and the firm’s emphasis on marketing as negative factors.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

A survey of chief legal officers by the consulting firm Altman Weil found that 76 percent of the respondents think there will be a recession in the United States within the next two years.

And that finding may be the reason why corporate legal departments are showing caution in spending, points out the ABA Journal on a report on the survey results.

One of the findings indicates that only 27 percent of departments increased their spending on law firms in 2019, down from 42 percent that did so last year.

Read the  ABA Journal article.

Biglaw firm Milbank was the first to announce its associate bonuses this season.

The scale at Milbank is the same as last year’s, Above the Law reports. The bonuses range from $15,000 to $100,000 and will be paid on Dec. 31, according to senior editor Staci Zaretsky.

And that lack of an increase is causing some negative feedback, writes Above the Law’s executive editor Elie Mystal:

“Based on my inbox, associates are not exactly thrilled about the extra $15,000 to $100,000 this scale provides. Of particular issue is the fact that in 2018, associates got summer bonuses. In 2019, they did not. So, in overall bonus compensation, a same-scale bonus actually results in less compensation for associates.”

Read the Above the Law articles here and here.

Bloomberg Law reports that Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is accused in a new lawsuit in New York of discriminating and retaliating against a black former associate because of his complaints about racial bias at the law firm.

Kaloma Cardwell alleges the firm denied him job assignments — causing him to go from billing more than 100 hours per month to zero billable hours for four consecutive months. The firm then fired him, according to his complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Cardwell was the only black attorney hired in the firm’s 2014 class of more than 120 new associates, and one of only four black attorneys at the entire firm, the complaint says.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

The 10th edition of “Best Law Firms,” published by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers, ranks 14,365 law firms in various areas of legal practice.

Presented in tiers, the rankings give designations to firms in 75 major practice areas nationally and in 127 practice areas regionally.

In the group of 75 practice areas, some of the firms earning top recognition include Jones Day in commercial litigation, K&L Gates in corporate law, Troutman Sanders in energy law, McDermott Will & Emery in health care law, Covington & Burling in insurance, Bracewell in oil and gas, and Cooley in technology law.

Read the article.

DLA Piper, fighting a sexual-assault claim against a former partner, filed a response to the accusation Tuesday, saying the lawyer who filed the complaint orchestrated a “flirtation” to advance her career, reports Bloomberg News.

DLA and former partner Louis Lehot parted ways after his colleague Vanina Guerrero accused the star Silicon Valley lawyer of sexually assaulting her.

The firm said it conducted an “impartial investigation” of the matter.

“Ms. Guerrero was a willing participant in a lengthy emotional flirtation with Mr. Lehot that she orchestrated to advance her career,” DLA Piper said in a letter to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, citing Guerrero’s emails.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Jones Day’s “hypercentralized,” subjective decision-making process places final control over pay, promotion, and other significant decisions “unchecked in the hands of one man,” six female former lawyers told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

That man is managing partner Stephen J. Brogan, claim Nilab Tolton and the five other lead plaintiffs. They filed a supplemental memorandum Oct. 24  opposing Jones Day’s motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in their proposed class action, filed in April, according to a Bloomberg Law article.

Brogan backs his “totalitarian grip” on Jones Day with a “no whining policy” under which women aren’t allowed to raise sex-based inequities, they say.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

When Pepper Hamilton partner David Stratton received an invitation to the firm’s upcoming judicial diversity panel, he forwarded the message to two other partners with a derisive comment about the affinity groups, according to a report on Above the Law.

The problem, though, is that he later sent an apology for his snippy comment, he used the reply-all feature. That was a bad idea, because not everyone was even aware of his original, wildly inappropriate comments until the apology was sent.

Above the Law senior editor Kathryn Rubino said the firm’s bosses weren’t happy with this turn of events. “They quickly sent their own email from managing partner Thomas Cole, distancing themselves from Stratton’s off-color comments, and assuring everyone the matter is being properly handled behind the scenes,” she writes.

Read the Above the Law article.

The proposed changes to the rules for lawyer advertising in Texas are on track to be submitted for official approval, according to Bruce Vincent, writing on the website of Muse Communications.

The State Bar of Texas’ board of directors will have 120 days to consider the amended rules that are expected to be submitted by the Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Referenda in January.

Some of the new rules cover such topics as the use of trade names for lawyers, claims of legal specialization, the submission of law firm websites for approval, and gifts to nonlawyer referral sources.

Read the article.

José Angel Toledo is the subject of 31 disciplinary complaints filed with the Florida Bar by his clients and a medical provider, according to a petition the Bar filed with the Florida Supreme Court.

“The complaints against José Toledo say he stopped responding to client inquiries and failed to distribute funds in legal settlements,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. “The complaints echo one another, with some clients saying they never received money from settlements and others saying they had trouble getting in touch with him.”

Investigators have been unable to find him, too. His landlord evicted him from his office in September, and a Bar investigator entered the office and found nine filing cabinets and six credenzas filled with clients’ files.

Read the  Tampa Bay Times article.

Bloomberg Law reports that law students from elite universities protested outside DLA Piper offices in three cities Oct. 10, calling on the firm to drop arbitration agreements from employee contracts.

“Demonstrators from Harvard, Columbia, NYU and Georgetown law schools handed out leaflets in New York, Washington, and Boston,” writes Bloomberg’s Stephanie Russell-Kraft. “They’re part of a student-led initiative leveraging their status as top Big Law recruits to fight what they says is ‘harassment and discrimination in the legal profession.’”

DLA Piper partner Vanina Guerrero, who claims she was sexually assaulted and retaliated against by a fellow partner, said she is unable to bring those claims in court because of a mandatory arbitration agreement.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

Forbes has partnered with market research company Statista to create a list of top U.S. corporate law firms, selecting 243 firms and identifying the most recommended ones in 17 practice areas, based on survey responses from 2,500 lawyers.

“The results include not only names well-known in the corporate and legal worlds—white-shoe law firms and members of London’s so-called “magic circle” of top law firms—but also boutique firms that focus on very specific branches of the law,” explains the article.

Of the 243 firms on the list, Kirkland & Ellis is the top revenue-producing firm in the world, with more than $3 billion in annual revenue. Also on that $3 billion list is Latham & Watkins.

Read the Forbes article.

Neeraj Rajpal has joined Stroock as chief information officer, overseeing a national team of more than 25 across the firm’s offices.

Neeraj has served as CIO at three Am Law 100 firms, including Morrison & Foerster and K&L Gates, and has over 25 years of strategic IT experience.

In a release, the firm said Neeraj has overseen IT strategic road maps, security and information management, cybersecurity and privacy programs, disaster recovery and infrastructure management, among other areas. He is also fluent in cutting-edge aspects of legal tech trends such as blockchain and artificial intelligence.

The firm recently realigned its talent management and professional development functions, including the creation of new assistant director of talent acquisition and director of talent and inclusion positions.

The number of Biglaw firms on Working Mother’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For climbed from two in 2018 to five this year, reports Above the Law.

Making a return appearance on the list this year are Arnold & Porter and Katten Muchin Rosenman.

Joining them on the list this year are:

• Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner
• Katten Muchin Rosenman
• Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Read the Above the Law article.

An Above the Law contributor takes a look at a Bureau of Labor Statistics report and finds that the estimated mean annual wage for lawyers is a respectable $144,230.

Jonathan Wolf points out that while $144,000 a year doesn’t even scratch the bottom of the Milbank/Simpson/Cravath scale, it’s still “more than enough to live a comfortable life and have a reasonable shot at paying off your student loan debt.”

He breaks down the numbers by median annual wage (lower than mean annual) and shows the range from the 10th percentile to the 75th percentile.

He also looks at judges’ wages, which tend to be lower than other attorneys’.

Read the Above the Law article.

Above the Law is reporting that Morgan Lewis & Bockius will be offering voluntary buyout packages for all of its legal secretaries, across the country.

Senior editor Staci Zaretsky writes:

“Sources say that the firm’s separation package is extremely generous, and that those who take the deal will receive 2 weeks’ salary for each year of service, up to 52 weeks’ pay. Compared to the six-month cap we’ve seen at many Biglaw firms, longtime legal secretaries at Morgan Lewis could be walking away with a huge payday should they choose to leave.”

Read the Above the Law article.