40% of Firms Cut Starting Associate Pay, While 44% Consider 2010 Cut

Leaders of American’s top 200 law firms are more optimistic than they were a year ago. But associates may not be sharing that enthusiasm.

An American Lawyer survey of law firm leaders found that 40 percent of the firms had reduced starting pay for their associates, and 44 percent are considering cuts next year. Venable managing partner Karl Racine sees permanent change afoot. “With associate salaries, there is no doubt there is a correction taking place," he told the American Lawyer (sub. req.).
Pay hits weren’t the only way associates suffered. Sixty percent of the firms had deferred associate start dates in 2009, and 43 percent expected to do so next year. The practice could become the norm, according to Davis Wright Tremaine managing partner Dave Baca. "It is my prediction that the industry is moving to a January start date, which makes a lot more sense," since it would come after year-end collections, Baca told the American Lawyer.
Cost-cutting also spurred associate layoffs and delayed the implementation of technology upgrades, the story says. It’s also producing smaller associate classes. Seventy-two percent of law firm managers said they expect their 2010 first-year associate class to be smaller.
The emphasis on reducing costs is helping the law firms’ bottom lines—and managers’ optimism.

Sixty percent of law firm leaders responding to the survey said they were somewhat optimistic about 2010, and 6 percent said they were very optimistic. Only 24 percent said they were uncertain about the year ahead, compared to 53 percent who were uncertain last year.
The optimism translates to increased expectations about profits per partner. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents expect profits per partner to increase in 2010, although only 21 percent expected the increase to be greater than 5 percent.

"A lot of expenses have been wrung out of the system," Morrison & Foerster chairman Keith Wetmore tells the American Lawyer. "We will see the benefit of that in 2010."
There is some good news for associates, though. Eighty-one percent of the respondents said it was unlikely that their firms would lay off associates or staff in 2010.

Companies Push for Flexible Schedules to Boost Women Attorneys

...The message, said Del Monte Foods Co. General Counsel James Potter, is that firms should tout part-timers as a selling point, not as a dirty secret...

Del Monte is one of a dozen major corporations involved in an initiative to boost the number of women and minorities in top law firm positions by adding part-time and flexible working schedules to the list of things they require of outside counsel. The initiative, spearheaded by the Project for Attorney Retention (PAR) and dubbed the Diversity & Flexibility Connection, seeks to help legal departments and law firms support flexible working schedules and ensure that part-time attorneys -- mostly women -- have meaningful work and important roles within their firms. The hope is that greater work flexibility and acceptance of part-time schedules will help stem the tide of women and minorities leaving law firms. In turn, greater retention will create a larger pool of women and minorities to promote to partnership.

"Honestly, I was just struck by the fact that I'd been staring at the statistics of women and minority women in partnership positions, and I had never made the connection that the reason those numbers have plateaued is because of career and life balance challenges," Potter said. "It's completely logical. You're never going to fully accomplish diversity without flexible work schedules.

"DISAPPEARING WOMEN
The legal industry has been wringing its hands for years about the lack of women in top-level positions. Women account for more than 45 percent of law firm associates but only 19 percent of partners, according to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP). Women make up more than half of all minority associates, yet only 2 percent of partners are minority women. The National Law Journal's 2009 survey of the nation's 250 largest firms found similar results, with women making up 45 percent of associates and 17 percent of partners. [For more on the NLJ 250 data, see "Bad times could have been worse for women." (paid subscription required)]...read more...

Ever wondered how to get the most out of your LinkedIn network? I recently received this great article that offers great suggestions. With LinkedIn you are potentially in contact with so many people, but this article helps you see how to showcase yourself to people in your network in a way that they see your best "you!" This is one worthy of your folder for a future "read." LinkedIn: http://lawyerist.com/how-law-students-should-use-linkedin/