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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My firm (20-30 range) has a global town hall today.  Partners didn't get a draw this quarter and I'm thinking this will be layoffs, but I'm stupidly optimistic they'll start with paycuts.  [/quote]

Update: partner comp reduced by 20% for first half of year, hiring freeze, summer program will get dialed back (but not canceled), no salary reductions for associates or staff.  Caveat re: layoffs/pay reductions - this is the absolute last resort; don't want to get there, but we really don't know how long this will last or how bad it will get so no blanket promise to never do so.  [/quote]

At the very least, reviews are going to get a lot tougher and there will be more “performance” terminations.  No one wants to be the one to admit to Latham-ing associates, although Latham sure seems to have survived just fine.[/quote]

What is "Latham-ing" an associate?[/quote]

It’s when a firm lays off associates due to financial constraints or to boost profits but tells the associates fired that it was due to their poor performance. Done by most big firms. [/quote]

Ah, okay. I'm not in the law profession myself but have plenty of friends who are, including a partner at Latham, so I was just curious.

Sounds about right from what I do know about big law![/quote]

Large law firms have devolved into a horrible cesspool. They need to follow a more corporate model and hire fewer people with a view to have them stay. Charge reasonable rates. Pay associates far less. Allow for more job security. Should devalue billable hours and value good work and team building etc.  The accounting firms are like this. Big law can do it. [/quote]

You aren’t wrong. The high associate salaries lead to high hours requirements and high rates and no tolerance for a dip in performance. [/quote]

OP here.  the salary jumps in successive years is going to absolutely screw firms like mine (vault 60-ish ranked) that try to play the elite firm game but doesn't have the business model to support it.  if we start laying people off, it will be in large part to us following the herd and paying first years $190k.

incidentally, there were jumps in biglaw pay in 2005, then 2006 - then the economy shit the bed in late 2007.  looks a lot like now.  and just before 9/111, i think biglaw jumped to 125k for first years.

[b]are lawyers just inherently god-awful businesspeople?[/b]

anyway, i am a partner (or, i should say, "partner" as only 10% of my comp is equity), and there is a very good chance i'll be laid off. [/quote]
That is a good question. [/quote]

No, actually they're not awful business people at all.  To the contrary, they generally know the model as a PP mentioned - churn and burn young, smart, eager associates.  But this only works if they're not too greedy by pulling too much out of the firm's profits and failing to keep a healthy reserve for the lean times.  Naturally these protections only protect the firm, not associates.  Associates need to think for themselves.  Unfortunately, your average 25-year old, fresh out of a top 50 law school is more interested in pleasing his/her boss (just like law school professors) than having the maturity of expecting something more than just a temporary paycheck for a few years.  Now some might argue that first year associates aren't worth $190k, and I'd agree with that.  But if firms reduced associate pay, they wouldn't change their business model.  One of the reasons that firms raised associate pay back in 1999/2000 to $125k was because many start up tech companies were luring away the best and brightest.[/quote]

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