60c6b663e50344a4b1137e33c577b0671514Blank Rome LLP announced Thursday that it would be cutting new associate salaries by $15,000 in five offices and more senior associate salaries by 2 percent to 10 percent, blaming unfavorable market conditions.
The starting salary for new associates will be reduced from $160,000 to $145,000 in New York; from $145,000 to $130,000 in Philadelphia and Princeton, N.J.; and from $150,000 to $135,000 in Washington and Wilmington, Del.
Salaries for more senior classes of associates will be reduced by 2 percent to 10 percent on a sliding scale “which recognizes the relative contribution” of those associates, the firm said.
“This is a market adjustment,” Blank Rome spokesman Ray Topper said. “The firm remains in strong financial health, and is on budget for this year. We are confident that our actions are in line with evolving market conditions among our competition, and, more importantly, with the expectations of our clients.”
Blank Rome is the latest of many firms to cut associate salaries in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP revealed that it would be cutting associate salaries by $10,000, while Alston & Bird LLP opted to trim associate pay by $5,000. Some Schnader partners have also volunteered to take a 5% pay cut, the firm said.
On Tuesday, the Daily Business Review reported that Florida powerhouse Ruden McClosky was cutting the pay of associates and nonequity partners by 9 percent, with equity partners unlikely to be reimbursed the 18 percent of their pay previously held back.
Venable LLP also enacted sweeping pay cuts earlier this week.
Starting in July, Kaye Scholer LLP intends to cut the salaries of junior associates who are not on track to hit their billable-hour targets for 2009, opting for a surgical strike rather than an across-the-board cut.
For the rest of the year, the New York-based firm will reduce by 20 percent the salaries of first- and second-year associates who failed to hit their June 1 billable targets, suggesting that they will not clock 1,600 hours by year's end, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP recently instituted a similar plan to base salary reductions of up to 20 percent on an attorney's productivity.
Not all associates will see their salaries reduced, and the most productive attorneys will be exempted from the cuts, firm spokeswoman Sandi Sonnenfeld said in mid-June.
In mid-May, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP opted to slash associate salaries to $105,000 and insisted that the young attorneys enter a six-month intensive training program.
The multipronged training program is meant to make associates more valuable to clients and educate young lawyers in traditional legal skills and clients backgrounds, firm representatives said at the time.
Other firms, including Latham & Watkins LLP, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, have frozen salaries firmwide.
--Additional reporting by Anne Urda, Jacqueline Bell, Erin Marie Daly and Ryan Davis109500002009/08/02 00:00Blank Rome Trims Associate Pay At 5 OfficesThursday, Jul 02, 20092009/07/022009/07/02352009/07/021Blank Rome LLP announced Thursday that it would be cutting new associate salaries by $15,000 in five offices and more senior associate salaries by 2 percent to 10 percent, blaming unfavorable market conditions.