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Law360 (August 4, 2020, 11:23 PM EDT) -- Four months after implementing salary reductions, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has walked back those cuts by half for all impacted attorneys and staff, the firm confirmed Tuesday.
Since Aug. 1, Katten has reduced its salary cut from 20% to 10% for all attorneys and business professionals making $100,000 or more per year, the Chicago-based firm told Law360. Meanwhile, the salaries of employees who earn less than $100,000 were not affected.
Katten announced its cost-cutting measures in April. In addition to cutting draws for equity partners and reducing salaries of attorneys and staff, the firm also instituted furloughs for some business professionals and attorneys who cannot work remotely or whose work has slowed significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, Katten confirmed that it would be parting with some of those furloughed employees at the end of July. According to a firm spokesperson, all laid-off workers would receive at least eight weeks of severance pay, plus a week's pay for each year they'd been with the firm. Additionally, all workers would receive health care coverage, at no additional cost to them, through the end of the year, the spokesperson said.
Katten is among several other firms that have walked back pay cuts this summer after instituting them in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Last Wednesday, New York-headquartered Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP said it will rewind to prepandemic pay levels starting in August. Meanwhile, Houston-based Baker Botts LLP confirmed that it will dial back its salary reductions by 50%, beginning Sept. 1.
The measures, which Baker Botts announced in April, included 20% to 30% reductions in pay for counsel, 20% reductions for associates, and up to 25% reductions for staff, based on their salaries. Those making less than $70,000 escaped pay cuts.
Last month, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP also said it was reducing previously announced pay cuts that impacted all employees of the firm earning more than $40,000 from 15% to 7.5%, while at the same time announcing it would lay off a "very small proportion" of its workforce.
And according to a report by the American Lawyer, Lowenstein Sandler LLP and Cozen O'Connor have resumed partner distributions after freezing them early on in the pandemic. Munck Wilson Mandala LLP has returned to normal pay levels after cuts for partners, associates, and exempt directors and managers earlier this year.
--Additional reporting by Aebra Coe. Editing by Jay Jackson Jr.
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