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McElroy Deutsch settles suit claiming over $3M embezzlement by former executives

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 15, 2025, 9:32 am CDT

McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter has reached a settlement in a lawsuit accusing its former chief financial officer and his wife of stealing more than $3 million from the law firm.

McElroy Deutsch notified the court in Union County, New Jersey, that the case had settled in an April 11 letter, Law360 reports. A stipulation of dismissal said the suit and all counterclaims would be dismissed.

The settlement follows former CFO John Dunlea’s May 2024 guilty plea to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm over a six-year period and to failing to pay $22,000 in state income taxes. Dunlea was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2024 and ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution to McElroy Deutsch.

The firm’s suit had claimed that Dunlea paid himself unauthorized bonuses of at least $1.6 million, and that he and his wife, Nicole Alexander, treated themselves to lavish vacations in “business-card abuse” totaling more than $1.6 million.

Alexander was the firm’s former director of business and professional development. She had filed a countersuit alleging that McElroy Deutsch retaliated against her for her complaints about alleged legal violations and made unwarranted assumptions by wrongly accusing her of being aware of her husband’s alleged embezzlement.

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This law firm is ranked No. 1 after posting $8.8B in gross revenue; which other firms are ‘category leaders’?

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 16, 2025, 9:52 am CDT

Kirkland & Ellis is once again ranked No. 1 for gross revenue in 2024, according to the American Lawyer’s Am Law 100.

Kirkland & Ellis had $8.8 billion in gross revenue, “almost jumping straight into $9 billion territory,” Law.com reports in a story that is one of several reports on the findings.

Other “category leaders” are Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which had the highest revenue per lawyer, at $4.47 million, and Kirkland & Ellis, which had the highest profits per equity partner, at $9.25 million.

Law firms “crushed it” based on financial performance in 2024, the article reports. The nation’s 100 top-grossing firms increased revenue by 13.3% last year, increased lawyer head count by 7.7%, and increased revenue per lawyer by 5.2%.

While revenue increased an average of 13.3% for the top 100 firms, only 20 firms gained that amount or more, according to firm consultants Bruce MacEwan and Janet Stanton, who spoke with Law.com. The other 80 were below that level. MacEwan is the president of Adam Smith Esq., and Stanton is a partner in the organization.

The top five firms for gross revenue are:

1. Kirkland & Ellis, $8.8 billion, up about 22% from 2023

2. Latham & Watkins, $7 billion, up about 23% from 2023

3. DLA Piper, $4.2 billion, up nearly 11% from 2023

4. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, $3.6 billion, up about 12% from 2023

5. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, $3.5 billion, up nearly 16% from 2023

The top firms for revenue per lawyer are:

1. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, $4.47 million

2. Susman Godfrey, $2.38 million

3. Sullivan & Cromwell, $2.33 million

4. Ropes & Gray, $2.33 million

5. Kirkland & Ellis, $2.29 million

The top firms for profits per equity partner are:

1. Kirkland & Ellis, $9.25 million

2. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, $9.03 million

3. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, $8.64 million

4. Davis Polk & Wardwell, $7.8 million

5. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, $7.66 million

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Benchmark data can prove to be invaluable when making decisions about the future of your law firm. Understanding how others in the legal profession are using technology to streamline workflows and increase revenues can make all the difference.

That’s where the recently released 2025 Legal Industry Report from AffiniPay comes in. This report, published annually, offers insight into how legal professionals from firms of all sizes and practice areas are approaching and benefiting from technology adoption. Over 2,800 legal professionals were surveyed for this year’s survey, which covers a wide range of topics, including artificial intelligence adoption, financial management software choices and the continued shift to remote and hybrid work environments.

The data reveals notable trends surrounding legal professionals’ technology choices and outcomes, including how software adoption impacts firm profitability and how remote work choices are changing the landscape of law practice.

Increased interest in AI adoption

With generative AI continuing to make headlines, it’s not surprising that the data shows that interest in it has increased since last year’s report. For example, in 2024, 31% of legal professionals reported using generative AI tools for work, up from 27% in 2023.

Interestingly, the rate of adoption varied across firm size and practice areas. Immigration practitioners led generative AI usage, with 47% incorporating it into their daily workflows. Other practice areas, such as personal injury (37%), civil litigation (36%) and criminal law (28%), also reported high usage.

Despite the individual growth rates, the survey showed that legal-specific generative AI adoption at the firm level slowed slightly. Only 21% of firms reported using AI in 2024, down from 24% in 2023. This decline is likely due to firms being in the exploratory phase—testing AI tools in specific use cases or pilot programs, rather than fully integrating the technology. The overall sentiment shows that while AI is still being explored, many firms are taking a cautious and measured approach.

At the firm level, civil litigation firms reported the highest generative AI adoption rate, at 27%, followed by personal injury and family law firms, at 20% each. Trusts and estate firms and criminal law practices had lower adoption rates, at 18% each. Immigration firms reported the lowest adoption rate, at 17%.

Overall, the data shows that for those who have adopted generative AI tools, they are relying on them quite often. Among frequent users, 45% use AI daily, and 40% use it weekly. The most common tasks accomplished with it include drafting correspondence (54%), brainstorming ideas (47%), conducting general research (46%) and summarizing documents (39%).

Financial management tools for profitability and stability

Survey data also highlights how firms are increasingly adopting financial management software to improve financial workflows. In particular, legal-specific accounting and bookkeeping software has become a key tool for many firms. Respondents indicate that 37% of their firms have legal accounting software built into their firm’s practice management system, while 16% said it’s built into their firm’s billing software. Another 11% use software that is integrated with, rather than built into, their firm’s law practice management platform, and 16% reported adoption of a stand-alone legal accounting tool.

The survey data shows that legal accounting and bookkeeping tools have notably increased efficiency, with nearly 26% of firms reporting one to five hours reclaimed per month. Another 17% reduced workloads by six to 10 hours, 7% saved 15 or more hours each month, and 4% recovered a whopping 11 to 15 hours.

Another valuable tool for improving workflows is legal billing tools. The legal professionals surveyed (80%) relied on invoicing software, with 27% saving one to five hours per month, 16% saving six to 10 hours, and 12% saving 11 or more hours. The end benefit of the time saved using legal accounting and billing tools? Significant gains in productivity and profitability.

Growth of online payment processing

The report also highlights the increasing adoption of online payment processing software, with 82% of respondents sharing that their firms accept credit and/or debit card payments in 2024, up from 78% in 2023. This adoption has resulted in time savings and financial impact. More than a third of respondents (35%) saved between one to five hours per month using online payment systems, while 14% saved six to 10 hours. Also of note is that firms accepting card payments reported improved collection rates, with 59% of firms noting that their collection rates increased “somewhat more” or “significantly more” each month.

The growing use of online payment solutions is indicative of a broader trend toward automating tedious and time-consuming administrative tasks that were previously manual. By offering more payment options, firms are not only improving their financial stability but also freeing up time to devote to more client work and firm growth.

Remote and hybrid work adoption

Finally, the report addressed remote and hybrid work, which has become a staple for many firms. About three-fourths of survey respondents reported using cloud-based remote working tools, with videoconferencing (79%), e-signatures (78%) and e-filing (76%) ranking the highest.

Additionally, the data showed that the hybrid work model has gained traction in the legal profession. According to the survey results, 28% of firms operate fully in office, while 21% use hybrid schedules for all team members. Another 19% of firms are fully remote, and 18% adopt hybrid schedules for some staff members.

Just as remote and hybrid work continued post-pandemic, so too did participation in virtual court proceedings, with 34% of respondents attending virtual hearings a few times per month, 21% a few times per week and 5% every day.

Even so, preferences for in-person appearances remain strong, especially for certain types of proceedings. Half of respondents prefer to avoid virtual hearings, followed by jury trials (45%), bench trials (43%) and motion arguments (39%). However, practice areas significantly impacted these results.

For example, trust and estate professionals were more likely than the overall average to prefer virtual litigation proceedings, with only 36% opting for in-person jury trials, followed by bench trials (35%) and motion arguments and depositions (at 30% each).

In contrast, civil litigation and personal injury lawyers showed a stronger preference for in-person proceedings, with 56% each favoring jury trials, and 46% and 49%, respectively, choosing in-person depositions. Similarly, criminal law practitioners also leaned toward in-person proceedings, with 59% preferring hearings, 58% jury trials, 55% bench trials and 49% motion arguments.

Immigration lawyers, on the other hand, were less likely to prefer in-person litigation, with below-average preferences for motion arguments (26%), status conferences (22%) and depositions (19%).

In conclusion

The AffiniPay 2025 Legal Industry Report highlights a range of preferences and trends within the legal profession. While generative AI remains a focus, the data shows that firms are also adopting proven cloud-based technologies for billing, payments and remote work, highlighting an increasing reliance on specialized tools that enhance efficiency, save time and improve financial outcomes.

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Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York-based attorney, author and journalist, and she is the principal legal insight strategist at MyCase, a company that offers legal practice management software for small firms. She is the nationally recognized author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers and is co-author of Social Media for Lawyers: The Next Frontier, both published by the American Bar Association. She writes regular columns for ABAJournal.com and Above the Law, has authored hundreds of articles for other publications, and regularly speaks at conferences regarding the intersection of law and emerging technologies. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @nikiblack, or she can be reached at [email protected].

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This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

Accumulating your desired retirement fund balance relies mostly on the amount that you have saved. But investing your savings is also an important aspect of achieving your retirement goals. To understand the importance of your savings habits, see this Sept. 11, 2024, article in the ABA Journal: “Getting ready for retirement is easier than you think.”

Before investing, you should assess, honestly, your investment knowledge. According to a recent survey from Voya Financial, 37% of people across a range of ages identified themselves as either a beginning investor or not an investor at all. So are you a novice, or do you have experience investing? Are you successful at investing, or do you have investment regrets when you lose your hard-earned money?

Deciding what to invest in depends on many factors. You have to consider how much risk you are willing to take on, your retirement goals and how you will execute your plan.

Choosing your investments starts with an understanding of the most common investment types.

Breaking it down

Investments, whether in or outside a 401(k) plan, can be divided into three categories: stocks, bonds, and cash and cash equivalents.

   • Stocks represent an ownership interest in a company, so when you invest in a stock fund, you’re investing in shares of several companies.

   • Bonds are investments issued by governments and corporations when they want to raise money. When you invest in a bond, you’re giving the bond issuer a loan, which they agree to pay back over a defined period of time, with interest.

   • Cash and cash equivalents include investments that can be easily liquidated, like money market funds, which invest in short-term, low-risk bonds, and cash and cash equivalents.

Stable value funds, a hybrid security only available in your 401(k), are alternative investments with a similar objective to money market funds. While it may be difficult to understand all the nuances of the investment, the bottom line is that it is a capital preservation investment vehicle. While no losses have been experienced industrywide, when investing in these funds, you should expect to withdraw the amount that you contributed plus interest, which is added to your account on a daily basis.

You can invest by buying individual securities or a fund. While the ownership structure for mutual funds and collective investment funds (typically found in 401(k) plans) are different, the end result is the same: Each invests in a pool of securities with similar characteristics. For example, there are funds that invest strictly in small company stocks or in government bonds.

Investing in individual securities is riskier than investing in a fund. Because a fund invests in many securities, the manager of the fund is not reliant on picking the right “one” security or a small handful of securities to generate your return. Many funds have hundreds of securities, so the manager of the fund doesn’t have to get it right 100% of the time for you to get a good return.

Risk and return

Risk and return go hand in hand. The riskier your investments, the more return that you should expect. So stocks are riskier than bonds, which are riskier than cash equivalents. The question becomes: How much risk are you willing to take? Your investment risk profile is dictated by a number of factors: How long until you retire? How much have you saved? Are you willing to give up some return to lower the risk of loss in your accounts? How much of your account are you willing to lose in the short term to midterm?

The acceptable level of risk for your investment portfolio is based on your answers to these and other questions regarding your specific financial situation. There is not one right answer that would satisfy each investor’s retirement goal.

For example, if you have many years until retirement, you have a longer period of time to recover from losses that you experience in your accounts, and therefore, you may feel more comfortable taking on more risk, like investing more in stocks to generate your return over the long term. While stock prices are more volatile, historically investments in stocks have been shown to generate higher returns than some other investments.

As your retirement approaches, again, depending on your circumstances, you may wish to reduce the risk associated with your investments because the time to recover your losses shrinks. For example, you may decrease your investments in stocks and increase your investments in bonds and maybe even cash equivalents.
 

Retirement goals

Behavioral studies have shown that when the stock markets experience a downturn, some investors get jittery, sell their stocks and invest their proceeds in money market funds. This behavior typically leads to returns that are less favorable than continuing to hold the investments. Experienced professionals have many tools and models to predict the up and down markets. They aren’t always successful.

The chart below, a J.P. Morgan Asset Management analysis using data from Bloomberg, illustrates that historically investing for the long term generates better results.

By establishing your retirement goals, you can avoid “buying high and selling low.” Will you spend your time in retirement fishing or becoming a world traveler? Once you have a plan or part of a plan, stick with it until you change your goals, perhaps because of a change of circumstance, like having a child, marriage or divorce.

Those investors with many years before they retire typically can’t conceive what they will want their retirement life to look like. If you are in this camp, assume that you’ll need the most that you can accumulate, which would mean that you would save as much as possible and be willing to take on more risk to increase the opportunity to earn a higher return. In all likelihood, you would invest more in stocks than in bonds or cash.

Executing your plan: Delegate, or do it yourself?

Your investing personality might just come down to the level of interest and time that you want to spend learning and gathering investment knowledge. After all, attorneys lead busy work lives, and as you grow in your career, your family, financial and other personal obligations will probably grow and change significantly.

If you are invested in a 401(k) plan, your plan probably offers lots of ways to get help. Most plans offer professional investment management for a fee, where you delegate your investment decisions to a financial adviser. In 401(k) plans, the financial adviser is restricted to investing your money only in those options offered by the plan. Many plans also offer holistic financial planning, which includes developing plans for retirement, budgeting and even assisting with managing school debt.

Another option you may want to investigate includes hiring a financial planner who manages your investments, also for a fee, and has the discretion to select from the whole universe of investments. But many planners require that you have a minimum account balance before they are willing to accept you as a client.

Even though you may pay for assistance with your investments, you should spend time to better understand your investing options. Your 401(k) provider is a good source of information.

Your 401(k) plan

ABA members have the opportunity for their law firms to take advantage of the retirement plans offered by the ABA Retirement Funds Program. This ABA member benefit helps law firms of all sizes, including solo practitioners, establish a 401(k) plan and has been helping legal professionals save for retirement for over 60 years. The program is committed to providing the tools necessary to help all legal professionals pursue their retirement goals.

The program’s investment fund menu offers a diverse selection of investment options to cover the broad spectrum of investors using three investment paths. You can select “Make it easier for me (diversified investment funds),” “I’m saving for retirement (do it yourself or get help to build a custom investment portfolio),” and “I’m retired or almost there (investment options that match your investing objective).”

Learn more about this ABA member benefit at ABARetirement.com.

The bottom line

There are thousands of investments that are available to you, some of which are more sophisticated, which require advanced investing experience and knowledge. If you don’t understand an investment’s potential for gain, and more importantly loss, it is not a worthwhile investment for you, regardless of whether you are using an investment adviser. While investment advisers are helpful with managing your retirement account, it’s your money and results matter. Remember: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

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This column reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily the views of the ABA Journal—or the American Bar Association.

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Dechert sues former lawyer for alleged salary overpayment

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 29, 2025, 10:56 am CST

Dechert has sued a former senior project attorney for more than $90,000, the money that the law firm said it is still owed after a $132,250 salary overpayment.

The Jan. 21 lawsuit filed in the trial-level New York Supreme Court blames the salary overpayment on a clerical error.

Law.com has the story.

The suit says senior project attorney Kathleen Fay continued to receive her regular salary for a 7½ month period ending in May 2024, even though she wasn’t performing billable work at that time. A temporary employment agreement in effect during that period provided that Fay would be paid only for billable work assigned to her and performed.

The agreement was reached in late September 2023 after Fay asked to remain listed on the firm’s website. Fay’s contract as a project attorney ended without an extension June 30, 2023, but she continued to be paid for three months and was offered consulting services to help with her job search, the suit says.

When Dechert discovered its mistake in mid-May 2024, it demanded its money back. Fay did not comply, the suit says.

“In an attempt to make itself whole,” the suit says, Dechert “exercised its rights to recoup certain payments made to or otherwise due to” Fay.

Fay told Law.com that the suit allegations “are baseless and its actions are unethical.” She worked on the firm’s product liability team for more than a decade “and am now a law librarian earning less than a paralegal,” she said.

“It is unfortunate that Dechert has chosen to remove my vested funds from my 401(k) account and to bully me in public,” Fay told Law.com. “However, the equities and the law favor me and I look forward to vindicating my rights and reputation in court.”

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3. ‘Very strong performance’ reported for law…

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‘Very strong performance’ reported for law firms in 2024, with revenue increasing 12.5%

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 29, 2025, 11:59 am CST

Growth in billing rates contributed to a 12.5% increase in law firm revenue in 2024, up from 6% in 2023, according to a year-end survey by Wells Fargo’s Legal Specialty Group.

The 2024 increase was topped only by a 14% increase in revenue reported in 2021.

“The law firm industry experienced very strong performance in 2024,” Wells Fargo reported in a media summary.

More than 130 firms, most of them among the nation’s 200 top-grossing firms, participated in the survey.

Other survey findings for 2024 included:

  • Standard billing rates increased 9.1%, up from an 8.3% increase in 2023.

  • Average profits per equity partner increased 16.9% as firms kept “tight control” over the size of equity partner ranks, which increased by only 0.3%.

  • Demand, measured by billable hours, increased 3.5% for the year, up from 0.7% in 2023.

  • Total expenses increased 9%, up from 6% in 2023. The number likely reflected higher associate bonuses and more year-end expense prepayments.

Firms among the Am Law 50, representing the nation’s 50 highest-grossing firms, did better than the rest. They had growth of 13.9% for revenue, 10% for billing rates, 3.9% for demand and 18.9% for profits per equity partner.

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3. 2 BigLaw firms flip-flop on associate special…

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2 BigLaw firms flip-flop on associate special bonuses, agreeing to pay market rate

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 6, 2025, 3:48 pm CST

Hogan Lovells and Perkins Coie have decided to pay special bonuses at the market rate of $6,000 to $25,000 after associates were initially told that they wouldn’t receive the money as a matter of course.

The special bonuses will be paid in addition to year-end bonuses ranging from $20,000 for the class of 2023 to $115,000 for the most senior associates, report Law.com and Above the Law, which published the new bonus memos here.

“It’s not the first time a firm has changed its mind about associate bonuses,” Law.com reports, “and it likely won’t be the last. Backlash from associates, concerns from partners about losing key associate talent, and peer firm pressure are just some of the reasons why a firm may reverse a decision when it comes to associate bonuses, according to legal industry observers.”

Hogan Lovells initially said it wasn’t paying routine special bonuses but it would give additional money to associates who exceed minimum hours. Now, it will pay special bonuses “on top of the other associate bonuses awarded,” a spokesperson told Law.com. “This means that many of our associates who qualify for the hours-based bonuses can earn bonuses above the announced scale of many other top firms.”

The spokesperson told Law.com that Hogan Lovells decided to match the market rate for special bonuses “following discussions with associates, partners and other stakeholders. An important part of our culture as a firm is that we listen, and we have made this decision after careful consultation.”

A Perkins Coie spokesperson told Law.com that its decision “is consistent with our commitment to paying market-competitive compensation and reflects the firm’s strong financial performance this year.”

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2 BigLaw firms reject routine special bonuses as several boutiques match or surpass market rate

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 19, 2024, 11:00 am CST

Above the Law’s bonus tracker continues to expand, as an increasing number of boutique law firms announce associate bonuses that match or surpass market rates set by Milbank.

About 50 firms were on the bonus list when it was last updated Dec. 12, including nine boutique firms. At least five more boutiques announced bonuses since then, as chronicled in separate Above the Law posts.

One of them is Susman Godfrey, which “absolutely blows away the current market standard,” Above the Law reports.

Law.com and Law360 also have coverage.

The market rate for year-end bonuses is $15,000 to $115,000, while the going rate for additional special bonuses is $6,000 to $25,000. That makes the total bonus $21,000 for the class of 2024 to $140,000 for the class of 2016 and beyond.

Susman Godfrey is paying median bonuses ranging from $110,000 to $220,000. All 286 of the firm’s employees are also receiving bonuses.

Not to be outdone, midsize firm Boies Schiller Flexner previously announced that “multiple associates” at the firm are receiving bonuses of $1 million or more this year. In addition, “numerous associates” received above-market bonuses, including several who received $300,000 or more. The outsized bonuses are being paid to associates who opted for a bonus formula with a revenue-share component, rather than market-rate bonuses.

Other boutiques that have announced above-market bonuses include Selendy Gay (with combined bonuses ranging from $23,250 to $157,250) and Wilkinson Stekloff (with combined bonuses ranging from $28,500 to $197,500).

While above-market bonuses by those firms are “not a new phenomenon,” Law.com reports, the number of others offering “eye-popping bonuses appears to be growing.”

Boutique firms are in a better position to offer above-market bonuses because their overhead is lower than that of BigLaw firms, said Jeff Lowe, a Washington, D.C., recruiter with legal search company CenterPeak, in an interview with Law.com The pool of associates who will receive the bonuses is also smaller, Lowe pointed out.

Some BigLaw firms, meanwhile, are not falling in line with the standard special bonuses that range from $6,000 to $25,000, report Bloomberg Law and Above the Law (here and here). The latest firms that aren’t paying routine special bonuses are Perkins Coie and Hogan Lovells.

While Hogan Lovells isn’t paying the routine special bonuses, it will pay additional bonuses to associates who exceed minimum hours.

Other firms requiring an hourly minimum for special bonuses include Covington & Burling, Fish & Richardson, Katten Muchin Rosenman, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (paying “super bonuses” to high billers), Seward & Kissel and Sidley Austin, according to previous coverage.

Bonus decisions are being made amid a “muted” market for associates following talent wars in 2021, Bloomberg Law points out. Then came a period of cutbacks that brought some associate layoffs.

Now, firms are realistically looking at what they can afford, said Katherine Loanzon, a managing director at search company Kinney Recruiting, in an interview with Bloomberg Law.

“Firms just don’t feel the pressure anymore to follow,” Loanzon told Bloomberg Law.

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3. BigLaw is taking an ‘uneven approach’ to…

Lawyer Pay

BigLaw is taking an ‘uneven approach’ to bonuses

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 23, 2024, 12:11 pm CST

Several BigLaw firms have yet to announce bonuses, while others are refusing to follow the standard bonus schedule set by Milbank.

“The discrepancy among big firms highlights the uneven approach BigLaw is taking to bonuses so far in 2024, with fewer firms apparently in lockstep with the bonus decisions of the industry elite and several firms delaying their bonus decisions compared with others,” Law.com reported in a Dec. 20 story.

Law firms that had not announced bonuses by Dec. 20 included Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Williams & Connolly; Venable; McGuireWoods; and ArentFox Schiff, the article reports. Above the Law is keeping track of bonuses at this link.

Some BigLaw firms that have announced bonuses are tying special bonuses to hourly requirements or are not paying them at all.

The market rate for year-end bonuses is $15,000 to $115,000, while the going rate for additional special bonuses is $6,000 to $25,000. That makes the total bonus $21,000 for the class of 2024 and $140,000 for the class of 2016 and beyond.

Associate legal recruiter Darin Morgan of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa doesn’t anticipate a “mad rush” for special bonuses.

“Those are the kind of things that we tend to see when the lateral market is super, super high and firms are fighting tooth and nail against their competition to keep good associates,” Morgan told Law.com.

Morgan was, however “a little bit surprised that there’s so many firms who have yet to announce” bonus decisions.

Lockstep bonuses may not be a good idea for all firms, according to Above the Law founder David Lat in a post for Original Jurisdiction. He cited his advice in a previous blog post that he wrote on associate compensation.

Firm leaders should make compensation decisions, he said, “based on what’s best for their particular firm, in light of factors such as where it sits in the Biglaw hierarchy, where it operates in the legal market, who its peer firms are, and what those peers have (or haven’t) done.”

Compensation decisions can eat into partner profits, which can cause top performers to begin looking at other firms, Lat wrote.

“To all the firms out there that have not yet announced bonuses,” Lat wrote, “be smart. Do what’s right for your firm and your people. Your associates might grumble in the short term. But when they’re still gainfully employed a year from now, not laid off because you lost critical practice groups to Kirkland or Paul Hastings, they’ll thank you (or at least should thank you).”

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3. Associates at this BigLaw firm can choose…

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Associates at this BigLaw firm can choose one of 3 billable-hour budgets

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 9, 2024, 3:19 pm CST

Steptoe is adopting a new compensation system next year that allows associates to choose one of three different tracks based on hourly targets.

Pay varies based on the billable budget, Law.com reports. Full-time associates can choose one of these tracks, according to the article:

  • 1,800 billable hours with pay at their current compensation level, which appears to start at $215,000 for first-year associates, according to data cited by Law.com.

  • 2,000 billable hours with pay that begins at $225,000 for first-year associates and increases to $502,500 for eighth-year associates.

  • 2,200 billable hours with pay that begins at $236,250 for first-year associates and increases to $581,750 for eighth-year associates.

Gwen Renigar, the law firm’s chair, told associates in a note Friday that all three compensation scales have the same opportunities for promotion, the article reports. All three also include 200 hours of pro bono and nonbillable work.

Bonuses will be given for making the billable target and for exceeding it by a certain amount, Renigar told Law.com in an interview. There is also the possibility of a bonus for bringing in new business, Renigar said.