Partner-Track Associates: $175,000? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Irell is now at 175k.

False.

Really? I thought they did pay 175k.
Is it 170k?

Boies does 174k...but yeah, this rumor is obv a joke.

I'm holding the pamphlet they handed out at Chicago's OCI in my hand. It says that starting salary is 175k, accompanied by a graphic that says "160k" for 2011. Do you want me to scan it and paste it into this thread?

[Anonymous User]

Duval and Stachenfeld does this

Because they're huge douches. They pay $175k to graduates of HYSCCN and $70k to everyone else. Basically, the office is 20 partners, 5 partner-track associates (hired only from HYSCCN) and 40 slave-labor associates who work 3000 hours a year for beans. Got to be a terrible environment to work in, even if you're on the partnership track.

http://www.dsllp.com/joinUsAssociates.shtml

are these guys for real? seems like utter TTT

They also sent out a really long, poorly formatted email to all of NYU (and probably the other schools they did OCI at) applauding their above-market pay and how much better they were than everyone else. It was pretty sickening. The few people I know who interviewed with them all said they came off as slimy snake-oil salesmen.

[Anonymous User]

Duval and Stachenfeld does this

Because they're huge douches. They pay $175k to graduates of HYSCCN and $70k to everyone else. Basically, the office is 20 partners, 5 partner-track associates (hired only from HYSCCN) and 40 slave-labor associates who work 3000 hours a year for beans. Got to be a terrible environment to work in, even if you're on the partnership track.

http://www.dsllp.com/joinUsAssociates.shtml

are these guys for real? seems like utter TTT

They also sent out a really long, poorly formatted email to all of NYU (and probably the other schools they did OCI at) applauding their above-market pay and how much better they were than everyone else. It was pretty sickening. The few people I know who interviewed with them all said they came off as slimy snake-oil salesmen.

Yup. I interviewed with them at OCI. A bizarre experience, to say the least. Their $175k thing seemed like a poorly thought-out, cynical attempt to get overqualified students... anyone who chooses a firm like D&S over a reputable place for an extra $15k deserves what they get.

[Old Gregg]

Irell is now at 175k.

False.

Really? I thought they did pay 175k.
Is it 170k?

Boies does 174k...but yeah, this rumor is obv a joke.

I'm holding the pamphlet they handed out at Chicago's OCI in my hand. It says that starting salary is 175k, accompanied by a graphic that says "160k" for 2011. Do you want me to scan it and paste it into this thread?

So... I was right? The salary is $160,000 for 2011.

[JamMasterJ]

On another board, there are references to a possible increase to $175,000 for New York (and New York only).

Many of the responses state unequivocally that "partner-track associates" have started well above $160,000 for some time now.

First, is this true?

Second, are firms putting 3Ls on partner track from the get-go -- or is this a different scale after the associate has been there for a while?

Any help would be great.

Why is this anonymous?

[Anonymous User]

They did in 2009, but bonuses were market for 2010. All of this is easily verifiable.[/quote]

Have an offer and am considering Irell. Irell's December 2010 bonuses doubled the Cravath scale and their July 2011 bonuses just about doubled the Cravath scale -- am I missing something? http://abovethelaw.com/2011/07/associat ... r-bonuses/

[minnbills]

Yup. I interviewed with them at OCI. A bizarre experience, to say the least. Their $175k thing seemed like a poorly thought-out, cynical attempt to get overqualified students... anyone who chooses a firm like D&S over a reputable place for an extra $15k deserves what they get.

I love how most of their partners aren't even HYSCCN.

It would suck to get hired at 70k when other first years are making 175, what an awful climate that must be.

[Old Gregg]

They did in 2009, but bonuses were market for 2010. All of this is easily verifiable.

Have an offer and am considering Irell. Irell's December 2010 bonuses doubled the Cravath scale and their July 2011 bonuses just about doubled the Cravath scale -- am I missing something? http://abovethelaw.com/2011/07/associat ... r-bonuses/

Ah my bad. In my mind, Irell's December 2010 bonuses matched the Cravath winter bonus and the spring bonus combined. I didn't realize that Irell did bonuses again in July. And if they did, should that be considered as part of the 2010 picture? I don't know. Anyway, my bad for missing that bit about the July bonus.

[What the f.supp?]

Irell is now at 175k.

False.

Really? I thought they did pay 175k.
Is it 170k?

Boies does 174k...but yeah, this rumor is obv a joke.

I'm holding the pamphlet they handed out at Chicago's OCI in my hand. It says that starting salary is 175k, accompanied by a graphic that says "160k" for 2011. Do you want me to scan it and paste it into this thread?

That would probably make my day.

[Old Gregg]

Yup. I interviewed with them at OCI. A bizarre experience, to say the least. Their $175k thing seemed like a poorly thought-out, cynical attempt to get overqualified students... anyone who chooses a firm like D&S over a reputable place for an extra $15k deserves what they get.

I love how most of their partners aren't even HYSCCN.

It would suck to get hired at 70k when other first years are making 175, what an awful climate that must be.

You realize that this is essentially the situation at Paul Weiss, where staff attorneys make 60k and associates start at 160k??? This is the situation at many other big law firms, and the trend is increasing.

[What the f.supp?]

Yup. I interviewed with them at OCI. A bizarre experience, to say the least. Their $175k thing seemed like a poorly thought-out, cynical attempt to get overqualified students... anyone who chooses a firm like D&S over a reputable place for an extra $15k deserves what they get.

I love how most of their partners aren't even HYSCCN.

It would suck to get hired at 70k when other first years are making 175, what an awful climate that must be.

Exactly what I was thinking--that would be just miserable! You would be the de facto person for all things bitch work. I really can't see this sleazy idea working out for them. Law firms are already hierarchical enough without having further differentiation among the juniors.

[Old Gregg]

Yup. I interviewed with them at OCI. A bizarre experience, to say the least. Their $175k thing seemed like a poorly thought-out, cynical attempt to get overqualified students... anyone who chooses a firm like D&S over a reputable place for an extra $15k deserves what they get.

I love how most of their partners aren't even HYSCCN.

It would suck to get hired at 70k when other first years are making 175, what an awful climate that must be.

Exactly what I was thinking--that would be just miserable! You would be the de facto person for all things bitch work. I really can't see this sleazy idea working out for them. Law firms are already hierarchical enough without having further differentiation among the juniors.

It already exists at most major law firms. It's called the "staff attorney." Jesus.

[What the f.supp?]

Yup. I interviewed with them at OCI. A bizarre experience, to say the least. Their $175k thing seemed like a poorly thought-out, cynical attempt to get overqualified students... anyone who chooses a firm like D&S over a reputable place for an extra $15k deserves what they get.

I love how most of their partners aren't even HYSCCN.

It would suck to get hired at 70k when other first years are making 175, what an awful climate that must be.

You realize that this is essentially the situation at Paul Weiss, where staff attorneys make 60k and associates start at 160k??? This is the situation at many other big law firms, and the trend is increasing.

This may just be specific to my summer firm (V5), but I was under the impression that staff attorneys aren't on a "make the team, be terminated, or further demoted" basis like Duval seems to be offering here. Where I summered there were plenty of staff/contract attorneys, but no one perceived them as competing to "make the team." Maybe they thought they were, but when asking around, there was only like one person ever hired as associate from staff/contract attorney. Several of them seemed like really smart people from good schools who just had bad luck during the recession and were trying to make ends meet while continuing their legal employment search.

[What the f.supp?]

By "further demoted" I am referring to that Alternative Track Associate Program.