Law firm Drinker Biddle slashes starting salaries, sets new training regimen
Law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath said Monday it will slash entry-level lawyer salaries while the newcomers are put through a new, intensive training regimen.
The Philadelphia-based firm will welcome its 37 first-year associates on time this September — unlike at some other firms, where start dates have been delayed in cost-cutting moves — but starting lawyers will not handle client matters for the most part. Instead they will be assigned to a training program “far more rigorous and focused than any we have previously provided,” Drinker Biddle management said in an internal memo obtained by The Philadelphia Business Journal.
During the initial period, Drinker Biddle will pay an annual salary of $105,000 — down from the $145,000 paid previously. Any client work first years perform will be billed at a significant rate reduction.
The training will be focused on traditional legal skills relevant to particular areas of practice and education about client businesses. The new lawyers will shadow partners, spend time in a classroom setting and be freed from billable hour requirements.
“We will also be looking to all of our lawyers to make special efforts to find opportunities for our new lawyers to gain the kind of real-world experience our clients expect — even if we cannot bill for the time,” the memo said.
Drinker Biddle said it expects to adjust pay to the market rate for first-year lawyers in spring 2010.
“In this way, we intend to address the often-repeated criticism that we are training our lawyers at our clients’ expense while at the same time ensuring that our overall compensation system for associates is logical, consistent and fair,” the memo said.
Most large Philadelphia firms have deferred the start dates of their first-year associates for 2009. Drinker Biddle had been quiet about its plans until Monday.
Drinker said it wanted to make sure the firm’s economic perspective was aligned with clients, who have made their viewpoints clear both in individual meetings and through initiatives from the Association of Corporate Counsel.
In addition, Drinker Biddle said it has begun a review of its associate compensation program to ensure that it is “aligned with the needs of our clients and the professional development of our lawyers.” It expects the results to be implemented in 2010. The firm will also evaluate its summer intern program structure and will announce a new strategy to handle flex-time work arrangements.
Drinker Biddle added that instead of awarding bonuses solely based on hours billed, it will include other unnamed factors. Associate evaluations will be moved from early in the year to fall.
