Corporate Clients Push Back After Law Firms Hike Starting Salaries
Bank of America calls decision to boost junior lawyers’ pay to $180,000 unjustified
After Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP said last week it would boost starting pay for its junior-most lawyers to $180,000, law firms across the country stumbled over themselves to announce salary increases for their own associates.
But now companies are pushing back.
Bank of America Corp.’s top lawyer recently sent an email to a group of law firms calling the increases in associate lawyer pay unjustified, making it clear the bank wouldn’t help firms absorb the cost.
“While we respect the firms’ judgment about what best serves their long-term competitive interests, we are aware of no market-driven basis for such an increase and do not expect to bear the costs of the firms’ decisions,” David Leitch, Bank of America’s global general counsel, wrote in the email, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Rest from the WSJ here…
Or, as ZeroHedge puts it, “Perhaps instead of bullying law firms around regarding how they choose to compensate employees, Leitch should spend more time on helping the his employer avoid getting into legal messes in the first place.”
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