The New York firms fired the first shot at the tail end of January, hiking starting rates to $160K. Most California firms held the line in-state at $145K … until Orrick made its surprise move in May. Follow every twist of the saga in our Hot Topic roundup.
The largest firm to boost salaries on Friday was Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, which matched the $160,000 scale in its San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego offices. Sacramento associates start at $145,000.
In a prepared statement, the firm said the salary hike won’t come at the cost of associates or clients.
“We share our clients’ concerns about escalating fees of outside counsel and will not raise our established 2007 rates because of this decision,” it reads. “And, despite speculations that some firms will require more billable hours from associates, Pillsbury reaffirms that our current 1,950 billable and 2,200 overall hour requirements, as well as our previously announced bonus structure for associates for 2007, will remain the same.”
Pillsbury is one of the last big California-based firms to join the pack in the latest round of salary hikes, which was set off by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe at the beginning of May.
“I think they’re just part of the progression of everyone going to 160 in California and New York,” said consultant Peter Zeughauser of the Newport Beach-based Zeughauser Group. “Whoever else hasn’t gone yet is going to go.”
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner, which has 600 lawyers, is one of the firms that has yet to make a move. The firm ranked 22nd on the Cal Law 25 in profits per partner, one spot behind Pillsbury. Townsend and Townsend and Crew, which ranked high in PPP in part because of a large contingency fee in 2006, has also refrained from raising.
Three big out-of-town firms with more than 20 percent of their lawyers in California have also held back: Bingham McCutchen; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; and Reed Smith.
