March 1, 2010
Value of Time Off
The U.S. is the only industrialized nation without a mandated minimum annual leave for workers. In fact, a 2007 report dubbed the U.S. the "No-Vacation Nation" after finding that 28 million Americans work in jobs where they don't get any paid vacation or paid holidays. But a survey, reported last week, of more than 1,000 Capital One Banking white-collar employees found that:
- 35% would agree to work holidays
- 25% would work every day of the year if doing so doubled their income
- 19% would give up all of their vacation days to receive twice their salary.
Economists think this result has more to do with Americans' level of economic anxiety during the recession than about their long-term feelings about vacation. Nevertheless, some HR professionals believe it reflects an ongoing decline in the importance of time-off in the value systems of higher skilled and educated employees. The Glass Ceiling
Women lag behind men in large law firm leadership roles according to the National Association of Women Lawyers. A recent survey by the group notes several reasons that seem to affect this lack of women in management. First, most law firm partners rank having a large billing base as an important qualification for leadership roles; however, nearly 50 percent of large law firms do not have any women among their top 10 business developers. The survey report goes on to note that this correlates to other statistics including the fact that women lawyers make up less than 16 percent of equity partners in large law firms and that the average female equity partner earns $66,000 per year less than the average male. Associate Pay
Despite well publicized announcements by Latham Watkins and other large firms about the restoration of pre-wage freeze salaries of associates, most law firms seem to be taking a "wait and see" attitude about lawyer salaries. This is consistent with what is happening in the professional labor market in general. In a recent survey, Worldatwork, a compensation consulting firm, found that:
- 52% of U.S. employers froze pay in 2009 for some or all employees. Of those employers, 22% plan to prolong the pay freeze in 2010 and 54% plan to resume normal pay during this year.
- 13% of U.S. employers cut pay in 2009. Of those, 37% consider themselves to be still impacted by the recession and are not considering restoring cut pay; 29% plan to restore pay in full during 2010; and 15% view the pay cuts as permanent.
Lawyer Social Skills
For years law firms have complained about the declining social skills of young associates, especially when dealing with clients and potential clients. Apparently the problem is getting worse. A study of Chief Information Officers reports an accelerating rise in poor professional etiquette linked to the increased use of cell phones, Smartphones and other mobile electronic gadgets.
The leading problem is "crackberries" and lawyers' willingness to check and respond to messages in the middle of a conversation with clients or other lawyers. Experts report that inappropriate "divided attention" is offensive to even fellow blackberry addicts. They suggest training programs to demonstrate the problem. One law firm used hidden cameras at seminars for clients to demonstrate the rudeness of their lawyers to each other and the clients.
By the Numbers
By most measures, 2009 was among the worst years ever for the legal industry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services sector lost 1,100 jobs in January 2010 and 44,700 jobs over the past year.
But the recession does not seem to have slowed down the lateral partner market much. In fact, there appears to have been a record number of lateral partner moves in the AmLaw 200. 2,775 partners moved among large firms in the 12 months ending with the third quarter of 2009. That's a 10.6% increase over the prior year. Litigation partners were the most mobile but banking and finance partners were close behind.
Despite increased focus on diversity by most large law firms, the percentage of African-American and Mexican-American students in law school dropped by 7.5% and 11.7% respectively over the past 15 years. Second Year Summer Associate Offers
You've probably already heard this, but NALP's committee on revamping summer associate recruiting has recommended that law firms not be allowed to make summer associate offers until mid-January. This is in response to the current schedule that permits offers as early as August, constituting a system that requires law firms to decide hiring requirement two years in advance of associate starting dates.
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