Associate Pay May Need to Return to 1998 Levels, Consultant Says

In 1998, law firms in Atlanta paid new associates about $72,000 a year. That may be more to the liking of Altman Weil legal consultant James Cotterman, who told participants in an Oct. 27 webinar for law firm clients that associate pay cuts didn’t go low enough, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. Associate pay at large law firms dropped from $160,000 to $145,000, but that was only "about half of what was needed," Cotterman said, according to the Daily Report account. "They probably should have set pay back a decade, to 1998. That's what I was expecting," he said. "This story may not be over yet."

Associate Pay May Need to Return to 1998 Levels, Consultant Says abajournal.com Fri, Nov 6, 2009