Fox Rothschild Latest Law Firm to Eliminate Pay Cuts

Fox Rothschild has joined the growing group of Big Law firms which have rescinded the austerity measures implemented earlier this year to counter the economic uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic.

The firm said starting Nov. 1, it will fully restore the monthly equity partner draws, which the firm last spring had decreased between 10% and 20%. In September, it had partially rolled those cuts back.

Also, starting Nov. 5, the firm said it would fully restore the compensation reductions of between 10% and 15% that affected salaried and hourly employees for attorneys and staff earning more than $100,000. Those cuts had also been reversed in part last month.

Earlier this year, about half of the nation’s 100 largest firms scrambled to cut lawyer and staff pay to offset expected economic damage from Covid-19.

As firms shuttered offices and sent employees to work from home, they also imposed a patchwork of pay reductions as well as furloughs and layoffs to gird against any precipitous fall in client revenues.

In recent weeks, about half of the 48 firms that imposed austerity measures are rolling them back either partially or completely, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Law. Many firms have seen no more than a 10% drop in business, but not the more dramatic 20% to 40% decline that leadership feared, one consultant to major firms told Bloomberg Law.

Other firms that have nixed their coronavirus-related pay cuts recently include Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Perkins Coie, Sheppard Mullin, K&L Gates, and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe.

“Over the past seven months, we have continually evaluated our situation to ensure we maintained financial flexibility and remained in the best position possible to serve our clients and provide the strategy and support they need to navigate these uncertain times,” Mark L. Morris, Fox Rothschild’s firmwide managing partner, said in a statement.

Adding a note of caution, Morris also said that “the uncertainty and economic impact of the pandemic will likely remain with us for the foreseeable future.”