Wake Up Call: Talent War Pushes Up Associate Billing Rates

In today’s column, the war for young legal talent has pushed up firms’ compensation and billing rates for associates; it has also spurred elite litigation boutiques to match or beat Milbank’s salary scale; the U.K.’s legal profession regulator dropped an investigation into a former Freshfields partner.

• Leading off, as law firms raised compensation for associates in the battle for talent in 2021, their billing rates for associates have risen faster than rates for partners, new data show. The national average rate billed by partners last year rose 1.8% to $728 per hour, while associates rates rose 3.9% to $535, this report says. (American Lawyer)
• Several elite litigation boutiques, many of which had good financial results in 2021, are matching or even beating Milbank’s new salary scale to compete for talent. (American Lawyer) Meanwhile, most Big Law firms have not yet matched the scale. (Above The Law)
• The Justice Department should permanently allow DOJ lawyers to work remotely at least two days a week after the pandemic ends if it wants to be able to recruit and keep top talent, argues an advocacy group for assistant U.S. Attorneys. (National Law Journal)
• A court reform advocacy group filed a misconduct complaint against a federal appeals court judge who ordered an attorney to take off his mask during an in-person hearing. (National Law Journal)

Lawyers, Law Firms

• The U.K. legal profession regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said it has dropped its investigation into a former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner, Caroline Stroud, over her handling of an investigation into rape allegations at banking group UBS. An SRA spokesperson confirmed in an email to BLAW: “We have looked at all the available information and decided to close the matter with no further action. If further information is made available, we can look again at the issues.” (The Lawyer)
• When the pandemic forced law firms to shift to remote work, so-called distributed firms were steps ahead of traditional firms on setting up and using cloud-based infrastructure. Leaders of some of those firms recently discussed how they’re still tweaking their requirements. (Law.com)
• Arkansas-based insurance company Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Co. asked a judge to relieve it of responsibility to cover a South Florida law firm that represented the collapsed Surfside condominium. (Insurance Journal)

Laterals, Moves, In-house

• Paul Hastings brought in financial services, white collar defense litigator Laurel Loomis Rimon as a partner in Washington. She joins from O’Melveny & Myers, where she co-chaired the fintech practice. Rimon, who spent close to 25 years in the Justice Department, had former roles including general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security inspector general office, assistant U.S. Attorney, special prosecutions unit chief; Duane Morris grabbed intellectual property partner Richard Cruz from DLA Piper in Philadelphia. (DuaneMorris.com)
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius said Friday that Mayer Brown structured transactions partner Merryn Craske is joining the firm’s London office on March 1; Mayer Brown’s new Salt Lake City office added two lawyers. Litigation and dispute resolution partners Lauren Shurman and Mark Hindley both arrive from Stoel Rives; Perkins Coie recruited Sarah Deri Oshiro in New York for its new pro bono immigration attorney role. She arrives from public defender group The Bronx Defenders, where she was immigration practice managing director; Blank Rome hired corporate, M&A and securities of counsel James Adkins in Washington. He was at Steptoe & Johnson earlier in his career and recently at Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc., as associate general counsel. (BlankRome.com)
• Jenner & Block named restructuring and bankruptcy practice co-chair Melissa Root to be its first Chicago office managing partner starting Feb. 1. It said investigations, compliance and defense practice co-chair Anthony Barkow will start as New York office managing partner April 1; Reed Smith appointed new office managing partners on two coasts, both women: health-care regulatory partner Lesley Reynolds in Washington and insurance recovery partner Amber Finch in Los Angeles; Nixon Peabody named intellectual property litigation partner Robert Weikert managing partner of its San Francisco office. (NixonPeabody.com)