Wake Up Call: Steptoe Launches New Associate Compensation System

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• Steptoe is revamping its compensation, offering associates three tracks with different billable-hour budgets. The first track allows associates to continue on the current compensation scale—reportedly at $215,000—with a billable hour reduction to 1,800 hours. The second offers a billable-hour budget of 2,000 hours with compensation starting at $225,000. The third option has a billable-hour budget of 2,200 hours with compensation starting at $236,250. (Law.com)
• Chief Judge R. David Proctor of the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ordered opposing attorneys in a case before him to go to lunch together to resolve how they can “act professionally.” Proctor ordered that the plaintiff’s counsel, who protested the defense attorney’s request to extend a deadline for a brief, will pay the bill for the meal and the defendants’ counsel will cover the tip. (Above the Law)
• Sameera Ali, a pregnant attorney, faced up to 10 days in jail after missing a hearing in the case of a teenager charged with a felony and two misdemeanors. The judge in the case, Thomas K. Cullen of the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, backed down from his contempt-of-court threat after lawyers in the area said the action could have a “chilling effect” on legal representation for private practices taking court-appointed clients. (The Washington Post)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Osman Nawaz joined Gibson Dunn as a partner in its securities enforcement and white collar defense and investigations practice groups New York. He joins from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• D. Ryan Hart and Charles Kemp were named co-leaders of Moore & Van Allen‘s securities and corporate governance team. Kemp joins from CarMax.
• Susan Rammelt joined Thumbtack as its chief legal officer in San Francisco. She joins from SmileDirectClub, where was chief legal officer.