Article source: LegalCareerPath.com Deciding to work in law can feel like picking a path on a map with many roads. A regular law practice is just one way to use your skills. You can also look into research, checking rules, legal operations, helping others, working in a company, teaching, and more. All these ways use
Cahill Gordon & Reindel has become the first firm to match Milbank’s 2026 special bonuses in full, ending a summer-long standoff. The real question is whether anyone else moves before Cravath does. Cahill Gordon & Reindel has told associates it will match the special bonuses Milbank announced on July 27, making it the first firm
Cahill Blinks First -Two Months Later, BigLaw Finally Has a Milbank Bonus Match Read More »
Neel Sachdev is the best-paid finance lawyer in London, the most-discussed lateral hire of the decade, and possibly the only Big Law partner who has consulted an astrologer before hiring associates. He’s also been continuing to attract a lot of publicity lately.
Most partners at elite law firms prefer to be invisible outside a small circle of clients and headhunters. Neel Sachdev has taken a different approach. The Paul Weiss London co-head is the subject of a new Financial Times profile, and it may be the most entertaining piece of legal journalism this year.
The FT’s legal correspondent, Suzi Ring, met the 51-year-old lawyer in Portugal, where he has invested in a luxury property development on the site of a former orange grove in the Algarve. He did not arrive quietly, but rather in a red open-top 1977 Mercedes 450 SL, wearing a matching outfit, sunglasses and his trademark beaded bracelets.
The Consigliere in the Red Mercedes – Neel Sachdev, Big Law’s Leading Man Read More »
Milbank announced its new associate salary scale on Tuesday 2 June and today is Thursday 10 September. That is one hundred days, to the day, and the largest and most profitable law firms in the United States have still not said what they intend to pay their associates. This is not how the associate pay
McKool Smith has confirmed it will match the current Milbank associate salary scale, with the new pay rates taking effect on 1 January 2027. The Texas-based complex trial firm, known for competitive associate compensation which have reported previously, that has included Thanksgiving bonuses, strong year-end payouts, and market-matching raises, is lifting base salaries by $10,000
Texas Trial Powerhouse McKool Smith Joins the Milbank Pay Scale (With a Delayed Start) Read More »
Key Points: Clifford Chance has asked the US District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss a declaratory-judgment action brought by former partners Clifford Cone and Michael Sabin and compel arbitration in Geneva, Switzerland, over the firm’s attempted recovery of almost $5.76 million in prior compensation. The firm described the lawsuit as
The latest round of Biglaw associate salary increases has been unusually quiet this summer, with only a handful of firms matching Milbank’s elevated scale. Ice Miller has now joined the fray but with conditions – it is only for its New York associates, and the higher paychecks won’t arrive until next year. The firm announced
The merger of US-based Winston & Strawn with Taylor Wessing’s UK-led business is set to test demand for intellectual property counsel capable of straddling the geographic divide. But unlike most transatlantic partnerships, IP was not just another practice area in need of integration — it was a “key driver” of the decision to join forces, two Winston
Intellectual property emerges as Big Law’s newest consolidation catalyst Read More »
Freshfields’ US growth ambitions has forced out equity partners across London, Paris and Germany, the Financial Times reported on 13 July, weeks after a pay overhaul left dozens of its roughly 500 partners holding fewer equity points.
Freshfields reset its internal exchange rate from $1.60 to the pound down to about $1.30, then handed extra points to its top US earners so their dollar pay held. Points are a share of a fixed pool and Freshfields’ European partners are the pool.
The Financial Times reported this week that Freshfields has culled equity partners in recent weeks, with its London headquarters and its Paris and German offices all seeing exits and equity downgrades.
City AM ran it as a shake-up to fund the American push, which it is. What neither write-up reached is the ledger entry that explains it, and that ledger entry has been sitting in public since March.
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Freshfields Cut Its European Partners. Its New York Partners Got A Raise. Read More »
Australia is on the cusp of producing its first A$10 million‑a‑year law firm partner – and the smart money says that partner will sit at Corrs Chambers Westgarth or Gilbert + Tobin, according to a legal journalist who should know.
Veteran legal affairs journalist Michael Pelly made the claim in his Capital Brief’s Prima Facie newsletter, reporting that Australian legal partner earnings at the very top of the market have accelerated sharply since the pandemic, driven by fierce competition for rainmakers and a sustained boom in high‑value corporate work.
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Australia’s First $10 Million Law Partner? The Race Is On Read More »
