News Briefs
Survey compares law firm
compensation systems
U.S. law firms' attempts to reform their compensation systems to
better satisfy both owners and associates has created a trend toward
basing individuals' pay on the amount of business they generate.
Legal consultant explores salary and bonus policies.
Business origination and personal fees collected ranked as the two
most important factors in determining compensation among 195 law firms
responding to a national survey conducted by Altman Weil Pensa Inc., a
legal management consulting firm in Newtown Square, Penn. A report on
the 1996 survey, Compensation Systems in Private Law Firms,
breaks down the survey responses by firm size and form of
organization.
The report compared the survey to a similar 1993 survey and
discovered a trend toward compensation reform at many law firms. Forty
percent of the firms surveyed, compared with 33 percent in 1993, now use
a "retrospective" compensation system, basing pay on the past year's
performance.
Compensation factors
The trend toward more objectivity in compensation decisions reduces
the importance of pro bono and other nonbillable work in making
compensation decisions at many law firms, according to the report. Firms
rank community service, years of practice and professional involvement
lowest among 14 factors considered in determining compensation.
The 14 factors formally considered by firms using an objective system
to determine a lawyer's compensation are, ranked by order of importance:
business origination, fees collected, case responsibility, client
responsibility, fees billed, hours recorded, legal expertise, firm
management, relative ownership percentage, seniority with firm,
cooperativeness, community involvement, seniority since bar admission
and professional involvement.
Of the firms reporting in the survey, 30 percent use a lock-step
salary schedule. An associate's pay level is determined by
classification within these firms. At half of these firms, the lock-step
salary schedule is permanent. At the other half, pay levels follow a set
schedule only during the first four years of employment, on average.
The survey also found:
- 71 percent of firms with 20 to 99 lawyers have written compensation
policies, compared to 57 percent of firms with two to 19 lawyers and 50
percent of firms with 100 or more lawyers;
- 46 percent of all firms use compensation committees to make or
advise on compensation decisions.
Signing bonuses
Twenty-six percent of all responding firms pay associates signing
bonuses. Of those firms, recent graduates are eligible to earn bonuses
at 90 percent, lateral hires with less than three 
years'
experience are eligible at 35 percent and lateral hires with more than
three years' experience are eligible at 35 percent.
At 71 percent of the firms paying signing bonuses, the bonuses are
paid in flat amounts with firms of two to 19 lawyers paying an average
of $2,000, 20 to 49 paying $2,750 and 50 to 99 paying $3,000 (no firms
of 100 or more lawyers reported bonus amounts).
Current associates can earn performance bonuses at 85 percent of all
responding firms. One percent of the firms in that total pay bonuses in
flat dollar amounts. At 75 percent, bonus amounts are determined on a
discretionary basis. At 24 percent, bonus amounts are determined using a
formula.
Of the firms using a formula to determine bonuses:
- 62 percent consider fees produced;
- 43 percent consider hours recorded; and
- 30 percent consider clients originated.
Survey reports are available for $225 from Altman Weil Pensa
Publications Inc., P.O. Box 625, Two Campus Boulevard, Suite 200,
Newtown Square, PA 19073.
New hire requirement aimed at deadbeat
parents
A provision of last year's federal welfare reform bill requires all
Wisconsin employers to report new hires to the state's Department of
Workforce Development (DWD) within 20 days of an employee's start date
beginning Jan. 1, 1998.
| Employers to report new
employees Jan. 1 |
The new hire requirements aim to strengthen states' child support
enforcement systems. The chief obstacle in implementing wage withholding
for child support is locating absent parents' places of employment,
particularly those who change jobs frequently.
The information gathered by each state will be incorporated into a
national directory and used to locate noncustodial parents who have left
the state in which they owe child support. Employers with employees in
more than one state need only report to one state.
Employers must report a new employee's name, address, date of birth
and Social Security number, and their own name, address and federal
identification number. The information may be submitted on paper or
electronically. No special form is required. However, the Wisconsin
Department of Revenue (DOR) modified Form WT-4, the Employee Exemption
Withholding Certificate, to include the additional new hire information.
The form will be enclosed in the packet the DOR mails to all employers
in December.
Though the New Hire requirement brings more paperwork for employers,
the State Bar's Family Law Section views it as relatively innocuous
compared to other reporting rules previously imposed by the state. The
requirements also could be viewed as good public policy, according to
Milwaukee attorney Christopher Walther, section vice chair.
"A lot of deadbeat parents constantly skip from job to job," Walther
said. "It's expensive and cumbersome to track them down to issue a new
income assignment with each new job."
Wisconsin's child support collection rate of 38 percent compares
favorably to the national average of 18 percent. But that still means
that money remains uncollected in 62 percent of Wisconsin's child
support cases.
The DWD will operate the program jointly with the Division of
Unemployment Insurance and the Bureau of Child Support in the Division
of Economic Support. The DWD offers to explain the new hire requirements
at informational meetings for employer groups statewide. To learn more
call Karen Gerrits, program coordinator, at (608) 267-9015.
FYI
Favorite computer products named
Law Office Computing magazine recently asked its readers to
vote for their favorite legal computer products. The top choices by
category, with winners listed first and in boldface followed by other
finalists, included:
Word Processing
- WordPerfect
- Microsoft Word
Software Suite
- Microsoft Office
- Corel WordPerfect Suite
- Lotus SmartSuite
Time and Billing
- Timeslips
- TABS III
- PC Law, Jr.
Personal Information Manager
- Lotus Organizer
- Time Matters
- ECCO Pro
Online Research
Litigation Support
- Summation
- Gravity Verdict
Case Management
- Abacus
- Amicus
- Casemaster III;
Document Management
- Groupwise
- DOCS Open
- Soft Solutions
Legal Add-On
- Visioneer Paperport Deluxe Software
- HotDocs
- OmniPage Pro.
State Bar members can subscribe to Law Office Computing for
$44.99, a $25 discount on the regular subscription price. Call (800)
394-2626 and have your State Bar member number handy. The discount is
given to new subscribers for one year only.
Federal appeals court accepts CD-ROM
brief
A brief filed by Virginia attorney Charles Gholz July 25 with the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., was
the first recorded on CD-ROM accepted by the court.
The court, which only recently invited brief submissions on this
relatively new technology, directed Gholz to provide the court
commissioner with the software necessary to view the hypertext
brief.
Lawyers can record on one CD-ROM a brief with hypertext links, such
as those found on the Internet. Just as in browsing a home page, with
only a mouse click, a judge can easily jump to additional text of
supporting cases, multimedia depositions or other key exhibits all
within one small package.
The U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit, which serves Wisconsin,
Illinois and Indiana, requires briefs on both disk and paper. The
Seventh Circuit currently lacks the technology to accept briefs on
CD-ROM, said Clerk Thomas Strubbe.
AIDS Network seeks lawyers for
Legal Services Program
The AIDS Network needs lawyers statewide to provide legal services
pro bono or at reduced rates for Wisconsin residents living with HIV or
AIDS.
Most cases handled by the network's Legal Services Program fall
within one of these areas: wills, trusts and estate planning; family
law; insurance; bankruptcy; credit collection; government benefits;
powers of attorney; HIV confidentiality law; and employment and housing
discrimination.
For more information contact the AIDS Network, Legal Services
Program, 600 Williamson St., Madison, 53703. Call (608) 252-6540 in
Madison or (800) 486-6276 statewide.
Internet sites list lawyer job
openings
Attorneys @ Work, a subscription-based Internet site connects law
students and lawyers looking for work with law firms and law departments
at major corporations. Students pay nothing to enter their name at the
site that is now used by the law schools at Harvard, Stanford and
Georgetown universities. Attorneys pay a fee, currently $50, to place
their name in the database. Law firms pay an annual subscription for
unlimited access.
Find the legal job listings from Wisconsin Lawyer and the
Marquette University Law School Alumni Employment Opportunities page
on WisBar.
Figuratively Speaking
"Road Rage"
Since 1990, the percentage increase in the rate of "aggressive
driving" incidents in which one driver attempts to kill or injure
another driver following a traffic dispute, according to the American
Automobile Association: 51
Percentage who used firearms against other drivers:
37
Percentage who used another form of weapon: 28
Percentage who used their automobile as a weapon:
35
Since 1990, the number of people killed in traffic:
250,000
Number of fatalities that were directly related to aggressive
driving: 218
Number of injuries per year attributable to aggressive driving:
12,610
Source: US News & World Report, Vol. 122, Number 21,
June 2, 1997; A.A.A.
Wisconsin
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