A Lack Of Communication At Two Biglaw Firms Made Lawyers Completely Freak Out About Their Salaries

Flickr / Sybren A. Stüvel

It's a new year, so many Biglaw attorneys are expecting pay raises.

But some lawyers at two big firms were quite disappointed when 2013 kicked off without a noticeable raise in their first paycheck of the year.

An unnamed associate at Weil Gotshal & Manges wrote in to Above The Law to complain that his Jan. 15 paycheck was the same amount he received last year. The firm leadership didn't even let them know if their raise schedule had changed or if they'd even be getting raises at all, the associate complained.

"If this is something like where they are going to do a catch-up on the 31st when they pay bonuses then freaking tell us that, we’ve got families," the tipster wrote. "Even if there is an explanation, the communication here sucked."

And while the issue was ultimately resolved — the firm sent out a late email confirming the raise schedule had changed — this Weil associate wasn't the only one upset about his paycheck.

Several Akin Gump associates told ATL the firm "just retroactively announced it is switching compensation models from lockstep [automatic raises every year] to some yet unknown model based on performance and hours. Everyone is freaking out firm-wide and there is nothing but silence from management."

A firm spokesman told ATL that firm leadership actually did announce a change in the timing of raises but acknowledged "it is obvious" they didn't effectively communicate with staff.

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