Attorneys Wages And Salaries

Howard Holderness, a 34-year-old San Francisco lawyer who once made $72 a month teaching English in Kenya, learned last week that he could earn as much as $245,000 this year in salary and bonus, a $36% increase in pay. "I didn't complain," said Holderness, chuckling. "I was very happy." Holderness, a seven-year associate, isn't the only gleeful one.

Frustrated by Gov. Gray Davis' failure to grant significant pay hikes, a union representing state attorneys has donated $250,000 to former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's gubernatorial campaign--setting off a major controversy within the union.

Remember when top lawyers charged $100 an hour? Then it went to $200? Well, would you believe $400 an hour? Driven by the spiraling cost of wooing top law school graduates, major law firms in Los Angeles and other cities now are charging $350 to $400 an hour--or more--for the services of their senior partners. "They're paying more for their (first-year) 'associates' and everything ratchets up from there," said Michael Waldorf, a Los Angeles headhunter who places lawyers with firms.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has found that Los Angeles County created a two-tiered pay system that discriminated against women lawyers. The dispute involves Auxiliary Legal Services, a nonprofit organization created by the county in the late 1980s when money was scarce and caseloads for lawyers in the county counsel's office were on the rise.

C'mon now, you didn't really think the scriptwriters for "L.A. Law" could just make up all that stuff, did you? Inside real law firms all across the country there's high drama being played out, the likes of which have kept TV's fictional McKenzie, Brackman in turmoil for several seasons. New partners are brought in solely for their ability to lure clients, while long-time partners stalk out, their own client lists in hand. Nonproductive partners get shoved out the door.

Viacom Attorney Tops Chart of Highest-Paid Counsel: The October issue of American Lawyer's Corporate Counsel magazine reports that the median total cash compensation of the 100 general counsels on its chart rose to about $534,000 from about $500,000. Many of the counsel are being paid more because they are playing increasingly important roles in corporate management. Viacom Inc. General Counsel Philippe Dauman, who earned $3.06 million last year, topped the list.

Frustrated by Gov. Gray Davis' failure to grant significant pay hikes, a union representing state attorneys has donated $250,000 to former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's gubernatorial campaign--setting off a major controversy within the union.

Dismayed that the three lead prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial were awarded $43,000 in bonuses, a senior county prosecutor has formally requested that they give the money back. In a letter dated Feb. 14, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dinko Bozanich asserted that the bonuses were "unauthorized, unlawful and illegal." As public employees, he wrote, prosecutors are paid only a "fixed and certain" salary.

Partners at San Francisco's largest law firm and one of the oldest in California, are skipping their regular monthly paychecks in March as part of a new cost-cutting campaign, partners said Thursday. Members of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro said "very significant" capital expenditures, including an over-budget computer system and office expansions into Los Angeles and San Jose, prompted the nearly 170 partners to forgo their checks, they said. Other personnel at the firm are receiving their pay.

Michael Borden, a first-year student at the University of Chicago Law School, has landed the perfect summer job. In his honor, his bosses at the Los Angeles law firm of Loeb & Loeb will host a beach party--complete with a steel drum band--at Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica. They will lavish him with private parties at their homes and dinners at trendy Westside restaurants, usher him to Dodger games, summer jazz events at the Hollywood Bowl and an afternoon outing at the Getty.

Howard Holderness, a 34-year-old San Francisco lawyer who once made $72 a month teaching English in Kenya, learned last week that he could earn as much as $245,000 this year in salary and bonus, a $36% increase in pay. "I didn't complain," said Holderness, chuckling. "I was very happy." Holderness, a seven-year associate, isn't the only gleeful one.

The booming economy is resulting in a windfall for top-notch law school graduates. For the first time, law firms operating in California are offering six-figure salaries to their first-year associates. Robert Major, a partner in Major, Hagen & Africa, a legal recruiting firm in San Francisco, said stiff competition for young lawyers is driving up first-year pay. Keker & Van Nest, a San Francisco law firm headed by former Iran-Contra prosecutor John W.

Viacom Attorney Tops Chart of Highest-Paid Counsel: The October issue of American Lawyer's Corporate Counsel magazine reports that the median total cash compensation of the 100 general counsels on its chart rose to about $534,000 from about $500,000. Many of the counsel are being paid more because they are playing increasingly important roles in corporate management. Viacom Inc. General Counsel Philippe Dauman, who earned $3.06 million last year, topped the list.

Dismayed that the three lead prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial were awarded $43,000 in bonuses, a senior county prosecutor has formally requested that they give the money back. In a letter dated Feb. 14, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dinko Bozanich asserted that the bonuses were "unauthorized, unlawful and illegal." As public employees, he wrote, prosecutors are paid only a "fixed and certain" salary.

In keeping with the spirit of this season of giving, Marcia Clark and Chris Darden should return the bonuses they received in the midst of their unsuccessful prosecution of O.J. Simpson. Clark, Darden and Deputy Dist. Atty. William Hodgman received the bonuses--officially, an 11% temporary pay raise--in the middle of the long trial. Clark got $14,330, Darden $10,750 and Hodgman $17,760.

In keeping with the spirit of this season of giving, Marcia Clark and Chris Darden should return the bonuses they received in the midst of their unsuccessful prosecution of O.J. Simpson. Clark, Darden and Deputy Dist. Atty. William Hodgman received the bonuses--officially, an 11% temporary pay raise--in the middle of the long trial. Clark got $14,330, Darden $10,750 and Hodgman $17,760.

They can trace their lives through a succession of grisly subtitles: the Hillside Strangler, the 54th Street Massacre, the Ninja Murders, the Halloween Ambush, the Chinatown Shoot-out. . . . They can recall, in anguished detail, each case they've lost, each time a client has been sentenced to life imprisonment or, God forbid, death. They are criminal defense attorneys--not the celebrity lawyers who squeeze past ogling camera lenses on the way to represent the likes of O.J.

Seeking to capitalize on his lawyers' role in the O.J Simpson trial, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti argued before the Board of Supervisors Thursday that county prosecutors such as Marcia Clark and Christopher A. Darden deserve a pay raise. Using the long hours put in by Clark and Darden as examples, Garcetti proposed that all prosecutors receive a pay hike of between 2.2% and 11%, effective July 1.

They can trace their lives through a succession of grisly subtitles: the Hillside Strangler, the 54th Street Massacre, the Ninja Murders, the Halloween Ambush, the Chinatown Shoot-out. . . . They can recall, in anguished detail, each case they've lost, each time a client has been sentenced to life imprisonment or, God forbid, death. They are criminal defense attorneys--not the celebrity lawyers who squeeze past ogling camera lenses on the way to represent the likes of O.J.