Florida law firms weren't eager to join the trend. But with more than a dozen out-of-state national firms hanging out shingles throughout the state and the state's largest home-grown firms putting down roots throughout the world, Florida firms are no longer immune to the pressures of pay raises doled out 3,000 miles away.
At White & Case's 55-lawyer office in Miami, salaries for first-year lawyers -- already among the highest in the state -- have jumped by 25%, from $84,000 a year to $105,000. Mid-level associate salaries jumped from $117,000 to $140,000 for fourth-year lawyers and from $127,000 to $155,000 for fifth-year lawyers. Another giant firm, Virginia-based Hunton & Williams, bumped up first-year salaries in its 16-lawyer Miami office by $30,000 to match White & Case's starting salary.
Though the raises affect only a few dozen attorneys, they may be enough to start the dominoes falling. Florida's two largest firms, Tampa-based Holland & Knight and Miami's Greenberg Traurig, are considering hikes. At H&K, where associate salaries begin at about $66,000 in north and central Florida and $74,000 in south Florida, partner Jim Groh says the firm has to keep up with salary trends because it recruits from the same pool of top graduates as other big national firms.
At Akerman Senterfitt & Eidson, an aggressively expanding firm with nearly 300 lawyers in seven offices throughout the state, managing partner Charlie Schuette says he'll wait to see what his competitors do. "We're not going to take the lead on this," he says. Though the firm does not generally hire first-year associates, Akerman's least-experienced lawyers earn $70,000 to $75,000.
Other firms aren't waiting. At Tampa-based, 155-lawyer Fowler White Gillen Boggs Villareal & Banker, associate salaries have jumped 20%, from $50,000 to $60,000.
Some associates fear a backlash, worried the market may be going haywire. "It's unsustainable," says one mid-level Florida associate who, like all the associates contacted for this article, asked not to be identified. "The market is up. The market has to be served, but it's just really short-sighted." Sooner or later, he says, "the firms will be over capacity, and the only thing they'll be able to do is let people go."
Law firm managers say clients shouldn't worry about having to pay higher hourly rates so the firms can pay more to young associates. "This has to come off the (profit) margin," Kline says. But Kelly Fox, a law firm consultant for New Jersey-based Hildebrandt Inc.'s Florida office, says it's only a matter of time. Around the country, the salary increases have led to associate hourly rates as high as $180 an hour, Fox says. By comparison, most Florida law firms bill between $90 and $125 an hour for associates' time. "The money to pay for these kids is either going to come out of the partners' pockets or out of the clients' pockets," Fox says. "Typically, you don't see a lot of partners taking money from their pockets."
Adam's Mark controversy: Caught in the Middle
Organizers of the annual conference of Florida county court judges found themselves in a sticky situation recently. The Daytona Beach Adam's Mark hotel, where they had booked their upcoming education conference, was the target of a federal discrimination lawsuit. The suit stemmed from an incident last summer in which a group of guests attending the Black College Reunion allege they were charged more for rooms and treated different from white guests.
Though chain officials disputed the allegations, the U.S. Justice Department followed with its own suit alleging discrimination throughout the entire hotel chain, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was calling for a boycott.
So it was with some trepidation that the 265-member judges organization considered the decision to hold its July 12-15 meetings at the site of the original complaint.
At the same time, conference organizers take the idea of "presumed innocence" very seriously. "As judges, we prefer not to leap to conclusions," says Collier County Judge Eugene Turner, who chairs the organization, "but we didn't want even an allegation to distract us."
Turner says the group considered canceling its contract with Adam's Mark altogether but feared it could be held liable under a cancellation clause in its contract that might have cost the group $54,000. Instead, the conference was moved to the chain's Orlando hotel.
Turner says the decision should not be interpreted as participation in the boycott.
Since the judges' decision, the chain has agreed to settle the Justice Department's complaint and a separate Florida lawsuit brought by the Black College Reunion guests and joined by the Florida Attorney General's Office.
The agreement calls for the chain to pay $8 million in damages and institute new anti-discrimination policies.
Pay-up.com
Negotiating job offers in the fast-moving coast-to-coast salary wars has young lawyers prowling the web for the latest in bargaining information. Their efforts have spawned a crop of "greedy associates" websites and message boards where lawyer wannabes whine, browbeat and trade information on the latest offers. It's not pretty, but it can be found at www.greedyassociates.com or at infirmation.com. The sites contain coast-to-coast salary surveys, links to law firms and discussion boards on various related topics.