US firms curb lateral hire promises after Dewey controversy

January, 30 2015

Bad publicity about high guarantees on lateral hires at Dewey & LeBoeuf has acted as a curb on remuneration promises over the last year.

Pay guarantees are no longer the way forward for law firms SergZSV.ZP

The number of lateral moves has increased, however, among the top US firms. Pay guarantees used to last for three years in some cases but have now come down to 18 months at the top end, according to Michael Allen of Lateral Link. This means that the firms are not forced into paying out large sums to people who are not able to bring in the work that they had predicted. Source: ABA