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Sunday, March 11, 2007
Law - "What to make of those astronomical Supreme Court signing bonuses?"
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate has a story this weekend that made my jaw drop, even though I have been following the stories about the $160,000 salaries now being paid to first-year associates in top-tier New York firms. Some quotes, but I suggest you read the long and totally interesting story in full:
Later this spring, elite law firms will again be offering Supreme Court law clerks signing bonuses of $200,000 (last year's rate) or even more for their first jobs as practicing lawyers.That will be $200,000 on top of a starting salary of $145,000 to $160,000. Which adds up to an awful lot of Pottery Barn sectional furniture for someone who is, on average, 26 years old and just two years out of school. As Chief Justice John Roberts pointed out recently, that $360,000 beats the heck out of the $212,100 he's taking home for, well, chief justice-ing the entire nation. * * *
These enormous signing bonuses have also spawned a bizarre collision of two ethical rules. The Supreme Court's Rule 7 bars any former clerk from participating "in any professional capacity in any case" before the High Court for two years after they leave. That includes helping or advising their firms on upcoming cases before the court. Thus, the specific expertise for which they were hired is on ice for two years.
On the other hand, and perhaps merely coincidentally, two years seems to have become the unofficial number for the young associates themselves, many of whom agree informally that if they stick around the law firm for that period of time, they can't be accused of having taken the money and run. They'll have fulfilled an ethical obligation.
In fact, the big bonuses create an enormous incentive for young Supreme Court clerks to, well, take the money and run. After two years in private practice, they can pay down or even pay off their law school debts and leave the firm holding the bag. Carter Phillips concedes that the huge bonuses have undermined what he calls a "natural sorting process," wherein some former clerks once naturally gravitated to government service, and others left the court for academia.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 11, 2007 09:14 AM
Posted to General Law Related