By: Caryn Tamber
I spoke too soon.
In a post on Friday, I wrote that to the best of my knowledge, no firm with a big presence here had yet canceled its summer associate program for 2010.
Now Ballard Spahr, which has 40 lawyers in Baltimore and nine in Bethesda, has done just that. (The report first surfaced today on Above the Law.)
A Ballard spokeswoman e-mailed me the following statement:
“In view of our obligation to manage our firm in a responsible way, we have decided not to have a Summer Associates Program in 2010. We are very pleased to have a new class of associates that will join us in the fall of 2010 and will make offers to this year’s summer associates to start in 2011. It would be unfair to have a Summer Associates Program next year in light of the people to whom we have made commitments. If there are exceptional needs in a non-Philadelphia office, we will consider appropriate hires. This decision reflects what we believe is in the best interests of the firm.”
By: Caryn Tamber
Ballard Spahr is the latest firm to delay first-year associates’ start dates. The incoming class will now start in September of 2010. No, that’s not a typo. Yes, the associates will have to wait a whole year.
The firm will pay them each a $45,000 stipend “if they find legal work in the meantime that provides public service or enhances their professional development.”
Ballard Spahr is based in Philadelphia but has 49 lawyers in Maryland.
Another firm with a major Maryland presence, Venable, announced earlier this month that its own first-years would start in January 2010.
By: jackie.sauter
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll (which, of course, has an office here in Charm City) emerged victorious this week from a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania by a man who claimed the firm breached its financial duty to him.
Saul Epstein sought $17-30M in lost profits and punitive damages, after (he said) the firm shared his business plan with a competitor, who sought funding from the same source he did – Crusader Bank, a Ballard Spahr client. ABA Journal reports that Epstein claimed the law firm “sabotaged” his deal with the bank while promoting the competitor.
The Legal Intelligencer reports that a former Crusader executive testified the bank “never had any interest in doing business with Epstein.” Ouch.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
By: jackie.sauter
Some more news on the big-firm salary front: the largest of the truly Maryland-headquartered firms, Miles & Stockbridge, is up to $140,000. The increase, which is as of the new year, is a $15,000 bump from last year’s rate.
That puts Miles at the same salary level as Ballard Spahr’s Baltimore’s office. Both firms are $20,000 lower than the Charm City offices of Venable and DLA Piper, two firms born here but now playing with the big boys on a national level.
Miles chairman John Frisch says the raise doesn’t come with a billable-hour requirement hike. Miles remains at 1850, lower than Piper or Venable.
CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer
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