N.J. Assembly, Senate Committees Pass Judicial Pay-Raise Legislation

Committees in both houses of the N.J. Legislature recommend approval of increases in state judges' salaries that would bring them close to those of their federal counterparts.

State Commission Urges Raises, COLAs for State Court Judges

The New Jersey agency charged with recommending compensation rates for public officials says state judges should be paid on a par with their federal counterparts and be given periodic cost-of-living adjustments.

Survey Shows Gender Pay Gap Among Lawyers With Seniority

Women who make partner or achieve other senior positions at the country's largest firms make 11 percent less than their male peers, says a survey by the National Association of Women Lawyers.

Chief Justice Says State Judges' Pay Should Be at Parity With U.S. Bench

Chief Justice Stuart Rabner tells a N.J. commission charged with reviewing state officials' salaries that state trial judges should be paid the same as their federal counterparts and receive annual cost of living increases.

McCarter & English Hikes Starting Pay for First-Years to $135,000

Starting in January, first-year associates at McCarter & English will earn $135,000, an 8 percent increase over their current salary.

Diversity Improving, Ever So Slightly, At New Jersey's Largest Law Firms

New Jersey's largest law firms this year made incremental improvements in ethnic and gender diversity among their partner and associate ranks, an annual Law Journal survey finds.

Part-Time Lawyering Makes Inroads at Large N.J. Firms

Part-time schedules, once seen as sops to lawyers with child-rearing obligations, are taking on new dimensions as New Jersey law firms strive to attract associates with staying power.

Recruiting Practical Talent

Firm hiring partners and the job candidates they interview who have transactional, in-house experience seldom discuss in detail the additional skills the candidate has acquired as a result of working in-house. They should; both sides would do better in the recruiting process.

Firm Recruiting Videos Add a Touch of Humor

Law firms continue experimenting with technology and new summer associate program models to enhance recruitment, and an edgy new recruitment Web site adds entertainment to the mix.

Fox Rothschild Keeps Salaries Flat As Show of Asceticism for Clientele

Fox Rothschild announced last week that its starting salaries will stay at $125,000 this year, the same as in 2006, demonstrating to corporate clients its commitment to holding down costs.

Latest Associate Salary Hikes Leave Corporate Clients Cold

Law firms are blaming market demands for the latest round of associate salary raises, but they may have discounted an important factor in their decisions to boost pay - the client.

Firm Kills Billable Hour For First-Year Associates

The billable hour: demanding, disparaged and now dead - at least at one Atlanta-based law firm.

Federal Bar in N.J. Seeks Raises for U.S. Judges, Calling Pay 'Insulting'

U.S. district judges make less than newly minted lawyers at many of New Jersey's top law firms and it's time they got a meaningful pay raise, according to federal lawyers at those same top firms.

Women GCs Take Growing Share of Fortune 500 Jobs, Especially in N.J.

More women are becoming general counsels at Fortune 500 companies in New Jersey.A survey of legal departments at 24 such companies here finds that eight - or 33 percent - of GCs are women, the highest percentage in the country.

Large New Jersey Firms Approve Midyear Pay Hikes for Associates

Increasing pressures to match the pay offered elsewhere have impelled some New Jersey firms to a midyear hike, a sampling of large New Jersey law offices shows.

Lowenstein Hikes First-Year Pay to $140,000 in 2008

Lowenstein Sandler broke from the pack of New Jersey's home-grown firms Thursday and announced it would pay first-year associates $140,000 next year, a $15,000 increase.

Summer Hiring at New Jersey Firms

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N.J. Firms Boost Summer Clerk Pay

New Jersey's bellwether firms are willing to pay more than last year for summer clerks who may ripen into permanent hires.

Low Pay, But You Play

Working as a New Jersey deputy attorney general doesn't pay much - $55,945, compared with six figures in the private sector - but the benefits are terrific. The intangible benefits, that is.

N.J. Firms Hike First-Year Pay, Bulk Up on New Hires

New Jersey's large firms are hiring larger classes of new associates and boosting first-year salaries by more than 10 percent, a Law Journal survey finds.

First-Year-Associate Compensation at New Jersey Firms

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Simpson Thacher Salary Bombshell Reverberates in New Jersey

Firms in New Jersey have begun to catch the wave of salary hikes that began Jan. 22 when New York's Simpson Thacher & Bartlett raised first-year associate pay to $160,000.

Northern New Jersey Firms Are Among Most 'Leveraged' in U.S.

Northern New Jersey firms are among the most bottom-heavy with associates in the nation, with a higher lawyer-to-partner ratio than any region except New York City and San Jose, Calif., a recent survey shows.

Improving Bottom Line Helps Boost GCs' Pay

New Jersey corporations tie executive bonuses to overall company performance, and it's paying off for their top legal officers.

Public Interest Law Jobs Still Paying Peanuts

Public employers are hopelessly outmatched by private firms in pay offers to recent law graduates, both nationally and regionally, a new survey reports. But salaries for New Jersey prosecutors, public defenders and legal services lawyers are higher than the national and Northeastern averages.

Gibbons Del Deo Boosting Salaries For First-Year Lawyers to $120,000

Though the dust has scarcely settled in this year's law-firm salary derby, the 2007 race is already heating up. Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione is raising its first-year associate salaries to $120,000, effective Jan. 1, at its Newark and New York offices. The action comes a month after Roseland's Lowenstein Sandler announced plans to hike first-year associate compensation to $125,000 on Jan. 1.

New Jersey Paralegal Pay Lags Behind the National Average

Paralegals in New Jersey earn markedly less than their counterparts in other parts of the country, according to a new survey of paralegal compensation.

Starting Salaries Keep on Growing At Big N.J. Firms

First-year associate salaries at New Jersey firms continue to climb, with six major firms announcing increases in recent weeks. The latest hikes push this fall's entry-level salaries to an average $108,141 - an 8.9 percent hike over last year's average of $99,302.

Summer Associate Guide

This special section takes a closer look at summer associate programs. Although the total number of summer associates hired remained virtually flat, this year?s crop is greener, with New Jersey firms recruiting more first-year students. A survey of 21 firms revealed the highest weekly salary for a summer associate at a New Jersey-based firm is $2,100 a week.

Most Tier Partners Still 'On Path' To Equity Status, Survey Finds

While nonequity partnership has transformed the former "up or out" construct at law firms, it is still primarily a bridge to full partnership rather than a final destination, according to a management consultant's survey.

First-Year Pay Pushed Up 7 Percent, Spurred by Out-of-State Hikes

New Jersey's big firms bumped up their first-year associate salaries markedly this year to keep pace with - or at least within sight of - soaring increases by Philadelphia and New York firms.