Associate pay should be frozen this year
Even for a profession that has done much to shrug off the conservatism that once defined it, when it comes to being bold, law firms still like safety in numbers. In good times this works OK as firms watch each other to incorporate good ideas. In harder times, requiring radical measures, this works less happily as partners hold off necessary decisions for fear of being isolated. So it will be a brave firm that makes the decision the times now so obviously demand: entirely freezing assistant pay in 2009. And we are not talking about not raising pay bands, as law firms do during more civilised slowdowns – what is plainly required is a pay freeze, full-stop.
