Above the Law has a leaked memo from DLA Piper saying that the firm is cutting first-year associate salaries. DLA Piper confirms. Last year, the firm’s number was $160,000 in larger markets, including Baltimore. Now, the newest incoming associates will make $145,000 instead — when they actually start. Remember that DLA Piper, like many other firms, has delayed first-years’ start dates. Instead of starting work in September 2009, DLA Piper’s new lawyers will not report to work until January 2010, though they will get a stipend in the meantime.

The memo also says the firm will adjust salaries for other associates based on year and performance. The firm says partners, of counsel and senior counsel lawyers have also taken pay cuts.

DLA Piper was the busiest firm in the world on global mergers and acquisitions last year, says a merger intelligence-gathering operation called mergermarket.

The firm advised on more global deals than any other firm in 2008, mergermarket’s report says.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Happy last-full-workweek-most-of-us-will-have-for-a-few-weeks!

* On Sunday, The Sun had this very sad account of an alleged domestic violence murder.

* At least two other firms are apparently considering pulling a DLA Piper with their non-equity partners, a law prof tells the NLJ.

* Big firm layoffs, both public and “stealth,” are up since the summer, associates tell Above the Law.

* “DNA evidence has been widely embraced over the last two decades as a powerful forensic tool to prove a defendant’s guilt or innocence,” writes the Chicago Tribune. “But in Lake County, authorities have sometimes pressed for convictions even when the DNA doesn’t match a suspect.” HT: How Appealing.

* From the “thanks, Captain Obvious” file comes this advice for 1Ls navigating a troubled economy. Gee whiz, 1Ls should try to get good grades?

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

Hello! Here are some law-related stories and posts to check out today:

For the second year in a row, DLA Piper is the largest law firm in the country.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests isn’t buying Fernando Cristancho’s contention that the woman who gave birth to his triplets concocted sex abuse allegations against Cristancho so she could get custody.

It’s not just Maryland. HT: Baltimore Crime.

Scale back the War on Drugs to save money in these economically trying times, Jon Katz advises the government.

It’s not grounds for a mistrial when a print-out of lawyer jokes called “Sharks and Lawyers: A Comparative Study” is found in the jury room, says the 1st Circuit.

An Obama victory = the end of the Confirmthem blog. “We’ll get back together when a president nominates judges who have a solid record of supporting the rule of law instead of the rule of men, and who understand the grave damage done when judges exercise power without authority,” blogger Andrew Hyman writes.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

DLA Piper gets love from the American Lawyer annual rankings issue today. The magazine points to Piper as one of the few firms for whom a major merger has actually panned out:

The firm has yet to come back down to earth. It has quadruple the number of lawyers of either of its original predecessors. Per-partner profits kept up double-digit growth for five of the last eight years and are up nearly 150 percent since 1999. DLA significantly outpaced The Am Law 100 in average year-on-year growth in revenue per lawyer, profits per partner, and average partner compensation postmerger. And, as the chart shows, the firm grew fast enough in eight years to finally beat the Am Law 100 average in revenue per lawyer in 2007 (it has yet to catch up in profits).

However, the magazine also points out that more than 50 partners have departed the firm since late 2005. I wonder if most of this had to do with lawyers being conflicted out of work that they had always handled, or if there were other major reasons.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer

The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog has a post up about the Baltimore lawyer who apparently did “most of the heavy lifting” on the doping-in-baseball Mitchell report.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer 

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

The appropriate people from Venable aren’t getting back to me on this — I’ve been trying since last week — but word is they’re raising starting salaries for first-year associates to $160,000 as of the fall. This year, starting salaries were $145,000.

The firm that may be Venable’s top competitor for talent in Baltimore, DLA Piper, says it’s finalizing starting salaries and bonuses and will probably have a number today.
No word yet on what some of the other major Maryland firms are doing yet — for Pete’s sake, it’s January! — but I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer