Are NY firms going to $190K

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

Sorry, but raising salaries right now would be absolutely crazy. One major firm just fell apart and another is in serious danger of it, there are layoffs at many firms, and who knows what big client could fall apart next. At this point I am just hoping for a bonus. T. Durden, you pay 2700 a month for a studio in Manhattan? You are getting ripped off.

That depends on which part of Manhattan he lives in...

[thorc954]

t.durden, are you living in midtown?  How did you go about finding your place?  Im making the move to NY and dont want to do the broker thing.  Any advice?

[TheDudeMan]

t.durden, are you living in midtown?  How did you go about finding your place?  Im making the move to NY and dont want to do the broker thing.  Any advice?

You won't have many options without a broker.  That is simply the way Manhattan works my friend.

[Resident CLS Troll]

One major firm just fell apart and another is in serious danger of it, there are layoffs at many firms, and who knows what big client could fall apart next.

Who's in serious danger of falling apart?

[thorc954]

One major firm just fell apart and another is in serious danger of it, there are layoffs at many firms, and who knows what big client could fall apart next.

Who's in serious danger of falling apart?

Theilen Reid

[thorc954]

t.durden, are you living in midtown?  How did you go about finding your place?  Im making the move to NY and dont want to do the broker thing.  Any advice?

You won't have many options without a broker.  That is simply the way Manhattan works my friend.

Ill have to try the craigslist thing for a little first then.  Such a crazy system.  Ive heard brokers are pretty much useless too.

[themanwithnoname]

One major firm just fell apart and another is in serious danger of it, there are layoffs at many firms, and who knows what big client could fall apart next.

Who's in serious danger of falling apart?

Theilen Reid

That's who I was referring to.

[themanwithnoname]

Sorry, but raising salaries right now would be absolutely crazy. One major firm just fell apart and another is in serious danger of it, there are layoffs at many firms, and who knows what big client could fall apart next. At this point I am just hoping for a bonus. T. Durden, you pay 2700 a month for a studio in Manhattan? You are getting ripped off.

That depends on which part of Manhattan he lives in...

There are some neighborhoods in manhattan where every apartment is a rip off.

[Krisace]

The short answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT.

The supposed "NY to 190" rumor was talked about a year ago but now the economy is in a rough spot that will take at least a year and a half to even BEGIN to work out of. 

It'll be at least three years before we see the next pay hike. And at that point we may have lost a dozen or so of the Amlaw 100 with another dozen having merged, deparately trying to make it into the global elite (see below).

So skip ahead to 2011.  At that time it will begin to be clear that we have 20 or so mega-players (global high-end work firms as well as a handful of NY firms such as Wachtell) who have separated themselves from the rest of the bunch.  Another 50 or so firms will be hanging in there with mid-level profitability work (see DLA Piper and Baker & McKenzie).  The latter will not be able to raise salaries, or if they do it will not match the raises seen at the elite 20.

Skip ahead another five or ten years and the rainmakers from these mid-level profitability firms will have jumped ship to the elite 20. The dust will settle and we'll be left with 20 super-power firms and dozens of national/regional firms who have lost large chunks of high-end work to the elite 20 but can hang around with the mid-level work.

In short, pick your firm wisely.  If you have a choice you should choose to either be at a high-end NY shop or a large global law firm with profits per partner currently around $1.5M or more.