BASE SALARIES UP FOR IN-HOUSE LAWYERS
The 2006 Altman Weil Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey of U.S. corporate law departments, published in partnership with LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbel, shows base salaries up across the board for in-house lawyers in 2006.

Median salaries for all positions in law departments increased between 2.2 percent and 9.5 percent in 2006. All trend comparisons are drawn from a super-group of more than 200 law departments that have participated in the survey over sequential years.

The survey reports national median salary for chief legal officers in 2006 at $280,000. The senior attorney position drew $140,000, while a new law school graduate earned a starting salary of $65,000.

Bonuses were up across the board for non-management positions in law departments — in some instances dramatically. Senior attorneys reported bonus increases of 14.4 percent while more junior attorneys and staff attorneys received bonus increases of 62.5 percent and 71 percent, respectively. 

FEW LAWYERS WORK PART-TIME, MOST WHO DO ARE WOMEN
Most large law firms make part-time schedules available to their experienced attorneys, but just 4.7 percent of associates and 2.8 percent of partners were working part-time in 2006. Moreover, most lawyers working part-time are women — 72 percent of partners and 89 percent of associates working part-time.

These are among the findings of the most recent NALP Directory of Legal Employers. The 2006-2007 directory comprises listings from primarily large law firms and includes part-time use information from almost 1,500 individual law offices and firms and more than 132,000 lawyers.

In 2006, 96 percent of all offices allowed part-time schedules, either as an affirmative policy or on a case-by-case basis, but very few lawyers are working on a part-time basis, just 5 percent overall. Associates are more likely to be working part-time (4.7 percent) than partners (2.8 percent); other lawyers, such as of counsel and staff attorneys, show the highest rate of part-time work, over 16 percent. Women partners are more likely to be working part-time (11.4 percent) than are women associates (9.5 percent).

See the press release at www.nalp.org/press/details. php?id=65. 

OWLS PRESENTS FIRST WORKPLACE AWARD
At its fall conference held in Portland on Oct. 27, Oregon Women Lawyers recognized the law firm of Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf as the recipient of the first OWLs Workplace Leader Award. The award was created to recognize legal employers who are taking innovative measures to maximize opportunities for women and minorities to succeed in the workplace and advance to positions of influence and leadership.

The Portland litigation firm was honored for its outstanding efforts to promote a healthy work/life balance by facilitating and respecting flexible time commitments to the firm, by creating real opportunities for part-time lawyers, and by the firm’s commitment to generous parental leave for all of its employees.

Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf allows lawyers to indicate each year how many hours they will commit to the firm. The firm respects that commitment and sets their pay accordingly – and lawyers generally work at the level they committed to work without dramatic variation. While a lawyer’s hours commitment will affect compensation, it is not a factor in partnership selection. In addition, all the firm’s lawyers and staff (male and female) are eligible for three months paid leave following the birth of a child, and it extends to both parents.

For more information visit www.oregonwomenlawyers.com.

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Effective Jan. 1, 2007, many (not all) circuit and appellate court civil filing fee amounts changed. The temporary surcharge that began Sept. 1, 2003, ended Dec. 31, 2006. And while the base filing fees increased at the same time, the total filing fee will generally go down. These changes affect filing fees for diversion petitions, too.

Before filing papers in a state court on or after Jan. 1, 2007, please check the court’s website or contact the court for correct fee amounts.

For appellate court fees, see www.ojd.state.or.us/ osca/acs/records/FilingFees.htm. For circuit courts, there is no single circuit court fee schedule, because circuit court fees vary by county depending on local fee assessments. Please check the website for the court where you plan to file. If the court has not posted its fee schedule on its website, then contact the court directly for information. A directory of circuit courts and links to circuit court websites is available at www.ojd.state.or.us/courts/
circuit/index.htm.