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For partners at region's biggest law firms, a good year's pay comes in multiples of six-digits

Tuesday, February 26, 2002

By Pamela R. Winnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Even in an ailing economy, lawyers are holding their own. Some are even prospering. As always, corporate lawyers in the Big Apple command the biggest bucks in the legal professional, led by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, a powerhouse securities law firm at which partners last year earned a whopping $3.2 million.

Lawyers at Pittsburgh's big firms don't make that kind of money, but they do pretty well, with five firms included in the American Lawyer's list of the top 100 highest-earners nationwide.

At Morgan Lewis & Bockius, a Philadelphia-based law firm with a Downtown office of about 30 lawyers, partners earn on average at least $635,000 a year, according to American Lawyer, which conducted its survey last summer.

The firm, which in Pittsburgh represents many technology companies, won't comment on the numbers, but says it's more than survived the economic downturn. The key to its success?

"Even in a slow economy, what we have to sell is what succeeds," said Marlee S. Myers, managing partner of the Pittsburgh office.

"The key to our success is excellence," she said. "It works in a bad economy as well as a good one."

Next among the Pittsburgh law community's high earners is Buchanan Ingersoll, whose partners on average earn $395,000 a year, according to the American Lawyer.

"Our firm is known for having leaders in each of its practice disciplines," said managing partner William R. Newlin. "That translates into a very high market demand for their services.

"Adding to this benefit is the fact that our reputation is national in nature. We work at positioning our firm to be in areas that are of the highest value to clients."

At Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, the firm with the largest Pittsburgh office, partners average $370,000 a year.

Managing partner Peter Kalis said that, unlike many other law firms, Kirkpatrick hasn't extended into nonlegal consulting services.

"Our reach never exceeds our grasp," he said. "We're lawyers. We don't leverage into other areas."

Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, originally a Cleveland law firm, made a strategic decision to move into Pittsburgh in 1989 to service clients who had business here, said Paul Pohl, who runs the firm's Pittsburgh office.

"Back in the 1970s," he said, "the best corporations were starting to pick lawyers the way they picked accounting and investing firms."

Jones Day is unique, he said, because partner compensation is determined by a single individual rather than by a committee; moreover, partners don't know what other partners make.

"That removes the issue over which most partnerships squabble," Pohl said.

Recently named by the American Lawyer as the best in litigation, Jones Day represents such litigation-prone clients as tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds and tire maker Firestone.

At Reed Smith, partners make $335,000 a year on average, according to the American Lawyer. Managing partner Greg Jordan said those numbers had improved since the survey was taken last summer. Thanks to a 27 percent increase in revenue over the past year, Reed Smith partners now average more than $400,000 a year, he said.

One reason for the firm's success is a client list that consists of many Pittsburgh institutions, including Mellon Financial, U.S. Steel, PNC Financial Services Group and PPG Industries.

Jordan said another factor in Reed Smith's success was a "diverse practice" that includes a bankruptcy practice that benefited when the economy leveled off.

But how do lawyers fare compared with other professions?

Much better than doctors.

According to a national survey conducted by consulting firm Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, doctors in internal medicine and family practice earn between $110,000 and $200,000 a year, while radiologists, the highest paid specialists in medicine, earn up to $500,000 a year.

The best bet seems to be business -- at least when you're at the top. Last year, the average compensation for the region's 50 highest-paid executives was about $7 million. That's about 14 times better than the best-paid lawyer in town.