Around the Firms

According to Texas Lawyer, Texas firms' salaries did not have much of an increase on average for the second consecutive year. The information was displayed in the Texas publication's annual Salary & Billing Survey, to which 46 firms responded. Paralegals, personnel managers, and associates all faced meager increases. The economy seems to be behind this, as Cox and Smith's executive director, George Casbeer, states. The officer of the 91-attorney firm in San Antonio said that salaries and billing have been level because of the current financial times. Charles Post, the CEO of Houston's Susman Godfrey, concurs, explaining that associate salaries at his firm have not been changed for several years and that even in the case of staff positions that hold a higher demand, such as information technology employees, moderate increases are given. However, legal secretaries with 1 to 3 years' experience and who are employed at firms with anywhere from 50 to 99 lawyers have had a significant salary increase (20.4%). One reason for this, according to one respondent, is that salaries were below market rates for this rank and that there needed to be a weighty raise.