Barclay Damon adopts new compensation system, other policies for associate attorneys

SYRACUSE — Barclay Damon, LLP — a Syracuse–based law firm will 11 offices across New York and the Northeast — announced it has instituted an “enhanced” compensation system for its associate attorneys and a “back-up child-care reimbursement policy.”

They’re among several new workplace policies and initiatives that Barclay Damon says it has established to “significantly restructure and modernize support of its associate lawyers.”

The new policies also include forming a next-generation committee, establishing a work-from-home telecommuting policy, and setting a year-round business-casual policy, according to a news release Barclay Damon issued June 6. The law firm announced the policies during its recent annual associates retreat.

“Enhanced” associate compensation
The firm “substantially revamped” its existing associate-compensation system to “better align it with providing excellence in service and results for clients rather than being based on tenure and year of law-school graduation,” Barclay Damon contended.

The new system “advances and awards bonuses” to associates who “consistently” meet professional-development milestones and assist in “delivering results” for clients rather than awarding “lock-step” raises based on year of law-school graduation, “as most firms do.”

“The new system empowers associates to chart their own professional path, providing greater clarity to the steps necessary for advancement and partnership. Rollout of the new system also includes a one-time increase in base salary for most associates in recognition of the talent we have assembled and the findings of a recent market study,” Buster Melvin, chair of the firm’s associates committee, said in the Barclay Damon release.

In addition to increasing the starting salary for law-school graduates, the firm also expanded the pool of those eligible for performance-based bonuses.

Other policy changes
Barclay Damon also approved a “back-up” child-care reimbursement policy.

The policy provides 100 percent reimbursement for unanticipated child-care needs that arise among its associate lawyers. The firm will now cover the cost of child-care in the home by an outside provider, or through other arrangements made for “last-minute, back-up” care.

The policy is intended to “improve productivity while reducing the stress” associated with interruptions in child-care routines, Barclay Damon said.

Barclay Damon’s new work-from-home telecommuting policy makes telecommuting up to two days per week an available option for interested associate attorneys. The policy aims to leverage technology and provide associate attorneys with “greater flexibility.”

The firm has also extended its summer business-casual policy to year-round and said it will rely on the “sound judgment” of its lawyers to decide when formal business attire is “warranted” for court appearances, client meetings, or other events.

Rationale for policy changes
The policy changes are intended to “enhance” the professional development, productivity, and work-life balance of the firm’s associates, the law firm contends.

The changes also “better reflect a changing workforce and the realities facing our clients and lawyers new to the profession. Technology and the unique pressures facing a changing demographic are driving the new policies, which, as a whole, will provide additional support and flexibility to the firm’s roughly 70 associate lawyers,” John Langan, managing partner at Barclay Damon, said in the release.

He contended that the changes “will provide the firm with a competitive advantage in the recruitment and retention of talent in what remains a highly selective market for the best and brightest.”

The law firm said it crafted the new policies after receiving “extensive” feedback from the firm’s associate attorneys through meetings with supervising partners and from the new next-generation committee.

“Actively listening to our young attorneys — and all of the firm’s internal constituents — is vital to providing a work environment that is conducive to productivity and job satisfaction,” Langan added.

Barclay Damon has 275 attorneys across 33 practice areas. In addition to Syracuse, it also has offices in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Clarence, Elmira, Newark, New York City, Rochester, Toronto, as well as Washington, D.C.