This Week's Sign of the Legal Apocalypse

When explaining his firm's move away from giving people raises ("ending lockstep"), Reed Smith's chairman, Greg Jordan stated that "The most painful conversation you can have with a client is to tell him that that all of a sudden, you’re charging more for an associate just because the associate has aged a year." Wow, did a Reed Smith attorney really ever have this "painful conversation" with a client and use that line of reasoning? So much for the firm's "The Business of Relationships" slogan. If Reed Smith can't convince a client to pay more for an attorney who has gained a year of experience working on its matter, how do they convince that client to pay partner rates in excess of $600 an hour? When will a law firm own up to the fact that its slashing salaries because the current supply of young lawyers exceeds the demand?