The Houston-based litigation powerhouse Susman Godfrey announced Monday that it paid annual bonuses to its associates ranging from $80,000 to $170,000 and that it has significantly increased the amount of money the firm is giving to charitable organizations that focus on racial justice.
Susman Godfrey also announced the promotion of six associates to the partnership. Four of the six are women, one of whom is African American.
Susman Godfrey co-managing partner Neal Manne, in an interview with The Texas Lawbook, said the litigation firm suffered a “heartbreaking loss” in July when its founder, Steve Susman died. The firm had one of its best years for revenues in its four-decade old history.
“On a personal level, we suffered a great loss with Steve, but Steve’s attitude would have been to move on,” he said. “And we did, but Steve’s name was mentioned a lot regarding how he would want things handled.”
“As it turned out, we received some big contingency fee payments this year and the year ended up much better than we feared in late March and April,” said Manne, who noted that 2019 was Susman Godfrey’s best year ever for revenues. “This year turned out to be a much better year financially than we feared going into the pandemic.”
Manne said the law firm, which has 150 lawyers, “kept its commitment” that no lawyer or employee would lose their job or see a compensation cut as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We told the staff and associates that they had enough to worry about,” he said. “It set a tone that we are all in this together. It allowed people to focus on their families and their jobs.”
Susman Godfrey, which has four offices in the U.S., is annually ranked among the top 10 most profitable legal operations in the nation.
Unlike most corporate law firms that make associates eligible for partnership after eight to 10 years, Susman promotes its lawyers after only six years at the firm – five years if the attorney did a clerkship at the U.S. Supreme Court. The firm only hires newbie lawyers who have clerked for federal judges.
Susman Godfrey gave its youngest or least experienced lawyers – those who finished law school in 2018 and are on track to be partner in 2025 – an $80,000 bonus. The associates who graduated from law school in 2012 and become partners in the new year received $170,000 bonuses.
The firm provides its associates with unlimited paid vacation, unlimited paid gender-neutral parental leave and up to $20,000 in matching funds to their 401(k) accounts.
Manne said that Susman Godfrey welcomed a dozen new lawyers to the firm in 2020 and he expects to have about 13 second-year law students to participate in its 2021 summer associate program.
In addition, Susman Godfrey has created a new summer associate program for eight first year law students of color.