Monopsony Power Alert
As Securities Law360 reports, Wal-Mart is putting a moratorium on legal fees:
On Thursday, the retail behemoth’s associate general counsel Miguel Rivera Sr. issued a memo to the company’s outside counsel network bemoaning the meteoric rise of starting salaries for first-year associates — currently at $160,000 for most top New York firms — and the impact he said it had on the firms’ billing rates. He cited the recent break with the $1,000-per-hour barrier for senior partners. “Until further notice, we will only consider reasonable, individual requests for rate increases for those attorneys in your firm who are performing at an exceptional level and whose experience and knowledge is adding substantial value toward meeting Wal-Mart’s legal objectives,” Rivera wrote.
I used to not believe alarmist stories about Wal-Mart’s terrifying buying power. But I might have to reconsider…
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