Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: More on King & Spalding
Earlier this week, we reported on King & Spalding raising starting salaries for its associates to $145,000.
A subsequent article, in the Fulton County Daily Report, contained this interesting analysis:
[Legal recruiter Raffaele V.] Murdocca predicted that King & Spalding would not simply match the new Alston & Bird pay scale for more senior classes. “A lot of associates are upset with how much pay compression there is at Alston & Bird,” he pointed out.
Alston increased pay by $15,000 for first-year associates but in smaller increments for more senior associate classes, so there is only a $45,000 difference between the salaries of the firm’s first- and seventh-year associates….
“That is not a lot of money when dealing with very different levels of experience,” said Murdocca. “Mid-level and senior associates are doing a substantial amount of work and are very valuable. The firm does not want to upset them….”
For ATL readers in ATL, there’s additional discussion after the jump.
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More from Murdocca:
He predicted that King & Spalding would either establish a pay scale with less compression—i.e. with larger pay increases for each class—or a more merit-based system, where pay for more senior associates is tied to performance.
Another option, he added, would be to pay bigger bonuses to mid-level and senior associates.
A less compressed pay scale would cost the firm a lot of money. According to its Web site, King & Spalding has 172 associates in Atlanta (including those not on the partnership track). That would mean an outlay of roughly $2.6 million to raise pay by $15,000 across the board.
So is Murdocca on the money? Or is this just wishful thinking?
K&S ups ante to match Alston’s pay for first-years [Fulton County Daily Report]
Earlier: Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: King & Spalding