This is not "good stuff." It establishes that New York associates are still being ripped off due to the high cost of living here rather than in other cities that are paying generally high salaries.

The AM Law report is based on old salary info. The current third year salary in LA (firms like OMM/GD/LW) is 185K.

Agree with 12:18, shouldn't AmLaw update its info at the very least in the web charts. Makes the info look really dated and makes ATL>AmLaw for salary survey info

If you think you're being ripped off, move. Thought so.

NYC associates have better exit opportunities, do the most interesting work, and get paid the most. You can lateral to a million different banks, funds or companies. All the most cutting edge, exciting deals get done there. NYC associates still make more because of their larger bonuses.

If you feel cheated, move. Otherwise, shut the fuck up.

they really should have adjusted the data to reflect the new increases, this crap is already dated

Any verification on whether Mayer Brown went up to 50K for clerkship bonuses?

12:26: you shut the f--- up. If we're getting the best work, we're getting the best experience. Assuming equal ability across markets (although NY likely has more people with more ability than say, Atlanta), NY associates will end up as better lawyers because of the better experience. Better lawyers should be paid more.

Man, those Philly associates really get screwed. I nearly went to a Philly firm when I started (3 years ago). Thank the good lord I didn't (though supposedly they have a better QOL than we do).

I do have a friend that went to the Jersey office of a big Philly firm (not hard to guess, there's only two) and he says that his QOL kicks ours and he gets a little larger bonus than the associates in the Philly office do.

Agree with previous comments. The info is dated and lame. With today's information sharing on ATL and the rest of the tubes, AmLaw's information is useless at best and misleading at worst. Hell, they could have just looked at old ATL posts to get pdfs of actual salary memos from many of the firms.

It's pretty clear from looking at my home market (Chicago) that the small sample size has skewed the bonus data -- many of AmLaw's pretty charts are based on responses from about 10 midlevels per office.

Forgive me for being the cranky NY lawyer (or don't--because I actually don't care), but I would like to see some analysis that is left out here that could be very interesting (and I think PERFECT for ATL to undertake).

The AmLaw article shows the relative cost-of-living-screwing of NY assocaites (they used Atlanta as their example). It also includes a partial "Pain Index" showing the relationship of associate pay to PPP. I would like to know how NYC partners fare against their counterparts in other markets.

I suspect that while I am making 2/3 of an Atlanta associate in adjusted dollars, NYC partners are making off much better than Atlanta partners. I think it would work if limited to the markets and firms that fully matched the last pay raise scale. The relevant data points would be 1) PPP; 2) associate pay for a given year (somewhere mid-level would probably be best); and 3) cost of living adjustment.

Since I'm a NY-centric jerk, $$ should be NY$$, not Tennesse Krones (or whatever other states use).

I think this would a good project to take home for the long weekend.

atlanta has the 3rd most fortune 500 companies of any city.

it's not like they are doing insurance defense in atlanta.

they work less and make more...and can expect to make partner.

NY to Baby Wipes!!!!

Cry me a handful NY biatches!!!

1:42--

Jackass, why don't you do the long weekend project? The "Pain Index" and similar COLA calculators overstate the COL in NY, and understate the COL in other markets.

Wachtell 3rd years can expect to make 355k. Crazy.

Is this info dated for NY? I am laterelling into one of these firms soon and, according to my offer letter, this is the salary I'll be getting. The bonus info matches what I've seen on the Greedy NY boards, too.

Wow, my reaction was just the opposite of NYCers: I'm very envious that they are paid on average $25,000 more per year than associates in San Francisco (where the cost of living is not cheap, the hours are also extremely high, but where the exit opportunities not as plentiful).

To all law students currently interviewing: The flat first year salary does. not. matter. at. all. Take a look at the compression in these firms -- and, if you plan to stick around BigLaw for more than 2 years and money-making is your goal, NYC is the way to go.

willkie is outpaying everyone in DC. what is wrong with "prestige" firms like covington and wilmer. why don't they match the 40k bonuses? too cheap?

1:15 - NYC associates do get paid more, dumb ass. They get it in bonus, not base pay. If you weren't too busy studying for torts, maybe you'd know that.

Um, 6:41 and 1:15 -- Please look at the charts. At the mid-tier level, NYC ARE GETTING PAID MORE in terms of BOTH base compensation AND bonuses (ok, ok, bonii). At the 3rd year level, for example, Boston, Chicago, DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles are making $170,000 with an average bonus of ~$30,000 while NYC associates are making $185,000 with an average bonus of $40,000.

So, third year NYC associates are paid $25,000 more than associates everywhere else. I'd think that's a pretty sweet deal for NYC associates, especially when you consider that the COL in San Francisco is extremely high but they don't get a bump vis-a-vis LA, which has a higher cost of living than DC, which has a higher cost of living than Boston, which has a higher cost of living than Chicago. Etc.

NYC associates = happy because they are paid more than everywhere else.
Chicago associates = happy because they are paid the same as DC, Boston, LA and SF but have a much lower cost of living.

For the record - a third year in Chicago gets paid 185,000 base and can make a six figure bonus depending on the firm.

8.17, outside of Wachtell (if they have an office in Chicago), what firms pay over 100K in 3rd year bonuses? Seems exceptionally unlikely given the chart (even those are medians).

7:25 - If you were an associate and not a law student, you would know that all the top and many mid-level firms raised their base pay to NYC rates after the data for this article were collected.

Third years everywhere in Biglaw make $185k salary now.

PS. If you're at a firm that doesn't pay third-years $185, sorry you're at a third-rate firm. Please e-mail me, I could use the referral bonus.

isn't it true that susman godfrey and kellogg huber pay over $100K in bonuses?

9:46: Fair enough. I'm a clerk, so my salary doesn't appear on any of these charts. And I missed the pay increases in the base of mid-levels; was really only paying attention to the first years (thought there was a lot of compression throughout).

Sheepishly,
7:25 (who still thinks Chicago associates come out way ahead; that LA/Boston/DC come out slightly ahead; and that SF and NYC associates come out about equal to one another given high COLs with NYCs bonus bump serving as a COLA vis-a-vis SF)

Well, I'm depressed. I'm not sure why Atlanta is always sold out in these articles. I've worked in both New York and Atlanta, and I can tell you that I do not feel as wealthy in Atlanta, making $80,000 less. COL is such a bogus excuse -- especially since that doesn't seem to affect partner profits.

I'm a clerk going to Latham LA and I am getting screwed on the bonus. Anyone else thinking of jumping ship to OMM?

is it really that difficult for Amlaw to update their info?

All the firms they mention in SF, LA, Chicago and DC pay 185 to 3rd years just like NYC. Most of them are maybe 3-7k less in bonus, if at all

At my firm, the difference in bonuses for 3rd years was $10k. It gets wider as you go up in seniority. If you're in a hot practice group, you will be making more than base bonus, which will more than compensate you for the price difference between NYC and SF/LA.

It would be interesting to see these figures adjusted for the increases we've seen - probably much the same ratios but who knows? posted item at lawjobspipeline.com

is this article accurate? in particular, are the bonuses reported in cali accurate?