Associate Salaries

At Covington, It's Always Sunny in California. On the East Coast, Not So Much.

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I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news: Covington & Burling is thawing out salaries in California. Yay!

The bad news: Covington is keeping salaries frozen in D.C. Why? Because they can. Many tipsters report:

FYI, Covington’s Management Committee informed the associates last Tuesday that it was increasing salaries (retroactive to March 1), but only in its California offices. Mentioned as justification that Latham and Munger are its “peer” California firms, while Steptoe, Howrey, and A&P are its “peer” DC firms.

For the record, Covington never froze New York salaries in the first place — so the thaw only affects California, and the continued freeze only adversely affects D.C.
We’ve got a statement from the firm about this West Coast bias …


We reached out to Covington & Burling to find out why D.C. was undeserving of salary love. Here’s the firm’s response:

After reviewing market conditions in California, we recently decided to adjust our base associate salaries there to assure that our compensation package is fully competitive in that market. Our approach is to maintain salaries at a competitive level in each market, and we are persuaded that we are achieving that objective.

Well, congratulations, California! It looks like the general market conditions netted Covington associates there some extra money.

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But I don’t know what to say to my D.C. friends. Those guys are working hard too, yet because of firms like Howrey, they’re getting lowballed.

In a way, Covington is teaching all of its D.C. associates a powerful lesson on what happens when the profits-per-partner number goes down. Obviously, the firm could raise salaries, but it doesn’t want to. Since the partners didn’t make more money, why should associates?
That may seem harsh, but it also sounds fair. Better luck next year, Covington D.C. If you don’t like it, you can always ask to transfer to sunny California.

Earlier: Covington & Burling Partners Did Not Plunder in 2009
What’s Wrong With Howrey? Profits are Down and Partners Will Be Axed.

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