NY To $190K!? Which Firm May Be Raising First-Year Salaries?

Stay tuned for a possible influx of more cold, hard cash in your paychecks, U.S. associates. Be sure to check the UPDATE to this report.

On January 22, 2007, market leader Simpson Thacher & Bartlett did what no other law firm was willing to do. The firm raised associate base salaries across the board, making it so that first-year associates would receive starting salaries of $160,000, instead of $145,000.

That was almost nine years ago, and ever since, first-year salaries have remained completely stagnant, despite the desperate cries of “NY to 190!” from long-suffering associates.

Perhaps we should have suspected that Simpson Thacher had something in the works when it bucked historical trend and beat Cravath on bonuses last year. STB was the first to announce year-end bonuses in 2014, and they were significantly higher than the seemingly anemic Cravath-scale bonuses that had been handed out just the year prior.

Once again, Simpson Thacher may have proven itself to be the true compensation leader among all Biglaw firms, because come 2016, the base starting salary for its first-year associates could be $190,000 — across ALL of its U.S. offices. AMERICA TO $190K!!!

We discovered this information thanks to a redacted page taken from what a Reddit user claims to be part of a Simpson Thacher & Bartlett firm presentation. As you can see, the map lists charts for each of the firm’s U.S. offices — and STB is unique in that it is the only Biglaw firm that has only five U.S. offices in those exact locations (click to enlarge):

If this document is accurate, then congratulations to all incoming associates at Simpson Thacher! Your salaries will be $30,000 higher than current first-years’ are right now. This leads us to an obvious follow-up question: What will base salaries look like for all other class years? Based on precedent, we believe the new STB salary scale may look like this:

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Class of 2015 – $190,000
Class of 2014 – $200,000
Class of 2013 – $215,000
Class of 2012 – $240,000
Class of 2011 – $260,000
Class of 2010 – $280,000
Class of 2009 – $295,000
Class of 2008 – $310,000
Class of 2007 – $320,000

We’ve reached out to the firm for confirmation of the new and very-much improved associate salary scale, but have not yet heard back. If we do, we will update this post.

UPDATE (10/20/15, 9:30 a.m.): Per tipsters, the document pictured above appears to be written in the firm’s signature font and color scheme, but in its after-hours response to our media inquiry, Simpson Thacher said it is “not a Simpson Thacher Firm document.” At present, STB says it has “not made any decisions or announcements regarding 2016 starting salaries for associates.” Don’t lose hope yet, associates — there’s still a chance.

While we’d like to say that other firms will follow suit and match Simpson Thacher’s purported base salary increase, we’re not sure when that will happen. It’s worth noting that the pay gap between New York and the rest of the nation is quickly closing. Take, for example, Dechert’s first-year salary increases in Philadelphia and Princeton (moving from $145,000 to $160,000) and Perkins Coie’s first-year salary increase in Seattle (moving from $125,000 to $145,000). Given the high cost of living in the Big Apple, New York firms will eventually be forced to make their move, preferably sooner rather than later.

Do you have any additional details on what’s going with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s salary scale? Please drop us a line or text us (646-820-8477). Thank you very much!

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Stay tuned for a possible influx of more cold, hard cash in your paychecks, U.S. associates.