Biglaw, Money

Northwest Salary Wars Continue -- And Two Other Markets Get Raises Too

Some more salary movement in mid-sized markets, but is the bidding war for talent off to the races or limping out of the gate?

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Last month, we reported that Northwest powerhouse Perkins Coie took the plunge and bumped up first-year salaries $20,000 to a cool $145,000/year in its Seattle and Bellevue offices. At the time, we noted that “what remains to be seen is if Perkins Coie is an outlier or if the firm has fired the opening salvo in another salary war.”

Now it appears that we have our answer as another major player in the market announces salary increases — even if they aren’t quite as generous.

In an email to all attorneys, Stoel Rives managing partner Robert Van Brocklin announced a 2016 salary bump for the firm’s young attorneys:

We are committed to attracting and retaining the best lawyers. Compensation, of course, is an important factor in doing that. Accordingly, we regularly evaluate and periodically adjust associate salaries to ensure we are paying salaries that are competitive with the firms in our markets against which we regularly compete.

In response to recent market changes in Seattle, in 2016 we will increase our Seattle entry-level associate salaries from $125,000 to $135,000.

Score one point for the “Perkins Coie is an outlier” camp. We’ll have to see what happens next but it looks like the “no man’s land” is now set between $135K and $145K. No word on what becomes of the older associates. Will they see raises or “squishpensation” as the gap between their salaries and the pups contracts? The firm didn’t respond to this direct question.

Moving out of the Northwest, Stoel Rives also delivered some happy news to associates toiling in a pair of additional markets. First up Minneapolis, where Stoel Rives moves first-years from $110K to $120K. This places Stoel Rives in line with the top firms in the market like Faegre & Benson and Dorsey & Whitney.

Also witnessing a bump is the Sacramento office, where salaries receive a modest bump from $110K to $115K. Not sure if that makes up for having to live in Sacramento, but it’s the thought that counts. That said, this is a modest adjustment considering DLA Piper is paying $145K in the Sacramento market.

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But it’s not all good news for Stoel Rives, as the firm’s large Portland office got left in the cold, despite big increases in housing prices making the area less and less affordable every year.

There’s still hope for those hipster lawyers in Stumptown as Van Brocklin’s memo concluded by promising “market adjustments to other selected 2016 associate salaries in a number of our offices and at various experience levels.”

In the meantime, congrats to first-year Stoel Rives associates — in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Sacramento, anyway — on their new salaries.

(Check out the full memo on the next page…)

Earlier: Which Firm Just Gave Its First-Years A $20,000 Raise?

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