Associate Salaries, Biglaw, Money

Another Associate Pay Raise -- From The Largest Firm Yet To Hike Salaries

This raise affects a lot of associates.

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Flying MoneyBack in March, we shared with you a list of the ten largest firms in the United States, ranked by domestic attorney headcount. Here are the top five:

1. Jones Day
2. Greenberg Traurig
3. Morgan Lewis
4. Sidley Austin
5. Latham & Watkins

We’re pleased to announce that Morgan Lewis & Bockius is raising associate salaries. Because Jones Day and Greenberg Traurig have not yet announced raises, this makes Morgan Lewis the biggest firm yet to hike pay. (We’ve previously covered the raises announced by Sidley and Latham.)

We don’t have a memo to share because MLB made the announcement by voicemail, from firm chair Jami Wintz McKeon, shortly before 7 p.m. Eastern time. Here is what our sources report:

1. All U.S. offices currently on the New York market pay scale will match the Cravath scale up through and including seventh-year associates (i.e., the class of 2009). In other words, the MLB salary scale starts at $180,000 and stops at $300,000 (below the $315,000 or higher sums we’ve seen at other firms).

2. Any other offices not on the New York scale will see a commensurate bump; office managing partners will issue emails with details in the coming days.

3. Lawyers more senior than seventh-year associates — i.e., class of 2008 on up — will see their salaries determined on an individual basis.

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We don’t know the effective date or whether summer associates are included. Please drop us a line if you know (or find out later), and we’ll update.

Our sources seem pleased:

  • “Thanks for putting the pressure on with the non-stop blog posts and charts of firms yet to match!”
  • “MLB has never failed to compensate us at the top of the market. [But we] thought they’d announce next week because they made partnership announcements today and there’s a partner meeting tomorrow, allegedly.”
  • “Folks are pleased, at least in New York. Glad that we matched quickly, and sounds like they want to stay competitive.”

“Quickly” is a relative term, we suppose; this feels late to us. But if you’re happy, Morgan Lewis associates, then we’re happy!

We are covering this story as market conditions develop, so please drop us a line — text (646-820-8477) or email (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches Cravath”) — when you know of another firm making a compensation move. Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file. All sources are kept strictly confidential.

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David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

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