Associate Salaries, Biglaw, Money

Another Raise Shy Of The Cravath Scale

Another firm in the quasi-Cravath raise camp.

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first step in leaving law behind moneyThe wild frenzy of big players making the move to Cravath has settled a bit, leaving a bunch of associates out in the cold at some firms you really would have expected to make the move by now.

While we wait on those major players to get their acts sorted out, we’ve started to see some shakeout among some mid-sized players that just aren’t quite Cravath peers… though they want to advertise that they’ve “gone to $180K”

Add to that list Texas-based Thompson & Knight, who announced raises on Friday. From what we’ve been told, here’s the Thompson & Knight story:

1st $160 to $180
2nd $170 to $190
3rd $185 to $200
4th $210 to $220
5th $230 to $240
6th $250 to $260
7th $260 to $280
8th $270 to $300

This reminds me of the Barack Ferrazzano raises we reported on last week, with the recruiting-friendly bump to $180K followed by a compression up the scale to leave the senior associates undercompensated relative to their peers at the big firms.

So congratulations to the younger associates. For the older associates… well, maybe you’ll make partner and never have to worry about this again.

UPDATE (6/27/16 1:35 p.m.): Despite raises shy of the full Cravath match, senior associates are generally pleased according to a tipster:

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For what its worth, the payraise was very well received despite not exactly matching Cravath – as the partners indicated that bonuses would likely be comparable to last year’s bonuses. Once bonuses are factored in, we expect to be in a slightly better position than some of our peer firms (Haynes Boone, Locke Lord), probably in roughly the same position as other peer firms (Andrews Kurth, Bracewell, V&E, Baker Botts, Jones Day) and likely much better off than certain peer firms (Fulbright, Winstead, Jackson Walker).

So there you go. We’ve touched on the bonus question — whether some firms will “match” but reveal disparities over rivals come bonus season — before. Looks like Thompson & Knight is already looking to that option.

Remember, when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches Cravath”). 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.

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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