Biglaw Firm Changes Course On Associate Compensation

It's a firm's prerogative to change its mind.

onJune 14, 2016 at 2:35 PM

lawyer money Just last week, associates outside of Covington & Burling’s New York office were singing the blues, pretty sure they weren’t getting a raise anytime soon. And it wasn’t just paranoia in the D.C. office; they got an email from firm leadership pretty much telling them it wasn’t happening:

At this point, our view is that this increase in New York salaries does not reflect the prevailing market in Washington or other cities outside New York. Traditionally, associate salaries in New York have been somewhat higher than in other markets around the country.

But all that has changed (though some argue not for the better). Apparently spurred by the onslaught of D.C. and California firms that are raising salaries — in addition, of course, to the New York market — Covington has just announced that all U.S. associates will be seeing a bigger paycheck effective July 1.

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Covington Raises

So summer associates are also getting a pay raise, while international associates will just have to keep waiting. Hopefully, for their sake, the international markets will follow suit.

Now that Covington, the only Biglaw firm to publicly suggest limiting market raises to New York, has made this change for all U.S. offices, it’s pretty clear the trend is #Everyoneto180K.

Remember, we are covering this trend extensively, 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.