Cravath Alternative: $150K Now... Much, Much More At Bonus Time

The base salaries may be low, but this sounds like a really good deal.

Your base on the left, your bonus on the right.

Your base on the left, your bonus on the right.

For a Biglaw player, there’s really no excuse at this point for lagging behind the market in compensation. It’s just throwing up a white flag to be hemming and hawing about compensation — at least in the top markets — at this point.

But what about firms that don’t follow the Biglaw path? Some mid-sized firms have offered a discounted Cravath scale. Others have raised young associates to $180K and compressed salaries beyond that.

Way outside the box is Edelson PC, the plaintiffs’ side tech/privacy class-action firm. Given the firm’s business model, based largely on contingency fees, it doesn’t really make sense to pay associates in lockstep with Cravath. On the other hand, Edelson thrives on enticing top talent away from the Biglaw path. With Biglaw jumping salaries, Edelson had to respond.

And the firm’s response was classically unorthodox: $150K base salaries — regardless of seniority — and bonuses, bonuses, bonuses!

Starting effective July 1, 2016, all associates — regardless of year — will make $150,000. This will be the base salary. We will still provide aggressive bonuses with the idea that most people will outpace big law and for those that truly kill it, there will be no ceiling whatsoever. (Yes, the rumors are true: one previous summer associate got a significant six figure bonus — though in fairness s/he worked during the school year as well.)

I’m assuming it wasn’t this awful Edelson summer associate.

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From an outsider perspective, this model sounds ideal for Edelson’s practice. Associates make enough guaranteed money to live comfortably, if not extravagantly, throughout the year, knowing that their ultimate compensation is tied to the firm’s contingency fee-based business model.

Moreover, with firms routinely screwing over counsel or laying off staff, Edelson believes in sharing the Cravath-inspired prosperity around the firm:

Because we recognize that everybody contributes to the success we have at the firm, we will be giving across the board raises. To wit:

* Summer associate salaries will go up $2,800/wk and — like before — those accepting full time offers will get signing bonuses of between $5k and $25k (our average has been around $15k).
* Our staff attorney salaries are increasing over 20%.
* Our alternative track summer salaries are increasing 20%.
* Our administrative staff will receive raises between 15 and 25 percent.
* Our computer forensic engineering team will receive raises between 15 and 20 percent.
* Our interns will receive raises of approximately 10%.

This isn’t completely set in stone. Edelson’s memo asks for further input from associates — or as Edelson writes in his characteristically amusing manner, “If you think we fucked this up, tell us.” Despite the offer to haggle, we suspect this is a fairly popular proposal for a firm where associates joined up expecting lower base compensation supplemented by windfalls of successful bonuses.

The rather lengthy memo from Jay Edelson describing the firm’s proposed new policy is reproduced on the next page.

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As always, 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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