Historic Firm Opens Up Its Wallet For Associates

Historic, high PPP firm offers full raises for lawyers.

Pile of DollarsThe home of the venerable Chief Justice Hughes has finally joined the growing masses of Biglaw in offering the Cravath payscale to its associates. Hughes Hubbard — one of the top firms in terms of PPP that still hadn’t matched, boasting profits per partner in excess of $1.9 million — has finally announced its raises.

In a memo from managing partner Ted Mayer, the firm matched the Cravath scale, all the way up to the Class of ’07 making $315K and including the summers.

This match has extra significance for the firm’s senior attorneys, because lost in all the matching news is the fact that some firms, like Hughes Hubbard, previously skimped a bit as lawyers got higher and higher up that ladder. A source said:

This is actually huge for some people here because it matches all the way up (to some of the scales) — before, senior associates were making slightly below market.

Yes, Hughes Hubbard previously paid the market base only through fifth-year associates. After that, associate salaries lagged $10K to $15K behind the market. Not true anymore though.

Perhaps the firm realized it was making far too much money to appear to be shortchanging anyone.

In any event, congrats to the Hughes Hubbard associates… especially you seniors.

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Check out the memo on the next page

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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