Associate Salaries, Biglaw, Money

Simpson Thacher Finally Announces Its New Salary Scale

Many people hoped this firm would beat the new market scale for Biglaw salaries. Were their prayers answered?

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bonus money cash Biglaw bonus Cravath bonuses 2015Back in October, when salary raises for Biglaw associates’ base salaries were nothing more than a dream, we wondered whether Simpson Thacher & Barlett would once again be the firm to step up and raise base salaries to $190,000. After all, Simpson Thacher raised market salaries from $145,000 to $160,000 on January 22, 2007, and all other firms quickly followed. STB has always been a market leader, and as recently as 2014, bucked trend and announced generous year-end bonuses first instead of waiting for Cravath, as was standard industry practice.

Now that Cravath has set the new market rate for associate salaries starting at $180,000, we’ve been waiting with some anticipation to see what Simpson Thacher had up its sleeve. In a recent poll, 44 percent of our readers thought that another firm may dare to beat Cravath’s $180K salary scale, and raise the pay scale to $190K. For those of you who’d hoped that Simpson Thacher would be the firm to do so, we’ve got some bad news.

As of approximately 11:15 a.m., Simpson Thacher & Barlett has matched the Cravath salary scale. Associates were notified of the match via email from William Dougherty, chairman of the firm’s executive committee. This market leader now seems to be a follower — though we’re sure associates at the firm don’t mind, what with all of the extra cash that’s soon to be padding their bank accounts. It’s also worth noting that STB will offering “proportionate salary increases” to all English law qualified associates in the firm’s London office who are currently receiving sterling-based salaries.

Earlier today, we’d wondered what firms would be doing to compensate their summer associates. Paul Weiss started a trend that was quickly followed by Cleary Gottlieb, and it looks like Simpson Thacher has joined in as well. Summer associates received the following email from Bill Dougherty this morning:

Dear Summer Associate Class of 2016,

Earlier today, salary increases were announced for our associates as of July 1st. Your weekly salary will also be increased to $3,500 as of July 1st.

On behalf of the partners of the Firm, I hope that your summer experience has been productive and satisfying so far.

Bill Dougherty

With three large firms now leading the charge on summer associate on a $180K base for summer associate pay, it looks like a new market has been set. We suspect many large law firms will soon make similar announcements.

Congratulations to all Simpson Thacher associates and summer associates. Just because STB didn’t raise the bar to $190,000, it doesn’t mean the firm won’t be offering incredibly generous bonuses this winter.

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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.

(Flip to the next page for the full Simpson Thacher pay raise memo, from executive committee chairman Bill Dougherty.)

Earlier: NY To $190K!? Which Firm May Be Raising First-Year Salaries?

Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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