Associate Salaries, Boutique Law Firms, Money

Elite Boutique Firms Continue To Outdo Biglaw When It Comes To Associate Salary Raises

If a boutique firm can dedicate its resources to paying its talent well, then your Biglaw firm can too.

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Money FanIf your Biglaw firm is still a holdout on matching the Cravath salary scale, then it’s time for its leaders to pay attention. Yet another boutique firm has given its associates word of raises that are in line with the MoneyLaw scale. If a boutique firm can dedicate its resources to paying its talent well, then your firm can too.

After receiving complaints to the effect of “the firm that used to pay above market now pays below market and people are not happy,” last night, we finally heard word that elite real-estate boutique Duval & Stachenfeld, a member of the $160K-Plus Club (the firm previously paid its first-year associates $175K), had given associates full Cravath-scale raises, through sixth-years at $280K. Seventh- and eighth-year associates at D&S will not receive a full salary match. Seventh-years will receive $285K, compared to Cravath’s $300K, and eighth-years will receive $300K, compared to Cravath’s $315K. (Bruce Stachenfeld, the firm’s managing partner, is a columnist at Above the Law.)

Perhaps the reason that D&S seems to shortchange its more senior associates is because the firm quickly promotes those experienced associates to partner. According to its website, the firm currently has 67 lawyers total, and 38 of them are partners, leaving only 27 associates to reap the rewards of these raises. Even if senior associates at D&S must “suffer” through salaries of $285K and $300K, it may be for only a short time.

Congratulations to all associates at Duval & Stachenfeld! Your firm has outdone many of its boutique firm peers, not to mention its Biglaw competition. Well done!

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.

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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