Firm Finally Announces Raises And Associates Are Less Than Excited
After nine months, these associates have finally learned their new salaries.
Back in the first week of January, Blank Rome forced all their associates to take time out of their day to call in to a pre-recorded conference call only to learn that they’d be hearing about raises… in February. Well, it’s now the very end of February and we know what Blank Rome is paying everyone.
Or, at least we have a good guess what they’re paying. Like a lot of firms in Blank Rome’s tier, they’ll crow about matching the $180K salary figure for first-years and then go really silent when it comes to salaries up the ladder.
A tipster is… not pleased with all this:
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Nine months after the rest of Big Law got their new salary numbers and five months after being told that all associates would be given “significant” raises., we finally found out what that meant. Blank Rome does this bullshit where everything is “merit based” (e.g., we will find any little thing we can to screw you over), varies salaries across offices, and does not acknowledge their salary scale either internally or externally…..
So we’ve got another black box situation here, but we think we’ve worked out the averages by class:
| Class | Salary |
| First | $180,000 |
| Second | $185,000 |
| Third | $185,000 |
| Fourth | $205,000 |
| Fifth | $220,000 |
| Sixth | $240,000 |
| Seventh | $250,000 |
| Eighth | $260,000 |
UPDATE: See below for an update on these figures.
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Again, these figures aren’t official but based on intel gathered from associates. So take them with the appropriate grains of salt, but associates are really good about blowing open black boxes when they put their minds to it:
How the firm is justifying paying second and third years the same amount is beyond any of us. It’s like they think we will not talk and find out what others are making…. The firm knows that we are not happy about these “significant” increases, but does not care. They considered the raises significant and think we are being “entitled” and “spoiled millennials” for wanting to be paid according to the new industry standard (or at least close to it).
No one has expressed more reservations about the wisdom of widespread associate raises than those of us here at Above the Law. With miserably stagnant demand, most firms just weren’t in a position to parrot Cravath’s move. But at this point the Cravath scale has achieved critical mass and if associates aren’t happy it’s not because they’re “spoiled,” it’s because they understand their value. Nothing’s more pathetically disingenuous than firing scores of lawyers without a second thought when the market turns against you and then whining about disloyalty when the associates look to do what’s right for their bottom line.
By the way, you know who’s really pissed about this?
Dickstein Shapiro associates and partners are particularly incensed by the new numbers. Dickstein Shapiro used to be on the old scale and now many of them are making less than what they would have been making if they left before the merger.
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Well, this is why you’ve got to stay on top of your career and make sure you’re putting yourself in the best possible position to succeed.
Speaking of which….
People are planning to call recruiters all week long (and recruiters should be contacting Blank Rome talent in needed practice areas) and are ready to move immediately.
Yeah, no kidding.
UPDATE: Another tipster wrote in and told us that our averages for junior to mid-level associates may be too high:
What I can tell you is that there are a handful of 4th years and below that got paid less than our NY FIRST YEAR ASSOCIATE. I don’t think there are any third years that got paid more than the NY first year base. And most of us billed over 2000 hours or quite close to it. And I work at one of the busier and lucrative (for the firm) practice groups.
FURTHER UPDATE: Yet another tipster chimed in to say the chart may be too generous:
It has become quite clear that the average salaries you listed definitely does not apply to my office. Many of my colleagues that I’ve spoken to make far less that the average salaries you’ve listed.
Earlier: Firm Announces Raises Coming In February
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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.
