Better Late Than Never: Firm With $1.38M PPP Finally Decides To Raise Associate Salaries
Finally! What in the world took this firm so long to announce raises?
Cravath kicked off the summer by raising associate salaries to the shiny new $180K scale on June 6, and thus far, almost every major player in the Biglaw market has matched (or given the illusion of matching while hanging their senior associates out to dry). Some firms, however, have been reluctant to pull the trigger on salary increases, and haven’t said a peep to their associates one way or the other as to their thoughts on the matter.
Take Kaye Scholer, for example. Per the latest Am Law 100 rankings, the firm sustained declines in gross revenue (down 1.3 percent to $370 million) and profits per partner (down 2.1 percent to $1.38 million). Two weeks ago, we speculated that perhaps it was the firm’s failed merger with Arnold & Porter that was keeping it from joining its peers and anointing its associates with cash in the form of Cravath matches. Arnold & Porter announced its raises later the very same day, while Kaye Scholer remained mum.
Associates were angered terribly by the firm’s silence. It was this past Saturday that we received yet another missive from a Kaye Scholer tipster bemoaning the firm’s inaction: “Another week has gone by and Kaye Scholer still hasn’t made a move. July 1 is next week. Hope they don’t pull a Reed Smith. If I were a summer, I’d definitely consider going somewhere else full time at this point.” Ouch. When associates are advocating for new blood to move along to other firms, you know it’s time to make a move.
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It’s been almost a full month since firms began moving to the new prevailing salary scale, and last night, Kaye Scholer finally decided to match Cravath for all of its U.S. associates, from first-years to eighth-years. Ninth-year associates and counsel will be spoken to separately about their salary increases. Michael Solow, the firm’s managing partner, thanked associates for their “consistent hard work and dedication,” announcing that the raises would kick in as of this Friday, July 1, and be seen in their July 15 paychecks. The Kaye Scholer memo is completely silent on raises for summer associates.
Congratulations to all Kaye Scholer associates! All of that waiting finally paid off.
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 to see the Kaye Scholer salary increase memo in full.)
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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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