If we said, “all U.S. offices are matching Cravath except Charlotte,” you’d assume we were talking about a firm with offices in NY, DC, and Charlotte, or something like that. You wouldn’t expect it from a firm with 11 offices nationwide in places like Irving and Austin.
And yet here we are.
Now admittedly Katten Muchin maintains very small offices in Irving and Austin, with only one or two associates, and maybe they don’t feel the need to put such a small cadre out. Or maybe those offices are just doing more profitable work.
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Whatever the reason, most of Katten’s U.S.-based attorneys are very happy this morning with the announcement of Cravath raises.
So what happened to Charlotte? Well, they’re only kind of happy. They’re still getting raises, just not the same haul the lawyers in Biglaw hotbeds like Austin are getting.
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Remember, it takes around $76K in Charlotte to live a NY $180K lifestyle. Not every office should be getting the full match that Cravath’s laying out there. That said, Charlotte has just about the same cost of living as Austin, so if Charlotte associates feel slighted it’s understandable.
And it’s really easy to feel slighted when you consider we’ve gotten a number of full Cravath raises in Charlotte (from the likes of Dechert, Cadwalader, Mayer Brown, and Winston & Strawn). You’d have thought that would set the market down there, but I guess you’d be wrong.
Congratulations anyway! Wherever you live, you’re making a lot of money so be thankful.
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.
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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.