There’s a strong case to be made that the $180K pay scale established by Cravath should not go nationwide. There are major differences between NYC and other legal markets, including cost of living, hours worked, and revenue generated.
Some firms are raising pay to the same scale in all U.S. offices, while other firms are paying different salaries in different cities. Looking at today’s pay raise news, for example, we see WilmerHale taking the former approach and King & Spalding taking the latter.
Here’s a firm that started out in one camp and just moved into the other: Brown Rudnick. Last week, we reported on the firm raising salaries, but only in New York. Just in time for the weekend, the firm announced it’s raising salaries nationwide (emphasis in original memo):
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We are pleased to announce that, effective as of July 1, 2016, our annual base pay structure for associates in all of our U.S. offices will be as follows:
It then pastes in the familiar salary scale (although topping out at $300K for seventh-years rather than $315K for eighth-years). The effective date is the standard July 1, and summer and incoming associates get the bump too. Associate compensation in European offices is being “actively evaluat[ed].”
Here’s the reaction of one delighted source:
BR has matched in ALL U.S. offices [i.e., Boston, Hartford, New York, Orange County, Providence, and Washington, D.C.]. Associates were getting frustrated with the wait and are thrilled that the news came before the weekend. Associates outside of New York go ‘off market’ as fourth years, so for mid-level and senior associates, this is a huge bump!
Nobody was expecting it. Some people thought they would bump up but not match. Certainly nobody thought they would match all offices. I think it was taking them a while to figure out what was going on in Hartford.
I’m sure the summers are also happy with the unexpected increase as well!
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You can flip to the next page to read the full memo (from CEO Joe Ryan). Congrats, Brown Rudnick associates!
We are covering Biglaw pay raises closely, 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.
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David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].