Goliath Law Firm Offers Raises To U.S. Associates… But How Much Depends On The Office (DLA Piper)

The world’s third-largest law firm by headcount, DLA Piper, has finally announced raises for its U.S. associates. It’s a nice gesture from a firm that has so much money lying around they hold their partner meetings on a cruise ship. Actually, that makes you wonder why it took so long to open the coffers just a sliver.

But the wrinkle is that the firm is sending out memos on an office-by-office basis, so our intel is spotty at the moment. If you are a DLA associate or know any, remind them to send their memos in so we can feature them in this story.

For now, let’s check out the New York office raises:

Pretty standard stuff. Unfortunately, with a firm this size that leaves us a little in the dark about salaries at just a couple of the DLA Piper offices. Like, oh, for example:

Albany, Atlanta, Austin, TWO Baltimore locations, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, two Los Angeles locations, Miami, Minneapolis, New Jersey-South, New Jersey-North, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Raleigh, Sacramento, two San Diego offices, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Tampa, Washington D.C., and Wilmington.

UPDATE (6/14/16 6:50 p.m.): San Diego reports a full match of the Cravath scale. No memo as of yet.

UPDATE (6/14/16 6:51 p.m.): Silicon Valley reports a full match of the Cravath scale. Reporting the exact same graphic as posted above.

UPDATE (6/14/16 6:56 p.m.): Washington D.C. matches entirely.

UPDATE (6/14/16 7:15 p.m.): Chicago also matches entirely.

UPDATE (6/14/16 8:29 p.m.): Reports coming in that Northern Virginia has matched. Apparently those getting shorted are shy…

UPDATE (6/14/16 9:01 p.m.): San Francisco matches.

UPDATE (6/15/16 5:01 p.m.): We’ve got our first sense of what’s happening in offices that aren’t on the full Cravath scale. Some offices — unclear which — appear to be offering a match up through Class of ’14. After that the figures are 2013-$200k, 2012-$210k, 2011-$230k; 2007-$285k. Depending on what market you’re in, that’s not a terrible haul.

UPDATE (6/16/16 12:27 p.m.): Apparently I missed an earlier tip that Houston has also matched. Sorry about that.

What will they do in all these offices? We don’t have much to go on, but if I were a betting man, I’d guess we’ll see a lot of these offices move to $180K for first years and then compress the scale for senior associates. Kind of a recruiting bait-and-switch that maintains salary sanity in non-NY markets.

So as you come across these memos, you know what to do. Whether you’re writing about DLA or some other firm, 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.

Meanwhile, the full NY memo is available on the next page…

Earlier: Law Firm Rents Entire Cruise Liner For Partner Meeting While The Rest Of You Look For Work

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DLA PIPER — NEW YORK

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.