Last week, our friends at Lateral Link pondered the implications of the MoneyLaw arms race, finding that the new $180K standard “could soften the market as starting salaries are pushed up in other major markets, making New York’s compensation comparatively weaker when adjusted for inflation.”
One imagines that, outside New York, the legal community’s reaction to this possibility involved pretending to play a very small violin and wiping away imaginary insincere tears. Using this CNN calculator (based on the C2ER cost of living index), it’s fun and somewhat astonishing to see what the new standard means in non-NYC terms. Here’s a sampling of the comparable value in some other MoneyLaw markets:
- $180,000 in Wilmington, DE (e.g., Paul Weiss) is equivalent to $382,712 in Manhattan
- Providence RI (Weil Gotshal): $329,635
- Charlotte, NC (Winston & Strawn): $422,056
- Houston, TX (Baker Botts): $415,158
- San Antonio, TX (Akin Gump): $462,916
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