A Compressed Raise Is Better Than No Raise

The general sense from tipsters is that though the pay scale is compressed, they are relieved to be getting any money at all.

onAugust 12, 2016 at 11:44 AM

Financial question money It’s never too late for more salary news! But these associate pay raises don’t take effect until September 1, two full months after most of their peers started cashing their big checks. Curtis Mallet has announced raises (though they’ve been confirmed multiple times, there is not yet a formal memo), beginning with the celebrated $180,000 salary for first years.

But starting with fifth-year associates, midlevel and seniors are making below market:

Curtis Mallet matched market salary for 1-4 years. Highly compressed scale after that.

180
190
210
235
245
255
260
265 (tops out)

Summers will get the new salary too.

It was shared informally a few weeks ago, and will be effective Sept 1.

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But the general sense from tipsters is that though the pay scale is compressed, they are relieved to be getting any money at all:

I’m not sure what the scale looks like beyond first year, but it’s my understanding that Curtis already had some salary compression beginning with fifth-years. I’d suspect that there will still be compression from the “MoneyLaw” scale, but we were all uncertain whether there would be any raises. So the announcement was a pleasant surprise for all.

That’s a nice healthy attitude, but I suspect there are plenty of Curtis associates out there — particularly those high billers — who are less sanguine.

We are covering this story as market conditions develop, 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.