When the salary extravaganza of 2016 kicked off, there was a good deal of speculation about Cravath’s motivations.
Was this an effort by Cravath to distance itself — and its coterie of peer firms — from the rest of the pack in the race to recruit the best and brightest law school graduates? Well, if it was, it failed miserably, as every firm from Midtown to Bumblef**k matched Cravath.
Perhaps this was just an earnest effort to respond to associate concerns about rising law school debt and health care costs?
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In a sense, all of these theories contributed to Cravath’s blockbuster announcement, but the most earnest phrasing comes from an unnamed senior Cravath partner:
We wanted associates to be able to live near the office, and they weren’t able to do that [at the $160K scale].
There’s your realpolitik, folks. You can say this move helped defray the financial burdens that associates face — which it did — but in the end, it’s about guaranteeing that an associate isn’t decamping to frigging Brooklyn every night like a Prole.
When we ping you to come down to our office at 3:30 a.m., we expect you there at 3:45!
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Earlier: Breaking: NY To $180K!!! Cravath Raises Associate Base Salaries!!!
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.