Biglaw

Big Player In Smaller Market Joins The Raise Train -- With A Catch

Where are those bonuses?

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As this raise season has played out — at times interminably slowly — associates have reached out to us to air their anxieties over their missing raises. As one might expect, everyone thought they worked for the only firm or in the only market in the whole country that hadn’t announced raises. This was, of course, not true at all, but waiting on money can make a person do some crazy things. Just ask any loan shark.

One of the most popular “when are you going to shame them because they’re the only holdouts?” themes focused on the Atlanta market, where the cadre of major local players simply hadn’t moved, even though this raise was, theoretically, a mere cost of living adjustment. Firms had no trouble providing raises — even if they didn’t fully embrace the scale — two years ago.

Today, Alston & Bird announced their raises. But the raises don’t apply equally across the country. Details are still coming in, but if their raise is anything like their 2016 raise — and we suspect it’s everything like that raise — then the $190K scale will only apply in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and — bizarrely — Dallas. Meanwhile, Atlanta, Charlotte, and the NC Research Triangle will rest along a different pay scale and one that is no doubt compressed at senior levels.

UPDATE: We’ve received a copy of the Charlotte scale —

We’ve heard some tales of light compression at senior levels in the major markets as well — basically seniors logging in $5K off of market for their level.

But at least everyone’s getting a raise.

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What everyone’s not getting is a summer bonus. In the firm’s announcement, Alston’s Professional Personnel Partner Liz Price acknowledged the existence of summer bonuses and dismissed them by noting that the firm’s end-of-year bonus regime:

provides us with the discretion to award bonuses greater than those that are awarded at the top of the market…

Associates writing into Above the Law have a dimmer view of that prospect, noting that in practice the policy is less about exceeding the market and more about justifying higher bonuses in other markets. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing — certain markets should be paid more for cost of living reasons — but to deny a market bonus going into recruiting season based on a vague promise seems unwise.

UPDATE: Some Alston associates from the bigger markets have written in to assure their colleagues in smaller markets that they aren’t getting market bonuses either! According to these tipsters, beyond the first couple of years, Alston associates make a fraction of the standard Biglaw bonus and that the targets they have to meet to reach the above market bonus hinted at in this memo are unattainable.

So a muted congratulations to Alston & Bird associates across the country.

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(The rather sparse memo available on the next page.)

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of this stuff. So when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). 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.

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HeadshotJoe 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.

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