Biglaw

Debevoise And Plimpton Does The Nice Thing And Matches Cravath

As we said yesterday, now that Cravath is in, it's safe for everybody else.

By  
on

Here comes the neighborhood. Debevoise and Plimpton has matched the Cravath associate salary scale, which itself was a match of the Milbank scale, with $5,000 – $10,000 extra than Milbank as you get more senior.

It’s the nice thing to do, and Debevoise is always nice (full disclosure, I used to work at D&P and was a much nicer person when I was there than I am now).

Here’s the memo:

Subject: Base salary and bonus adjustments

On behalf of all of the partners, I am pleased to announce that the Firm will increase base salary rates for associates on the US scale and in good standing effective July 1 as follows:

2017 $190,000
2016 $200,000
2015 $220,000
2014 $255,000
2013 $280,000
2012 $305,000
2011 $325,000
2010 and senior $340,000

In addition, we will pay summer bonuses this year to associates on the US scale and in good standing as follows:

2017 $5,000
2016 $7,500
2015 $10,000
2014 $15,000
2013 $20,000
2012 and senior $25,000

The usual pro rations will apply to the summer bonuses for those on part-time arrangements or who started with us after the beginning of the year.

Counsel on the US scale and in good standing will receive base salary increases and summer bonuses as determined on a case by case basis consistent with past practice.

Base salary increases and summer bonuses will be reflected in the July 5 payroll.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the Firm and its clients.

Yep, that’s also a match of the Simpson Thacher special bonuses.

I expect all of the top firms will get this done in the next two weeks, setting themselves up for summer on-campus interviews.

Sponsored

There is a logic to this nod-wink collusion, of course. You want your people to feel fairly compensated. You want them to be positive and pleasant when they come into work. You want them to feel like they’re choosing a firm based on their “culture” or whatever, not just going to whichever of 100 similar firms pays a little bit more money.

Congratulations, Debevoise associates, and soon-to-be Debevoise associates. It really is a nice firm that respects personal difference but pays just as well as everybody else.

******************************

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] Raises Salaries”). 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.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we’ll also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks!

Sponsored

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.

Bonus Time

Enter your email address to sign up for ATL's Bonus & Salary Increase Alerts.

Topics

, , ,