Jones Day's Notorious Black Box Now Starts At $190K -- For Summer Associates

Good news for first years, not so much for older associates.

The good news here is that summer associates (on a prorated basis) at Jones Day will receive a raise. Yesterday, the firm announced they were moving these extremely junior associates from the $180,000 rate to $190,000. That number sure sounds like the firm has moved to the new market compensation scale set earlier this week by Milbank, but the reality at Jones Day is more complicated.

UPDATE (06/08/18): But, as of now, that increase only means the NEXT class of associates will be getting the raise. First-years making $180K right now are still making their $180K.

See, Jones Day believes everyone is a special goddamned snowflake, and so, after their first year, associates receive individualized compensation. There’s no lockstep scale to go on, and nobody knows what anyone else makes (at both the associate and partner level). They’re not even supposed to talk about it. The firm claims this “closed comp” or “black box” system breeds congeniality, but from Above the Law’s perspective, all it breeds is frustration.

After the last round of raises in 2016, ATL spent a lot of timing digging into the numbers behind Jones Day’s compensation. What we found was — by and large — compensation below market rates and a lot of angry associates. Compounding the issue is another difference in the JD model: The firm doesn’t pay year-end or midyear bonuses; you get just your base salary. Midyear, you’re notified of what your base salary will be for the coming year, which allegedly should be above market to reflect the lack of bonuses, but is not so much the reality for associates on the ground. The new salary goes into effect on July 1, and then the following June you get your next pay raise letter, restarting the circle of compensation at JD.

The bulk of the compensation letters have yet to go out at JD, so associates more experienced than summers have no idea how the firm will stack up against the market… yet. But based on the historical data, things don’t look good.

Once associates at JD get their comp letters, please email us (subject line: “Jones Day”) or text us (646-820-8477) with any and all information you have about your compensation or comp for other associates you know. You can provide a range for pay if you prefer doing that over giving an exact number, and you can give historical data (i.e., comp figures from prior years) if you’re more comfortable doing so.

We’d love another crack at opening up Jones Day’s black box.

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The email announcing the raise is on the next page.


headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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