Back in 1999, one daring law firm laid the groundwork for associate salaries to soar. This firm made huge waves when it offered new associates a starting salary of $125,000 — significantly higher than the $100,000 that was standard at the time. The pay raise soon spread to firms across the country, and nothing has ever been the same since.
The firm we’re speaking about is Silicon Valley powerhouse Gunderson Dettmer, and in a Father’s Day surprise, Robert V. Gunderson Jr., chairman and founding partner of the Silicon Valley-based powerhouse, notified associates that the firm would be matching the Cravath’s salary scale and Simpon Thacher’s bonuses across the country. Who’s your daddy now, associates? Here’s Gunderson’s spirit-lifting note:
[W]e are delighted to announce these increases and bonuses and we thank you for your extraordinary efforts in providing clients with outstanding service as well as in helping us build the pre-eminent firm in the markets in which we operate.
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With other offices in Ann Arbor, Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and San Diego, Gunderson is spreading wealth across the country for its associates.
In case you’ve forgotten, here’s what the new $190K salary/bonus scale looks like:
- Class of 2017: $190,000 / $5,000
- Class of 2016: $200,000 / $7,500
- Class of 2015: $220,000 / $10,000
- Class of 2014: $255,000 / $15,000
- Class of 2013: $280,000 / $20,000
- Class of 2012: $305,000 / $25,000
- Class of 2011: $325,000 / $25,000
- Class of 2010: $340,000 / $25,000
Congratulations to all U.S.-based associates at Gunderson Dettmer!
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Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important salary updates, 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 for all of your help!
(Flip to the next page to see the Gunderson Dettmer raise memo in full.)
Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.