Boutique Law Firms

A Small Firm With Huge Salaries

The tiny firm may only have four associates, but their new salaries sure are mighty.

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When it comes to associate pay, the bigger the firm the better the salaries doesn’t always hold true. Time and time again throughout this summer’s salary wars, we’ve seen boutique firms deliver salaries that have matched — and even exceeded — the new $190K Biglaw salary scale.

Today, we’ve got news from Warren Lex, a boutique litigation firm in San Francisco that’s decided to match the Milbank/Cravath salary scale (though there’s no mention of matching Simpson’s special bonuses). Why has the small firm decided to make this move? According to founding partner Matt Warren, “[W]e seek to hire top-tier people and expect them to do top-tier work, so we should pay a top-tier salary.” The tiny firm may only have four associates, but their new salaries sure are mighty.

Here’s more from Warren’s message to his “fine associates”:

We know your job is very hard, and we appreciate very much your work. We try to show it in ways other than money, but money is nice too, and we are happy to show our appreciation through that route among others.

Congratulations to all associates at Warren Lex! It sounds like you work for a lovely firm, and now you’ve got lovely salaries to match.

(Flip to the next page to read Warren Lex’s salary increase memo in full.)

Remember, we are covering this trend extensively, so please drop us a line — text (646-820-8477) or email (subject line: “[Firm Name] Raises Salaries”) — when you know of another firm making a compensation move. 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. All sources are kept confidential.

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked 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.

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