Law Firm Raises Salaries For Young Associates, Senior Associates Left To Wonder
These associates might be getting raises. Or they might not.
By and large, black box compensation models exist because employers believe, in a clumsy effort to be “cagey,” that keeping employees from knowing how their pay stacks up to those around them will allow the company to short-change employees on a widespread basis. The logic is that an employee told that their vague “performance” put them below par will be too ashamed to admit it to anyone else and just assume that everyone else is making more money… prompting the employee to redouble their efforts to chase a raise that will probably never come. Employers get the most out of their workers while paying as little as possible. The panopticon of comp.
Other employers are just naive and really believe their vapid “performance-based incentives” lingo — an almost impossibly dumb worldview in the law firm setting because associates are already as motivated as they’ll ever be by the quest for partnership.
Whatever the motivation, Foley Hoag is moving forward with a black box model for its older associates but is announcing raises for the junior lawyers who’ve been sweating out the last month.
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
In a memo, the firm outlined some lockstep raises:
1Y $190,000
2Y $200,000
3Y $220,000
That’s a match of the Milbank/Cravath scale. But after that…
For more senior associates, and all others, while most people are receiving a salary increase, we have continued our long-standing practice of making individualized compensation decisions based on performance. We will also continue to pay individualized bonuses, at year-end, based on performance.
Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
Most people may be getting a raise. But maybe not you specifically. Classic black box.
That last line is also a passive-aggressive way of saying, “Oh, and we’re definitely not giving the Simpson bonuses so please don’t ask.”
So… mixed news at Foley Hoag? Congratulations, I guess.
Joe 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.
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
