Biglaw Firm Gives First-Year Associates Raise, Leaves Everyone Else Hanging

Not everyone will share in the wealth.

It may be August, but that doesn’t mean that Biglaw firms have finished raising associate salaries. Hunton Andrews Kurth announced that it will be raising associate salaries, but not everyone is getting more money.

The good news is for the first-year associates — those in the New York, D.C., California, and Texas offices are getting bumped up to market rates, their starting salary will be $190,000. Miami and Richmond first-years will start at $175,000. But after that everything gets a lot more murky. As the firm put it in its email to associates:

The firm currently is reviewing compensation for all other associates in all of our U.S. markets and will make additional adjustments as appropriate to continue to provide competitive and market-based compensation. These adjustments will be determined on a case-by-case basis taking into account individual performance and all relevant market factors, including any recent adjustments in salary scales announced by peer firms in the applicable market

That doesn’t instill much confidence that everyone will get market raises.

And from what we’re hearing from tipsters at the firm, lots of associates are getting left out in the cold:

The twist is that for associates other than entry-level, salaries will be determined on a “case-by-case” basis. This is effectively how things have been done since 2016, when the firm supposedly moved away from a lock-step system. But the word from management is that it means Richmond office associates in the Class of 2014 and above will see no raises, which has most people in those classes frustrated. Not sure if this “case-by-case” approach is resulting in salary compression in the other offices as well. Probably a safe bet that it is though.

And sources say those left out of the raise party aren’t taking it well:

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When the mood visibly turned for the mid- and senior-associates, the associates were told that it’s because they don’t work as hard as NY associates, despite making less salary and bonuses than our NY colleagues.

The firm’s made no statement about any special summer bonus, like many in the industry are doing. Associates lucky enough to be getting a raise from the firm will get them effective August 1.

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You can read the full email from the firm on the next page.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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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