Turns out patience really can be rewarded. The associates at Fish & Richardson were peeved back in August when the firm announced that a firmwide bump in compensation was simply not in the cards — despite the firm’s boasts that they could, in fact, afford it. Last week, the firm announced that they were reversing course and raises were in the offing.
According to the firm-wide email, the powers that be at Fish “continued to monitor market conditions” and “listened to the reactions of associates throughout the Firm” and whaddaya know, and they’ve “reassessed” their position. Turns out hitting the $190,000 mark for starting associate salaries is good business.
Associates will be paid, effective October 1, on the following scale:
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Fish & Richardson associates may have missed out on three months at these higher salaries (and those fun summer bonuses that were all the rage), but better late than never.
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(Read the full memo from the firm on the next page.)
Kathryn 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).