Biglaw

Charting Biglaw Happiness Across The Country

The cities with the happiest midlevel associates.

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There’s a lot of data to breakdown in Am Law’s annual survey of midlevel associates. We know that Schulte Roth has taken the title of most satisfied associates and white men are much happier at Biglaw than women and minorities (no shocker there). The latest numbers give a run down of which legal markets are able to boast the happiest associates.

As is befitting its reputation as the toughest legal market, New York doesn’t score particularly well by any of the survey metrics. They first asked midlevels (defined as 3rd through 5th-year associates) about their general work satisfaction. The national average was a rating of 4.32 (out of a possible high of 5), and the following cities ranked the highest:

1. Los Angeles 4.52
2. Houston 4.48
3. Dallas 4.46
4. Miami 4.44
5. Philadelphia 4.43

They also asked the midlevels to report how they felt about their benefits and compensation. The survey was completed before the most recent round of Biglaw salary increases, and overall satisfaction with salary averaged 4.15. Associates in Atlanta seem to feel perpetually undervalued, and their salary satisfaction came in last, at 3.93. Those that felt the best about how they were compensated were as follows:

1. Miami 4.53
2. Los Angeles 4.46
3. Miami 4.45
4. Houston 4.39
5. Chicago 4.35

The last category broken down by city is whether the associates saw themselves still at their firms in 2 years. The national average was 4.28 — New York scored well below that average at 4.05, we told you it was a brutal place to work, though not as bad as San Francisco/Silicon Valley which scored a depressing 3.97. The cities where midlevel associates actually thought they had a future at their Biglaw firm are:

1. Dallas 4.44
2. Houston 4.4
3. Chicago 4.33
4. Atlanta 4.26
5. Los Angeles 4.22

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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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