Prominent Firm Decides To Raise Associate Salaries During Bonus Season

Associates must be excited that their yearly billing quotas aren't going up with this raise.

Just when you thought that associate salary increases were a thing of the (not-so distant) past, yet another prominant firm is stepping forward to give its associates’ bank accounts a little holiday treat.

Earlier this week, Knobbe Martens, one of the nation’s largest intellectual property boutiques, decided that an associate salary bump was in order to “remain[] competitive with other firms.” Here’s what the new salary scale at the firm looks like:

  • First Year: $180,000
  • Second Year: $190,000
  • Third Year: $200,000
  • Fourth Year: $210,000
  • Fifth Year: $225,000
  • Sixth Year: $240,000

According to managing partner Steven Nataupsky, the firm’s leaders are “confident” that these pay raises “will contribute to our continued success at attracting and retaining the best associates.” Not to poo-poo the firm’s raises, but how so?

Aside from their first- and second-year associates, everyone else at Knobbe Martens will now be making less than what the prevailing market rate for compensation was in 2016 when Cravath first announced the $180K salary scale, while other well-known IP firms (presumably some of their competitors) are now on a $190K salary scale. But hey, at least the firm isn’t increasing its yearly associate billing quotas.

Speaking of billing quotas, in his memo announcing the increase to the firm’s salary scale, Nataupsky touts the “balanced life style” the firm offers to associates. Rewarding associates with the ability to have a life is just as good as cash these days, and if that shaves a few thousand dollars off their paychecks, then so be it. A raise is still a raise and associates must be excited, so congratulations to everyone at Knobbe Martens.

(The full Knobbe Martens salary increase memo is available in full on the next page.)

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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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