70 Percent Of Biglaw Firms Are Not On Board With $190K For First Year Associates

The gulf between the Biglaw haves and have-nots continues to grow.

We’ve spilled a lot of digital ink here at Above the Law detailing every move in the associate salary wars. And, as last summer proved, that can be exciting. Last June, Milbank thrilled the Biglaw world with new base compensation for associates, starting first-year associates at $190,000. Not to be outdone, this was matched by Simpson Thacher, who topped those numbers by adding a special bonus to the raises. Cravath finally came to play, slightly increasing salaries from the Milbank scale for senior associates. All of which resulted in a Milbank/Simpson/Cravath scale, and every time a firm matched, ATL was on the scene.

But, nearly a year later, it seems not everyone was excited to pay junior associates with no work experience $190,000. As reported by Law.com, a study by the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) reveals that most firms held the course on starting salaries in 2018:

Few firms, in fact, have hit the $190,000 benchmark, according to the report. Although $190,000 is the most frequently occurring salary in Big Law, accounting for 29.3% of reported first-year associate salaries, smaller shops and firms with head counts between 501 and 700 didn’t budge and reported flat associate salary growth in 2018.

The NALP Associate Salary Survey included respondents from more than 300 firms, with 70 percent of them with more than 251 attorneys.

In a statement on the survey, NALP executive director James Leipold threw some shade our way — but we can take it (and we know you love reading about it, so…):

“As with other associate base pay hikes in the past, while the press focus is usually on how quickly law firms race to meet a market change like this one, the data reveal that there are in fact many large law firm offices that are still not paying $190,000 as a base first-year salary,” NALP executive director James Leipold said in a statement.

There were also regional differences in associate starting salaries. Most associates on the $190,000 scale work in major markets, such as New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, or Dallas.

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So if you’re lucky enough to be pulling down a salary at the top of the market, congratulations. Meanwhile the gulf between the Biglaw haves and have-nots continues to grow.


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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