Biglaw

Biglaw Associate Raises May Be Nice, But They Could Come With Some Harsh Consequences

The downside of last year's raises.

Many firms that took on the expense of increasing associate salaries can ill afford to be permissive of chronically underperforming practices, offices or lawyers, and can ill afford to be permissive of chronic excess capacity.

—Kent Zimmermann, analyst at the Zeughauser Group, told Law.com that with associate salaries taking up an increasingly large portion of Biglaw firms’ expenses, firms will have to take tough stances with attorneys that are not performing as expected. That sentiment was echoed by an anonymous law firm leader that bluntly told Law.com, “There’s going to be less tolerance for underperformance.”


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).