Biglaw

Elite Biglaw Firm Raises Salaries For (Some) Associates After Raking In Big Bucks In 2020

Wow! Could this be the start of a new salary movement?

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Biglaw has done well — really, really well — in spite of the ongoing pandemic. In fact, the largest law firms in America have done so well that some associates have started to wonder whether salary increases could be in their futures. The last time this happened was in 2018, when the majority of Biglaw firms increased their base pay for associates to $190K.

Today, it looks like raises are on the horizon for associates working for at least one firm, but will others follow in this firm’s footsteps?

Back in June 2018, Am Law’s #3 firm DLA Piper — which brought in $3,112,130,000 gross revenue in 2019 — matched the prevailing market rate salaries for all of its major offices. Here’s the salary scale:

1st Year: $190,000
2nd Year: $200,000
3rd Year: $220,000
4th Year: $255,000
5th Year: $280,000
6th Year: $305,000
7th Year: $325,000
8th Year: $340,000

According to global co-chair Frank Ryan, the firm reportedly increased its revenue over the course of 2020, and now it’s literally sharing the wealth with associates outside of major markets. (This is probably a good way for the firm to make up for skipping out on associate appreciation bonuses.) In a memo sent earlier this week (available on the next page), Beth Connor, DLA Piper’s director of lawyer compensation, said, “We believe that this step best reflects who we are as one of the leading national law firms, and the support that all of our associates, regardless of geography, have continued to provide to our clients over the past year.” Way to go, DLA Piper. It’s about time the firm caught up with its competition on salaries.

Congratulations to everyone at DLA Piper who just got a big raise. Your bank accounts will be stuffed come March 26.

What does this mean for the rest of Biglaw? Will other firms decide to open up their coffers to share some of 2020’s bounty for all of their associates’ hard work? This could be the start of something HUGE.

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Please drop us a line — text (646-820-8477) or email (subject line: “[Firm Name] Raises Salary”) — when you know of another firm making a compensation move. Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file. All sources are kept confidential.

(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from DLA Piper.)

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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