Top 50 Biglaw Firm Introduces New Lockstep Salary Scale Across All U.S. Offices

Very exciting news!

Associate compensation is once again a hot topic in the highest echelons of the legal profession, and young lawyers at some firms are finally reaping the benefits of the 2018 salary hike that brought starting salaries to $190,000. By the time this wave of salary increases is over, we may finally see a somewhat uniform salary scale across the majority of large law firms, all across the country.

The firm announcing salary increases this time around is Holland & Knight, ranked 38th on the Am Law 100 with $1,044,337,000 in 2020 gross revenue. The firm has been in the news recently for its potential merger with Thompson & Knight, but now, the firm is making news by offering lockstep salaries in each and every one of its U.S. offices. Here’s what the new salary scale looks like at the firm, effective July 1, 2021 (full memo available on the next page):

Steven Sonberg, the firm’s managing partner, noted that H&K is also “reviewing [its] annual associate bonus program to ensure it is market-competitive” and that any changes made “will not impact the special bonuses that were announced in April.” (That’s because for the firm’s bonus program to remain market-competitive, nothing can impact those bonuses.)

Congratulations to everyone at Holland & Knight who just got a raise, and to everyone who will see increased market bonuses at the end of the year.

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Holland & Knight.)

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). 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.

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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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