Latham's Take On New Salaries Includes A Boost For Senior Associates
Welcome to this summer's salary games!
What’s going on at Latham & Watkins, the second-best law firm in the country? Latham has, in a word, “Lathamed” the old salary scale in favor of the $205K starting salaries championed by Davis Polk and matched by almost every other firm at the top of the Am Law rankings. (Unfamiliar with that term? Click here.)
Latham took home $4,333,763,000 gross revenue in 2020, and certainly has the cash to spare. Would the firm really have walked into on-campus interviews paying associates less than their peers? Oh, please.
Here’s what the Davis Polk match looks like at Latham (in the firm’s U.S., London, Middle East, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo offices):
- 2020: $205,000
- 2019: $215,000
- 2018: $240,000
- 2017: $275,000
- 2016: $305,000
- 2015: $330,000
- 2014: $350,000
- 2013: $365,000
- 2012+: $375,000
Ooh, one of the most profitable firms in the country is showing the love to its eldest associates with a $10,000 boost. Latham joins the handful of firms that have been willing to make this small financial sacrifice for its most loyal associates.
Congratulations to everyone at the firm!
(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Latham & Watkins.)
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Staci 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.
