Biglaw

Top 20 Biglaw Firm Reportedly Raises Salaries -- But Not For All Class Years, And Not For All Offices

Salaries are being handled quite secretly at the firm.

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It’s been a little more than a month since Davis Polk raised the bar on associate salaries, and while the vast majority of top Biglaw firms have already raised salaries in some form or fashion, we’re still waiting for confirmation from several elite firms on what, exactly, they’re planning to do when it comes to associate compensation.

On that note, we’d love to find out what is going on at Greenberg Traurig. With $1,730,230,000 gross revenue in 2020, the firm placed 16th in the most recent Am Law 100 rankings, but from what we’ve heard, the firm has reportedly only raised salaries for associates in New York — but not all associates, mind you.

Sources tell us that sometime between June 21 and June 24, the firm increased salaries for first-year associates to $205K. As far as other class years are concerned, we’ve heard that salaries may be individualized beyond the class of 2020, but with raises comparable to the new Davis Polk scale.

Now, what of associates outside of New York? That’s another story entirely. Insiders at the firm tells us the tale:

“[N]o raises have occurred in a major, non-New York market. The issue hasn’t been discussed, and the firm tends to handle these matters secretively and by office. Same happened with special bonuses: associates were informed on an office-by-office basis with a phone call and nothing in writing, so we don’t know what happens across offices.”

“GT is individually assessing each associate in select offices but it seems like unless there is extreme performance, the vast majority of associates won’t be getting raises. Per usual, GT is trying to keep everything a secret and telling associates not to tell each other anything.

The black box system is worse than Jones Day. At least people know about Jones Day, but GT gets away with murder. GT never puts anything in writing for fear of info being discussed among employees or ending up on Above the Law, so people would only hear about their raises and salaries verbally.”

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So, GT associates: what do you think about your raises (or curious lack thereof)? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). A fun or insightful response — we’ll keep you anonymous — could find its way into an update to this story.

We depend on your tips to stay on top of this stuff. 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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