Inside Jones Day's $210,000 Myth

$210,000 is not what you think it is.

onJuly 13, 2021 at 11:17 AMJuly 14, 2021 at 9:38 AM

Black box compensation systems remain a thumb in the eye of transparency efforts designed to give associates (or potential associates) the information they need to make intelligent decisions about the best place for them to work. But they persist. And no Biglaw firm is more committed to the secretive model than Jones Day.

And that’s why Above the Law is launching an effort to crack open the firm’s black box compensation model, as we did in 2016 after the market raised salaries. (We are still collecting data for that, so please email us or text us 646-820-8477 with any and all information you have about your compensation or comp for other associates you know. Providing us with your year, a sense of your hours — low: >1800, average: 1800-2000, high: 2000+ — and salary range is very, very useful.)

One thing that’s come up repeatedly in our efforts is folks pointing out that Jones Day pays “above” market for firs-year associates (a recent announcement puts that number at $210,000). One hopeful associate at a rival firm even inquired if this would signal another round of Biglaw raises. But, unfortunately for Jones Day associates (and others hoping for an even bigger raise), that’s not at all what it means.

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See, other firms are ahead in overall compensation — by a lot. Jones Day doesn’t do bonuses, so that “above” market number includes all bonuses given out at other firms. So, between special bonuses (valued at $12,000 for first-year associates) and year-end bonuses (anticipated to be at least as big as last year’s bonuses, which clocked in at $15,000 for first-years), well, you can see who is ahead. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in mathematics to determine $5,000 is not much compared to $27,000.

This weird myth of JD being ahead on compensation is exactly why we want to shine some light on their compensation. So, Jones Day associates hit us up, we know everyone is curious about what really goes on at the firm.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. 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).