Biglaw

Biglaw Midlevel Associates Are Satisfied With Their Pay, But Money Isn't Everything During A Pandemic

Burnout is real for midlevels and they think management's transparency is lacking.

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Making it to midlevel in Biglaw isn’t easy — especially during a pandemic. First you had to break into Biglaw in the first place (which can be quite difficult, especially if you didn’t go to a top law school or earn top grades). Then you had to survive the high stress and long hours. Finally, you needed to have to endured and somehow persevered through these incredibly uncertain times (and we’re sure the special bonuses and pay raises had to have helped a little).

But if you did make it to your firm’s midlevel ranks, it was arguably more difficult than ever thanks to COVID-19. The American Lawyer just released its midlevel associates survey, and respondents are understandably more concerned about management transparency and work-life balance than they were last year. Midlevels may have been happy with how their firms have managed the coronavirus crisis in 2020, but things have taken a turn in 2021. Per Am Law’s Dylan Jackson:

As law firms prepare to bring lawyers back into the office in the coming months, many midlevel associates are uneasy about a perceived lack of communication from their firm’s management, especially as it relates to return plans that vary widely in terms of both in-office requirements and the detail firms have provided.

Associates in their third, fourth and fifth years gave firms lower marks than last year across every metric of The American Lawyer’s 2021 Midlevel Associates Survey. More than 3,700 associates from 77 Am Law 200 firms filled out the survey, giving their firms an average score of 4.26 (out of five)—down from the average score of 4.32 associates gave their firms on 2020′s survey.

Midlevel associates were asked how satisfied they are with their firm on a variety of different questions: compensation and benefits; training and guidance; relations with partners and other associates; interest in and satisfaction level with the work; the firm’s policy on billable hours; and management’s openness about firm strategies and partnership chances. In the face of the returning to the office in our “post-pandemic” world, leadership across Biglaw firms lost major points when it came to their openness and transparency. Scores in this area dropped from 4.3 in 2020 to 4.13 this year — the largest decline among all categories on the survey.

“The firm started out with exceedingly good transparency—providing monthly economic updates, insight into management’s thinking, immediately cutting salaries with the intention of not implementing layoffs (and subsequently restoring salaries and providing backpay),” one New York-based third-year associate at an Am Law 100 firm said in their survey response. “But since late 2020, these steps have evaporated. Monthly economic updates have been abandoned.”

As far as work-life balance is concerned, millennial midlevels have really been feeling the pressure. While they really appreciated the special bonuses that were doled out by their firms, 60% of associates surveyed said they would consider leaving their firm for a better work-life balance. Money isn’t everything, and burnout among attorneys is something that partners need to be worried about. While some were pleased with how their firms were mindful of their mental health, others stressed (quite literally) that “announcing more bonuses isn’t going to help retention as much as committing to emphasizing work/life balance.”

That having been said, let’s get down to the rankings. The full list is available here, but these are the firms that make the top 25 in terms of midlevel satisfaction:

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  1. McDermott Will & Emery
  2. Orrick
  3. O’Melveny & Myers
  4. Baker & Hostetler
  5. Morgan Lewis
  6. Ropes & Gray
  7. Goulston & Storrs
  8. Gibson Dunn
  9. Latham
  10. Eversheds Sutherland
  11. Proskauer Rose
  12. Blank Rome
  13. Akin Gump
  14. Thompson Coburn
  15. Robins Kaplan
  16. Willkie Farr
  17. Dorsey & Whitney
  18. Fish & Richardson
  19. Sherman & Sterling
  20. Winston & Strawn
  21. Goodwin Procter
  22. Kirkland & Ellis
  23. Fenwick & West
  24. Bracewell
  25. Foley & Lardner

Congratulations to all the firms that made the list! And congratulations to the midlevels who have jobs they’re relatively happy with, all things considered.

The 2021 Midlevel Associates Survey: The National Rankings [American Lawyer]
Midlevel Associates Aren’t Satisfied With Law Firms’ Return-to-Office Plans [American Lawyer]

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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