Salary Wars Heat Up As Am Law 100 Firm Gets In On The Associate Raise Action

From: Renigar, Gwendolyn

Dear US associates ,

Happy new year.

Yesterday, in my first partner meeting as Chair, I laid out our firm’s vision for 2022 and beyond.  Part of that vision is maintaining and strengthening our high-performance culture, growing our talent, and enhancing the success of our clients.  We will act consistent with our vision and culture, and do our best to develop every associate so they can achieve their full career potential.  Alfred and I hope to have a chance to talk to you directly about our successful 2021 and goals for 2022 in an upcoming meeting or zoom.  In advance of our meeting, I’m happy to share with you several new initiatives, programs, and policies that Legal Talent and the Professional Development Committee are rolling out.

First, the firm will increase US associate compensation.  A chart of that new compensation structure is pasted below.  The firm also will award discretionary bonuses, in addition to work effort bonuses, to those associates whose performance and financial contribution to the firm in 2021 substantially exceeded all expectations and most contributed to our success.  Those associates who have been awarded bonuses have been notified directly.

The increased salaries and bonuses are part of our high-performance expectations. We expect a lot from you and are committed to giving you tools to develop and perform to your highest potential.  To help you, Legal Talent and the PDC have undertaken and will be implementing the following initiatives:

• We have hired Khara Kelsch to begin one-on-one and group coaching to give associates new opportunities to meet their career goals, improve skills, and maximize performance.
• We are expanding and strengthening our mentoring programs, affinity groups, and other programs to build strong relationships within the firm.
• We are piloting a series of Academies to provide associates more training on law firm economics, business development, delegation, and other topics important to success in a law firm, and in a legal career.
• We are expanding the Legal Talent department to make sure associates get the support and feedback they need to grow and find career success.
• We are developing a new learning management system and updating sections of the intranet, to share best practices, make answers to important questions easier to find, and clarify firm policies and procedures.
• We are brainstorming enhancements to evaluations, to include real-time feedback on work assignments.
• We are reviewing and updating our practice groups’ benchmarks, as well as tailoring CLEs and other professional training opportunities to those benchmarks.
• We will encourage associates who are consistently under budget to move to a reduced work schedule to make sure that compensation and work effort are equitable and aligned.
• We will expand the firm’s secondment program to place associates with clients, for short durations, to strengthen those relationships, and to improve associates’ understanding of our clients’ businesses.
• We will continue the Associate Assessment and Advancement program to give associates who have just completed their third and sixth years a broader understanding of their performance and, for sixth years, their potential for promotion.
• We will continue to encourage associates to create thoughtful Individual Development Plans so that they can be proactive in career development.

 

If you have any questions about any of these initiatives, or other ideas to share, please feel free to reach out to PDC chair Will Drake or Legal Talent chief Shauna Bryce.  Alfred and I look forward to “seeing” you soon and working with you to grow this world class law firm.

Best,

Gwen Renigar

Class	Old Salary	New Salary
Class of 2021	$205K	$215K
Class of 2020	$215K	$225K
Class of 2019	$240K	$250K
Class of 2018	$275K	$285K
Class of 2017	$305K	$325K
Class of 2016	$330K	$350K
Class of 2015	$350K	$370K
Class of 2014+	$365K	$385K

Gwendolyn Prothro Renigar (she/her/hers)

Partner and Chair

Steptoe

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