Top Biglaw Firm Raises Salaries For Associates Yet Again

More money for associates, yay!

Rolling moneyNow that Cravath has entered the scene with a generous new salary scale, Biglaw firms are racing to match it and offer top-tier compensation to their hardworking associates. Which firm is the latest to enter the salary wars?

It’s a firm that’s already raised salaries just last week!

Cleary Gottlieb — a Biglaw firm that brought in $1,223,119,000 gross revenue in 2020, putting it in 32nd place in the most recent Am Law 100 ranking — is pulling out all the stops for associates once again by matching the Cravath salary scale. If you recall, the latest salary scale ranges from $215,000 for entry-level associates to $415,000 for eighth-year associates and beyond.

This is what the new salary grid looks like at Cleary:

Cleary 2022 Cravath Match Scale

Like many of its peer firms, Cleary’s re-raise is retroactive to January 1, and associates will see their new compensation come through in their March 31 paychecks. Congratulations, for the second time!

(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from Cleary.)

Remember everyone, 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.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we’ll also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish.


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.


Bonus Time

Enter your email address to sign up for ATL's Bonus & Salary Increase Alerts.