Good news for associates at Skadden — for the second time in a week, they’re seeing raises. Of course, they aren’t the only ones. To keep their elite status and attract/retain associates, firms have embarked on a series of raises — nudged forward by Milbank, then Davis Polk, and now Cravath. In fact, this unprecedented series of compensation moves is the big story in Biglaw this week/month/year. Firms are ponying up increasingly large sums of money (particularly for the super valuable midlevel and senior ranks) to keep associates happily billing.
And it was pretty much a given that Skadden, ranked #5 on the Am Law 100, with an impressive $2,662,890,000 in gross revenue in 2020, would match the top of the market salaries. Take a gander at the new compensation scale at Skadden:
| Class Year | Salary |
| 2014+ | $415,000 |
| 2015 | $400,000 |
| 2016 | $370,000 |
| 2017 | $345,000 |
| 2018 | $295,000 |
| 2019 | $250,000 |
| 2020 | $225,000 |
| 2021 | $215,000 |
The increases are retroactive to January 1. You can read the full memo on the next page.
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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).