Top Biglaw Firm Finally Announces Market Raises, But Not All Associates Will See Market Money
These salaries are based on billable hours, and some associates will be missing out on tens of thousands of dollars.
It may be March, but Biglaw still isn’t done with associate salary increases. The latest firm to announce raises is none other than Reed Smith, a firm that brought in $1,417,599,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it at No. 29 in the most recent Am Law 100 ranking. According to our sources, the firm’s latest scale is… interesting, to say the very least.
Back in 2021, Reed Smith adopted the then-market standard salary for first-year associates, but compensation for the rest of its lawyers was left “unclear” as the firm restructured salaries across all of its offices. With the latest round of raises at the firm, effective July 1, 2024, it seems that associates have once again been left “unclear” on their compensation — but this time, it’s as to why they’re being sorted into the A squad and the B squad based on their billable hours. We believe that Reed Smith may be the first top Am Law firm to take such measures.
That being said, here’s what the latest salary scale looks like at Reed Smith. As you can see, it looks like a modified version of the Cravath scale, but it gets a little tricky when hours come into the equation.
Reed Smith’s most junior associates needn’t worry about their hours — they’re receiving straight Cravath matches. All other associates who bill 2,000 hours or more will be placed in Salary Level A — they, too, will receive the standard Cravath match (save for the firm’s most senior associates, who won’t be seeing a $420K or $435K salary). Associates who bill less than 2,000 hours will be placed in Salary Level B, which offers tens of thousands of dollars less in compensation than a standard market salary match. Yikes! On the bright side, if someone in Salary Level B is able to attain 2,000 hours, they’ll receive a bonus equal to the difference between the B scale and the A scale.
What’s been made clear is that Reed Smith wants associates to bill, baby, bill. If they do, they’ll be rewarded with handsome salaries, but if they don’t, they’ll be relegated to the firm’s B squad. Congratulations to those in Salary Level A, and best of luck to those in Salary Level B.
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Staci 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 and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
