Boutique Firm Beats Cravath Scale, Showering Associates With Eye-Popping Salaries Of Up To $475K
These huge raises are an October surprise that everyone can get behind!
Boutique firms continue to strut their stuff when it comes to compensation, oftentimes blowing the already hefty salary and bonus scales offered by Biglaw firms out of the water.
Gjerset & Lorenz, a healthcare boutique located in Austin, Texas, is offering up some big-time salaries that are sure to make associates’ hearts skip a beat.
According to a recent memo, the firm did so well this year that associates are being rewarded with compensation that surpasses the Cravath scale (which the firm matched just last year). “We know the novelty, complexity, and quality of our work exceeds that of BigLaw and we want that to be reflected in our salary structure,” writes Shauna Lorenz, the firm’s co-founder. Check out the firm’s new salary grid, which may make some Biglaw associates green with envy:
- Class of 2024: $265,000 ($40K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2023: $275,000 ($40K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2022: $300,000 ($40K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2021: $335,000 ($25K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2020: $380,000 ($15K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2019: $420,000 ($30K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2018: $450,000 ($30K more than Cravath)
- Class of 2017: $475,000 ($40K more than Cravath)
The Gjerset & Lorenz salary scale, which went into effect on October 1, 2024, is $15,000 to $40,000 above the Cravath scale, depending on class year. Lorenz continues to praise the firm’s associates, writing:
We genuinely appreciate each of your contributions to the success of the firm and are incredibly appreciative of your flexibility during our transition of several projects and work assignments this year. Your professionalism and dedication to our clients has resulted in a smooth continuation of our work, and in many cases elevated quality and innovation.
She concludes the internal memo by pledging that the firm will monitor changes within the market and “further adjust salaries as necessary” in order to beat Biglaw’s salary scale. We can’t wait to see what their year-end bonuses look like, which reached a maximum potential of up to $310K last year.
A huge congratulations to everyone at Gjerset & Lorenz!
(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from the firm.)
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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 X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
