Big money isn’t just for Biglaw — boutique law firms are continuing to get in on the compensation action, and associates are very happy about it. Yet another successful boutique law firm is making sure that its associates’ accounts are flush with cash, with salaries that surpass the Biglaw market standard.
Say hello to the Houston litigation boutique of Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing P.C., a firm that’s more commonly known as “AZA.” We’ve confirmed that the firm will go over and above the Cravath salary scale for first-year associates, pushing their annual compensation to $235,000. Second-year associates at the firm will also receive a $10,000 raise.
“We’ve long matched New York [Biglaw] salaries, and this year we are raising them $10,000,” AZA managing partner John Zavitsanos said of the salary increases. “We send our new lawyers to court immediately, and they are worth at least as much as their [Biglaw] counterparts, who usually don’t get anything like the experience the AZA associates receive.”
Monica Uddin, AZA’s hiring partner, shared similar thoughts, saying, “Our young lawyers aren’t stuck making other people’s outlines. They’re out trying cases, and we’ll pay them more for it. When you out-hustle and out-argue, you should out-earn, too.”
Congratulations to everyone at AZA!
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 Zaretsky is the managing editor of 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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.