Houston’s Yetter Coleman is the latest litigation boutique to join the 2026 compensation wave, matching the Milbank scale with raises of $10,000 to $20,000 depending on class year, effective June 16, 2026.
The new scale is as follows:
But the salary match is almost the secondary story here, because Yetter Coleman also announced it is raising its judicial clerkship bonus, to $145,000.
To put that in context, the clerkship bonus market has been heating up at the elite end of the industry. Hueston Hennigan is currently at the top of the market at $180,000 for federal clerks, Quinn Emanuel is at $175,000, and Susman Godfrey recently raised its appellate clerkship bonus to $180,000 as well. At $145,000, Yetter Coleman is firmly in that elite tier, and critically, the bonus applies to both federal and state court clerkships, which is notably more generous than firms that reserve their top dollar for federal clerks only.
Hiring partner Susanna Allen made the firm’s thinking explicit, “When recruiting the next generation of talent, we are looking for young lawyers who immediately can step into sophisticated, high-stakes litigation. Our overall compensation reflects that, including the clerkship bonus. We value the rigor, judgment and perspective that a judicial clerkship provides.”
Yetter Coleman isn’t just competing on salary, they’re competing on a specific theory of what makes a great litigator. The firm recruits 2Ls and above rather than 1Ls, actively pursues judicial clerks, and has built its compensation structure around the idea that the lawyers they want are the ones who have already proven themselves in demanding legal environments. The $145,000 clerkship bonus is essentially a statement about what Yetter Coleman thinks a year clerking is worth to their practice, and the answer is a lot.
Congratulations to everyone at Yetter Coleman, And if you’re a judicial clerk reading this right now, you know what to do.
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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 or Bluesky @Kathryn1