It’s August.
Milbank kicked off the 2026 associate salary wars on June 2. Fewer than a handful of firms almost immediately matched the new salary scale. And then… nothing.
In late July, Milbank doubled down with special bonuses. This time, the silence was even more deafening.
And yet, here we are: Cravath hasn’t matched either one, and virtually the entire Biglaw market remains frozen in place.
At this point, the most remarkable thing isn’t Cravath’s silence. It’s Biglaw’s willingness to sit around waiting for permission.
For years, the script has been familiar: Milbank makes a move, everyone waits for Cravath, Cravath matches, and the rest of the industry falls into line. It’s never exactly screamed “independent thinking,” but at least the process usually moved along at a reasonable pace. Not this time.
To their credit, a few firms didn’t wait. They saw Milbank’s salary increase and quickly matched it, proving that it is, in fact, possible to make a compensation decision without first receiving Cravath’s blessing. But almost everyone else is still waiting.
Milbank has now given the market two separate opportunities to show a little independence. For the overwhelming majority of Biglaw, both opportunities have been met with the same response: wait for Cravath.
These are firms that advise Fortune 500 companies on billion-dollar transactions and litigate bet-the-company cases. Yet when it comes to paying their own associates, apparently almost nobody is capable of making a decision until one firm in Manhattan says it’s okay.
If your firm already knows it’s going to match — and history suggests that’s the overwhelmingly likely outcome — what’s the benefit of dragging this out?
No rule says every elite firm has to freeze until Cravath issues a memo. Firms pride themselves on being leaders and strategic thinkers. Then compensation season arrives, and suddenly everyone becomes a nervous middle-schooler waiting to see who raises their hand first. It’s hard to call that leadership.
It’s time to stop waiting. If the raises are coming, announce them. If the bonuses are coming, announce them. And if they’re not coming, have the courage to say that, too.
Milbank made its first move more than two months ago. Then it made another one. Biglaw has had plenty of time to figure out what it wants to do.
Back in June, we wondered whether associates might actually be stuck waiting until Labor Day for Biglaw to match Milbank. At the time, that seemed like an almost absurdly long wait.
Please don’t make us right.
Labor Day is now just a few weeks away. There is absolutely no reason to drag this out until September — or, God forbid, beyond it.
Biglaw doesn’t need Cravath’s permission. It just needs someone willing to go first.
Be independent. Make a decision. If you’re going to match eventually anyway, just do it already.
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.