Biglaw Firm Introduces New Lockstep Salary And Bonus Scale -- But Not Everyone Is Happy About It
Salaries and bonuses still aren't market at this firm. Ouch.
Biglaw firms across the country continue to hand out special bonuses to associates and counsel as a way to thank them for their dedication during the pandemic — and to keep them around amid an incredibly hot lateral market. Other firms are going a step further and instituting salary increases, raising those in major markets to the standard Biglaw salary scale (if they weren’t already there), and others in smaller markets by tens of thousands of dollars.
Following DLA Piper’s decision in March to increase base pay for associates in some offices, others — including Alston & Bird; King & Spalding; Taft; Troutman Pepper; McGuireWoods; Ice Miller; and Holland & Knight — have followed in the elite firm’s footsteps, and now yet another has fallen in line.
According to a presentation made earlier this week at Nixon Peabody, a firm ranked at No. 81 in the most recent Am Law 100, with $488,753,000 in 2020 gross revenue, associates will be compensated under a new lockstep salary and bonus scale across all markets.
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This is what starting salaries will look like going forward at the firm’s metro, Long Island, and non-metro offices:
Sources note that even in the firm’s metro offices, the salary scale is still under market for all classes (to the tune of up to $35,000) except first-years. We’ve also been told that these new salaries are not retroactive, so associates will only receive raises for half of 2021.
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In terms of bonuses, Nixon Peabody still isn’t paying market on those, and doesn’t seem to be offering special bonuses either. This is what bonuses at each of the firm’s offices now look like (and while there are three levels of bonuses (one is hours-based and two are collections-based), each looks like it may be more difficult to achieve than the next):
This seems to be where midlevels and senior associates will be able to make up what they’re missing in their salaries to bring them to market — but only if they work their asses off.
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Sources we’ve heard from at the firm seem displeased:
Associates are leaving en masse right now and management is patting themselves on the back for these new salary and bonus announcements saying they feel real good. Of course partners feel great, they get the benefit of underpaying us.
Eek. We sure wish associates were happier about this salary news. Look on the bright side: the firm is closer to market than ever before in metro offices. Unlike the firm’s theme song, everyone may not be a winner, but it’s still better than nothing.
Please help us help you when it comes to bonus or raise news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Raises”) or text us (646-820-8477). 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.
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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 or connect with her on LinkedIn.
