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While Associate Salaries Rise to Fight Talent War, Counsel Are Asking, 'Where's Mine?'

By Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
April 01, 2022

This year is shaping up as a lucrative one for Big Law associates, as firms raise associate salaries to new scales set initially in January by Milbank, bumped up by Davis Polk & Wardwell, and then raised yet again by Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

The lofty compensation for associates comes as busy firms strive to meet competitive pressure in the crucial effort to retain young talent. The latest iteration of the salary scale calls for a $215,000 salary for first-year associates and ranges up to $415,000 for eighth-years.

But what about counsel? Many of the memos announcing raises have said compensation to counsel would be determined at a later date and communicated individually. One exception was Shearman & Sterling, which announced in a memo on March 4 that while moving to the Cravath scale for associates, it would also raise counsel base salaries by $50,000.

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