The Top Biglaw Players Who Are Still Holding Out On Raises
There are a lot of firms that haven't matched the market salary -- but these firms are facing more vocal pushback from their associates than most.
July 1 has come and gone, and at this point, we have to wonder if the firms that haven’t raised will ever come around. It’s not necessarily a sin not to raise. As we pointed out in 2016, a lot of firms simply shouldn’t be trying to match the Cravaths of the world, and there’s no shame in staking out a price point below that elite echelon.
That said, these firms really have a hard time convincing their associates that they shouldn’t be getting raises. And the associates are letting us know that they’re getting mighty frustrated.
For example, Boies Schiller, a firm that positions itself as a market leader on compensation, but by all accounts, that image is fuzzier than it first appears. The firm employs a complicated formula to determine associate compensation that can earn attorneys huge paydays, but that tipsters say results in midyears often earning less than their peers.
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Given the nature of the Boies compensation scheme, perhaps a boost in base pay won’t really change the bottom line for associates, but given the complaints that have piled up over the last couple of bonus cycles, the firm should probably tells its lawyers something about how they intend to make them whole by the end of the year. This is, after all, the top firm measured by profitability that hasn’t moved yet.
No one really expected Greenberg Traurig to run to the front of the raise pack. They’ve already told the world why they can’t afford to pay their people any more despite being the top firm by revenue that still hasn’t joined the market. Greenberg is by no means Cravath, falling way off the rankings when it comes to profits per partner, but it ranks 26th in profitability and could easily issue raises in at least its big market offices. And yet… nothing.
Kasowitz took the associate-friendly step of moving up their bonus announcement last year, but that love hasn’t carried over to providing an answer — one way or the other — when it comes to associate raises. Last raise cycle, Kasowitz announced matching raises right before the July 1 deadline. Apparently the modest cost of living increase is turning out to be too much for them.
Locke Lord is at least looking at raises. Sort of.
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The only update from the firm on whether Locke Lord is even considering matching the scale and/or issue summer bonuses (which is highly unlikely) came through the Associate Committee (ironically, made up of associates), who took it upon themselves over the weekend to inform the associates that the firm told them that a sub-committee of the Board of Directors is reviewing proposals to restructure associate compensation in response to associate and partner concerns regarding the current compensation system and are re-looking at proposals “in light of recent announcements by other firms.”
So that sounds encouraging. Still, the firm is falling behind some of the other Texas firms that raised their salaries in time for the July 1 deadline.
Fish & Richardson is barely cracking the top 50 in profits per partner, but associates there certainly are restless, hitting us up multiple times over the last two weeks to complain that they’re beginning to feel like the firm plans to move forward without raises despite trying to play in the same recruiting pool as a number of firms that jumped at the new scale.
This is, obviously, not an exhaustive list of the firms that haven’t raised yet, but it is a list of the most vocal of the jilted associate bases from firms that have hard cases to make for holding out.
Will we see some action from one or more of these firms before the upcoming July 13 payday? We’ll see.
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Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.
