Salaries at DLA Secondary Market Offices? (ENJOY this thread) Forum

[Anonymous User]

A family friend who is a partner at DLA Piper has offered to recommend me for a first-year associate position (even though I already have a BigLaw offer from my SA firm). It's in a secondary market – big city that doesn't have a ton of BL firms. Are their salaries universally 180k for first-years?

[MrT]

According to Vault:

Base Salary
Atlanta, GA; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh, NC; Short Hills, NJ;
1st year: $160,000
Summer associate: $2,788/week

All other U.S. Offices
1st year: $180,000
Summer associate: $3,076/week

[Anonymous User]

More important question--does anyone know how salary is calculated after first year? Is it still merit based or is it lockstep?

[Anonymous User]

According to Vault:

Base Salary
Atlanta, GA; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh, NC; Short Hills, NJ;
1st year: $160,000
Summer associate: $2,788/week

All other U.S. Offices
1st year: $180,000
Summer associate: $3,076/week

OP here. How reliable is Vault on this info? I tend to use NALP (which has no info specific to my market), and always forget Vault has salary figures


Second anon - good question!!!

[Anonymous User]

Second anon here. Yeah--I have heard about a number of firms matching Cravath in form and then in substance not matching at all.

[Anonymous User]

Second anon here. Yeah--I have heard about a number of firms matching Cravath in form and then in substance not matching at all.

[Anonymous User]

More important question--does anyone know how salary is calculated after first year? Is it still merit based or is it lockstep?

It's lockstep. Cravath scale for most markets. The Vault list looks generally right, though it's not like there's a way to find out our colleagues' salaries across markets. There was some consternation in Philly a while back about their salaries' being lower than NYC/DC/Baltimore, but they may have bumped it up.

[Anonymous User]

More important question--does anyone know how salary is calculated after first year? Is it still merit based or is it lockstep?

It's lockstep. Cravath scale for most markets. The Vault list looks generally right, though it's not like there's a way to find out our colleagues' salaries across markets. There was some consternation in Philly a while back about their salaries' being lower than NYC/DC/Baltimore, but they may have bumped it up.

That's awesome to hear. I'm actually surprised they offer 180 at my non-ATL/Phoenix/Raleigh secondary market.

(OP)

[Anonymous User]

second anon here. Could you provide any more info? Vault and other sources still say that DLA is merit-based. What does it take to ensure you get bumped to the next class level--meeting minimum billables? Or will you get bumped up even if you don't meet them?

[Anonymous User]

second anon here. Could you provide any more info? Vault and other sources still say that DLA is merit-based. What does it take to ensure you get bumped to the next class level--meeting minimum billables? Or will you get bumped up even if you don't meet them?

I'm sure the firm wants to keep some level of discretion as far as "merit"-based comp. My only non-anecdotal evidence for lockstep (which includes myself over multiple years) is that when they announced the $180K match, they sent a generic email to each office listing all classes instead of sending individual emails. You get bumped up if you don't meet your billables, but you don't get a bonus, and of course it's not good to miss your target. Bonuses are "merit"-based (i.e., hours) but have been about NYC market recently (again, anecdotal). We're still waiting on bonus announcements for 2016.

[Anonymous User]

Any idea on when 2016 bonuses come out? Any murmur on whether they'll be market? Did they talk to you during your review about getting bumped in any way--in the sense that they could have docked you? I can see a strong incentive to put out a lockstep, Cravath-match scale but then not keep it up behind closed doors?