NY GOES TO 180k! IT HAPPENED!!!! (CovingTTTon does a 180! Holder wept.) Forum

[Desert Fox]

[Desert Fox]

[Cobretti]

Well looks like KE cares about recruiting junior talent, shocking

[Desert Fox]

[bearsfan23]

I really can't wait for the day NY does go to $190k (or whatever they raise it to).

DF is going to be so pissed. He's literally the only law student/associate who doesn't want salaries to go up. I get you hate being a lawyer DF, but this crusade against pay raises is just weird

[minnbills]

I don't want pay going up either.

[Desert Fox]

[jbagelboy]

I really can't wait for the day NY does go to $190k (or whatever they raise it to).

DF is going to be so pissed. He's literally the only law student/associate who doesn't want salaries to go up. I get you hate being a lawyer DF, but this crusade against pay raises is just weird

Woa woa woa

I think we are underpaid. I would throw a party if DC to 190k happened.

I just don't think it will.

He's a realist, guys, not a misanthrope.

[BigZuck]

I don't want pay going up either.

Why not?

[minnbills]

I'm (in a not funny way) joking. Of course I want people to do better.

But seeing people make 6 times what I do instead of 5 is not exactly fun, either.

[Desert Fox]

[84651846190]

don't have time to read the last few pages of this thread. could someone *concisely* summarize, please? thank

[abitaman6363]

don't have time to read the last few pages of this thread. could someone *concisely* summarize, please? thank

Sure. Minor signs indicate that NY will move to $190k, and as incredible as that is, no one really has a damn clue if that is true or not. Everyone wants the pay increase to happen (despite DF joking about it and minnbills feeling slightly insecure about his salary relative to biglaw associates).

As for the minor signs: Some Philly firms have increased to $160k (thereby putting pressure on NYC firms to shoot higher), no pay increases since ST did so in 2007, PPP has caught up to it's 2007 levels, Paul Weiss told summer they would announce compensation structure in February 2016 (OP said last time this happened was when there was a pay increase but unsure if this is true), and some other "clues" that seem nuanced at best and naïve at worst.

(I think that catches everything)

As for my own opinion (fwiw), we all want pay raises to happen. The more word gets out that it is expected to, the more pressure there will be on NYC-based firms to do so. In the meantime, there is little incentive for management to decrease partner profits by $30k/1st year associate (not to mention potentially larger cuts in profits per partner for salary increases for mid- and senior level associates). Thus, I am skeptical but do appreciate the up-tick in chatter on the subject and hope the ripple becomes a wave.

[abitaman6363]

Also, I cannot believe Philly has been $145k until now. Even TX firms (Dallas, Houston, and several Austin firms) have been at the NYC $160k level and there is not even state tax here.

[dixiecupdrinking]

don't have time to read the last few pages of this thread. could someone *concisely* summarize, please? thank

2Ls argue that firms are under pressure to increase starting salaries by 20% because _____.

[jbagelboy]

don't have time to read the last few pages of this thread. could someone *concisely* summarize, please? thank

2Ls argue that firms are under pressure to increase starting salaries by 20% because ____ NYC to 190

[Johann]

I don't want pay going up either.

WHAT! This is the second time I've seen you cockblocking lawyers. You realize we are all in the same field right? Shit that is good for them is good for all of us down the road at some point - even people working in small law shops that seem completely disconnected.

[minnbills]

I don't want pay going up either.

WHAT! This is the second time I've seen you cockblocking lawyers. You realize we are all in the same field right? Shit that is good for them is good for all of us down the road at some point - even people working in small law shops that seem completely disconnected.

See my later post bro

[Desert Fox]

[Johann]

I'm (in a not funny way) joking. Of course I want people to do better.

But seeing people make 6 times what I do instead of 5 is not exactly fun, either.

Let me tell you how this works. Biglaw attorney that was going to leave and open up his own shop because he was making 250k busting his ass is now making 300k and decides to stay in biglaw. There is less competition among the smaller firms because the demand pie for legal services grew. You now have more clients willing to pay you $300 an hour instead of slashing your rate to $150 an hour or writing off significant amounts of time to compete with the lawyer beside you.

Yeah sorry didn't read your later post until now. It's a good thing. Your pay will go up too. Legal services being in demand is good for us all.

[minnbills]

It's not a good thing for anybody but biglaw associates. As someone who works in shitlaw, I can tell you with 100% confidence that my clients are NOT going to be paying me any more because the real lawyers now make more. They can't afford to pay me more. It's not different for any of the other lawyers in my office either (they practice in different areas).

If biglaw pay jumps, the only difference for me is I feel even shittier about my own life.

[Johann]

also biglaw salary is a zero sum game. Either I get or some cocksucking partner gets EXTRA money on top of his two mil a year.

No it's not. Looks like KE is swimming in work that they would otherwise be leaving on the table without having the 3Ls do it. The partner takes a cut, the 3L gets a portion and everyone is happier than they were if that work jsut sat on the table.

[Johann]

It's not a good thing for anybody but biglaw associates. As someone who works in shitlaw, I can tell you with 100% confidence that my clients are NOT going to be paying me any more because the real lawyers now make more. They can't afford to pay me more. It's not different for any of the other lawyers in my office either (they practice in different areas).

If biglaw pay jumps, the only difference for me is I feel even shittier about my own life.

If you're gonna be this dumb and pessimistic, you prolly deserve to work in shitlaw, but that's not how it works at all. More biglaw work means more assoicates hired means less people competing for insurance defense jobs means less people competing for shitlaw jobs. If biglaw firms have more work to do, the legal sector as a whole grew. If you don't understand how that places less pressure on the solos and small law shops, you just aren't looking at the big picture. It means less competition of people moving to regional law firms that are big relative to their size.

[Desert Fox]

[minnbills]

Disagree. We are talking about two separate worlds here. People don't move between one and the other very much. Of the 100 or so people in my practice area I've seen in my market so far (and I always make a point to research other attorneys) not a single one has worked in biglaw or at a comparable job.

They are essentially different markets altogether.