NY to 200k?! Forum

[AureliusCapital]

So just to get this straight, if someone asks me what my starting salary is, I have to say 202.5k? lol. Hope Cravath/S&C raises it to at least 205k, soon.

Or you could just...politely decline to answer that inappropriate question

Get that shit outta here. Salary should not be taboo.

It's one thing to talk about salary amongst co-workers to make sure you're all being compensated fairly, it's another to just talk about your salary to flex on people (which is the only real reason I can think of to talk about your biglaw salary unless you're at like Jones Day or talking to a recruiter).

Friends outside of law ask me multiple times until I finally give in. People want to know if the rumors of rainmaker lawyers are true.

[Wubbles]

So just to get this straight, if someone asks me what my starting salary is, I have to say 202.5k? lol. Hope Cravath/S&C raises it to at least 205k, soon.

Or you could just...politely decline to answer that inappropriate question

Get that shit outta here. Salary should not be taboo.

It's one thing to talk about salary amongst co-workers to make sure you're all being compensated fairly, it's another to just talk about your salary to flex on people (which is the only real reason I can think of to talk about your biglaw salary unless you're at like Jones Day or talking to a recruiter).

Friends outside of law ask me multiple times until I finally give in. People want to know if the rumors of rainmaker lawyers are true.

Just tell them the partner salaries then

[Anonymous User]

So just to get this straight, if someone asks me what my starting salary is, I have to say 202.5k? lol. Hope Cravath/S&C raises it to at least 205k, soon.

Or you could just...politely decline to answer that inappropriate question

Get that shit outta here. Salary should not be taboo.

It's one thing to talk about salary amongst co-workers to make sure you're all being compensated fairly, it's another to just talk about your salary to flex on people (which is the only real reason I can think of to talk about your biglaw salary unless you're at like Jones Day or talking to a recruiter).

Friends outside of law ask me multiple times until I finally give in. People want to know if the rumors of rainmaker lawyers are true.

Just tell them the partner salaries then

And what are the partner salaries?

[Anonymous User]

Can we please stay focused on associate raises

[lolwutpar]

I forget - do summers even get the raise? Are they here past July 1? IIRC not much, so maybe the Stanford folks are the real winners.

[Anonymous User]

DPW just raised to 205.

Confirmed.

202.5
205
215
240
275
305
330
350
365

Poor class of 2017 only getting a $5k bump from Milbank while the surrounding classes of 2018 and 2016 get $10k above Milbank.

Forreals. Davis Polk giving a giant middle finger to the fourth years that they’re going to start billing out as fifth years July 1.

At one of the v10 firms, and I only know of 3 other fourth years in corporate who aren’t on secondment/ externship or waiting to clear conflicts / negotiating compensation at their next job and that’s including specialists groups. The rest are literally running out the door. Can’t imagine DPW is doing that much better at fourth year retention.

[Anonymous User]

I forget - do summers even get the raise? Are they here past July 1? IIRC not much, so maybe the Stanford folks are the real winners.

For Milbank their raises were for summer associates as well starting July 1

[Auxilio]

A reminder that after THREE ROUNDS of this you all better get DPW to V1 in next years survey!

[okaygo]

I forget - do summers even get the raise? Are they here past July 1? IIRC not much, so maybe the Stanford folks are the real winners.

Yes, summers always get the raises as well.

[lolwutpar]

Yeah, I know summers get the raise, but how many days are they actually working post July 1? Like I said, the weird schedule people like Stanford are the big winners for summers.

[Anonymous User]

There's no way this ends at 202.4-205 right? 210-215 must be the most likely landing spots.

[Sackboy]

No clue why some of you are focused on the firm with the 8th highest profits per partner when the 13th highest has been the one leading the charge the past few years.

[showusyourtorts]

There's no way this ends at 202.4-205 right? 210-215 must be the most likely landing spots.

I don't know about you, but I think "NYC to 202k and a half" has a special ring to it.

[Yardbird]

Seems some people are confused. DPW 202.5 is for Class of 2021 (incoming first years this fall). Class of 2020 (current first years) is at 205.

[Anonymous User]

Seems some people are confused. DPW 202.5 is for Class of 2021 (incoming first years this fall). Class of 2020 (current first years) are at 205.

*Starting salary* is still 202.5 though, hence the hilarity.

[Anonymous User]

I don't know why any sane person would go to Cravath over some other prestigious law firm. At Cravath, the only guarantee is that you will get worked to death, and will never make a penny more than market. Other firms might have a marginally less shitty lifestyle and you might also get nice little bits of extra $$ every once in awhile depending on where you are at.

Also I dunno how good their deal people are, but the litigators I have worked with/across from are mediocre at best (it's no longer true that you're going to be learning from the greatest, if it ever was).

Disagree with this. Cravath is a big name - S&C or Skadden are great, but don't have the punch of Cravath on the resume. Also, I doubt Cravath is working you any harder than a churn 'n burn like K&E. Moreover, if things happen to be slow at a place like Cravath, you can just kind of chill and not be worried in the slightest about your job security. If corporate slows down at K&E, managing partner sends out a firmwide email telling corporate associates to start jumping on bankruptcy cases or get canned.

Agree that Skadden on one’s resume doesn’t pack the same punch as Cravath, but S&C and DPW absolutely do. And the second bolded part is also the same at any of S&C/DPW/STB/PW/Debevoise/Cleary.

[Yardbird]

Seems some people are confused. DPW 202.5 is for Class of 2021 (incoming first years this fall). Class of 2020 (current first years) are at 205.

*Starting salary* is still 202.5 though, hence the hilarity.

I mean incoming fall associates typically get bar exam expenses and relocation covered and some firms give stipends in addition to salary (others do advances), all of which is an expense from the firm’s perspective. That probably brings the “comp” for stub years on a prorated basis above a 1st year if you take those into account. If stub years get bumped up to 205k in January do people really care? Sort of like it operates as a probationary period.

[lolwutpar]

I don't really get the point of making stubs have a lower salary. Never really been the case.

[NYto200K]

What does it mean that Winston and Strawn matched Milbank AFTER Davis Polk surpassed Milbank? That they were too slow to put the breaks on their decision? That they do not want to do Davis Polk? Maybe they'll raise again, as Milbank inevitably will?

[Lesion of Doom]

I wonder if the $202.5 is about DPW wanting to establish a line of demarcation for bonus purposes. Instead of getting prorated at the first year bonus rate, they just get their own low bonus. Maybe it means something good for 2020 class bonuses.

All I can think of.

[Rule23andMe]

I wonder if the $202.5 is about DPW wanting to establish a line of demarcation for bonus purposes. Instead of getting prorated at the first year bonus rate, they just get their own low bonus. Maybe it means something good for 2020 class bonuses.

All I can think of.

I think you're overthinking it and that they're simply initiating the bidding war without giving their best offer up front, knowing that 202.5 won't be the final market rate. (I hope.)

[Yardbird]

I wonder if the $202.5 is about DPW wanting to establish a line of demarcation for bonus purposes. Instead of getting prorated at the first year bonus rate, they just get their own low bonus. Maybe it means something good for 2020 class bonuses.

All I can think of.

This makes a lot of sense. Only other thing I can think of is class year salary bumps will happen in July instead of January (so a 2016 for example will be at 305 until July instead of getting bumped up to 330 in January). At least at DPW anyways. I’m sure other firms will do normal increases in January but essentially this seems to be a bump for associates in July 2021 instead of January 2022.

[Anonymous User]

Is ABL good for anything other than tracking compensation changes?
https://abovethelaw.com/2021/06/davis-polk-salary-21/

The site traffic must explode every time there's a period of base pay or bonus news, and otherwise struggle for clicks.

Is there someone on staff there who has a desktop folder called "Dollar Sign Landing Page Cover Art" so they can just roll out the articles whenever there's news?

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

What does it mean that Winston and Strawn matched Milbank AFTER Davis Polk surpassed Milbank? That they were too slow to put the breaks on their decision? That they do not want to do Davis Polk? Maybe they'll raise again, as Milbank inevitably will?

It was posted about 10 minutes later in this thread. So it might have actually come beforehand, and even if it didn't, it definitely wasn't enough time to have heard about it.

[showusyourtorts]

I wonder if the $202.5 is about DPW wanting to establish a line of demarcation for bonus purposes. Instead of getting prorated at the first year bonus rate, they just get their own low bonus. Maybe it means something good for 2020 class bonuses.

All I can think of.

This makes a lot of sense. Only other thing I can think of is class year salary bumps will happen in July instead of January (so a 2016 for example will be at 305 until July instead of getting bumped up to 330 in January).

I'm just thinking this through - if that's right, then they would totally have to tell associates that in the compensation email though, right? If they did, I think they would effectively have to say "We're raising the salary for [third years], effective immediately, but you're also going to be treated as a [third year] for another entire full year, instead of the only six months that you had remaining before getting bumped up to being a [fourth year]." At certain class years that only gained +15 in the DPW/Milbank salary raise but would otherwise gain +30k a year in a typical class year advancement, that's probably not even a plus but instead an overall minus that you're held back at "third year" pay for another six months. Am I missing something?

With that said, I still cannot make heads or tails of DPW's stub year distinction.