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So "market" is 160k as a starting salary.

But is there any way to get data on salaries after the first year, especially comparatively between firms? How does this work?

Anonymous User wrote:So "market" is 160k as a starting salary.

But is there any way to get data on salaries after the first year, especially comparatively between firms? How does this work?

Depends if they are lock-step or merit-based.

Among my friends at large lock-step firms, it generally goes: 160, 170, 185, 210, 230, 250...

You can google for this info, it's all out there. The post above has it I think.

AnonAssociate wrote:Among my friends at large lock-step firms, it generally goes: 160, 170, 185, 210, 230, 250...

is their a reason it jumps the highest from the 3rd year to the 4th, or is it just natural increase lol

ilikebaseball wrote:

AnonAssociate wrote:Among my friends at large lock-step firms, it generally goes: 160, 170, 185, 210, 230, 250...

is their a reason it jumps the highest from the 3rd year to the 4th, or is it just natural increase lol

trying to avoid midlevel attrition

3rd year is easily the most common year to see people quit. Something about law students makes them want to say to themselves: "I gave it a good two years."

Third year for most people is a crossroads, you have fully accepted that you hate the job and that it will never stop being awful, the choice for most people comes down to whether they are all in on the money or actually willing to chase after something they enjoy. The increase is key point to tipping the scales. Usually I find that if you can get someone into the fourth year, they just tend to stay and accept and embrace that they are basically dead inside.

Partners see enough associates crying at their desks, talking about divorces and other family issues to know its happening. A lot of associates have a "coming out" moment where they sort of reveal to the partner how unhappy they are. Seen it happen again and again.

Biglaw partners are actually pretty nice in my experience, but they know client demands are not going to change, so the solution is to feed you more money.

Anonymous User wrote:3rd year is easily the most common year to see people quit. Something about law students makes them want to say to themselves: "I gave it a good two years."

Third year for most people is a crossroads, you have fully accepted that you hate the job and that it will never stop being awful, the choice for most people comes down to whether they are all in on the money or actually willing to chase after something they enjoy. The increase is key point to tipping the scales. Usually I find that if you can get someone into the fourth year, they just tend to stay and accept and embrace that they are basically dead inside.

Partners see enough associates crying at their desks, talking about divorces and other family issues to know its happening. A lot of associates have a "coming out" moment where they sort of reveal to the partner how unhappy they are. Seen it happen again and again.

Biglaw partners are actually pretty nice in my experience, but they know client demands are not going to change, so the solution is to feed you more money.

this is basically what i meant to say

Is there any way to get a sense of 2nd year and beyond salary when annual raises are merit based? I have offers at a couple places that are not lock step, including pay above market in a secondary market (almost NYC market rate with much cheaper COL). But I can't tell whether they may have much smaller annual raises than the lockstep scale suggested above,

Any way to figure this out? At all appropriate to ask someone (recruiting? hiring partner?) the average comp of a 3rd/5th year after you've received an offer?

Anonymous User wrote:Is there any way to get a sense of 2nd year and beyond salary when annual raises are merit based? I have offers at a couple places that are not lock step, including pay above market in a secondary market (almost NYC market rate with much cheaper COL). But I can't tell whether they may have much smaller annual raises than the lockstep scale suggested above,

Any way to figure this out? At all appropriate to ask someone (recruiting? hiring partner?) the average comp of a 3rd/5th year after you've received an offer?

yes, after getting an offer that would be totally fine IMO. For what it's worth, places like Orrick tend to end up being more or less lock step but that's not everywhere