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

[smaug]

Lots of work went into that. Good job, all.

[Anonymous User]

Anon @5:03:

Appears the salary charts at the bottom are accurate as well.

Of course, STB was the first to move to $160k, and they were the first to increase the bonus scale last year. And this is the time of year to start having these discussions. STB went to $160k in January of '07 and announced their bonus increases in November of '14.

[2014]

The formatting is good enough to suggest that a secretary did it and bad enough to suggest an associate didn't. Comports with being used for a pathern's eyes only meeting.

[MCFC]

A user named BiglawAttorney making a post on Reddit? Classic indicia of reliability.

[smaug]

The page number means it HAS to be real.

[Anonymous User]

It's clearly stapled and the shadows suggest that there are at least a couple dozen pages being held. Also, note that the redaction matches where STB's logo and a descriptive header would ordinarily be.

[BigZuck]

The fact that it indicates that salaries are going to 190K is the main tip off that it's a joke. If they wanted it to look real they would have chosen literally any other number.

I enjoyed it though

[Anonymous User]

If they wanted it to be a joke, why would they put that degree of effort into it? Down to figuring out the salary scale of all U.S. offices of STB dating back to 1996? Seems like a lot of work for something that was intended to merely be tongue in cheek.

[smaug]

If they wanted it to be a joke, why would they put that degree of effort into it? Down to figuring out the salary scale of all U.S. offices of STB dating back to 1996? Seems like a lot of work for something that was intended to merely be tongue in cheek.

Because it's a good joke.

[BigZuck]

If they wanted it to be a joke, why would they put that degree of effort into it? Down to figuring out the salary scale of all U.S. offices of STB dating back to 1996? Seems like a lot of work for something that was intended to merely be tongue in cheek.

I think the better question is why is this post anon?

Did you ever think of that?

[anyriotgirl]

If they wanted it to be a joke, why would they put that degree of effort into it? Down to figuring out the salary scale of all U.S. offices of STB dating back to 1996? Seems like a lot of work for something that was intended to merely be tongue in cheek.

Because it's a good joke.

is it your joke?

[Anonymous User]

If they wanted it to be a joke, why would they put that degree of effort into it? Down to figuring out the salary scale of all U.S. offices of STB dating back to 1996? Seems like a lot of work for something that was intended to merely be tongue in cheek.

I think the better question is why is this post anon?

Did you ever think of that?

I figured people would figure out, from my persistent questioning, that I'm currently weighing an STB NY offer.

[2014]

The fact that it indicates that salaries are going to 190K is the main tip off that it's a joke. If they wanted it to look real they would have chosen literally any other number.

I enjoyed it though

If they chose any other number people would clearly know it's a troll because salaries were never going anywhere but 190.

[smaug]

If they wanted it to be a joke, why would they put that degree of effort into it? Down to figuring out the salary scale of all U.S. offices of STB dating back to 1996? Seems like a lot of work for something that was intended to merely be tongue in cheek.

Because it's a good joke.

is it your joke?

Pfff I wish I was that funny.

[Pneumonia]

Why is the title here still "possibly led by Paul Weiss" when instead it should obviously be "officially commanded by STB"?

[Chrstgtr]

So putting aside whether this is real or not...would this even make sense? NY to 190K makes sense, but Houston?

[smaug]

So putting aside whether this is real or not...would this even make sense? NY to 190K makes sense, but Houston?

I can't tell if this is ironic shit posting or if people are dumb.

[anyriotgirl]

houston to 8000 sq foot house 8000 sq foot wife

[Desert Fox]

[Anonymous User]

Text from STB associate friend "holy shit that's our firm template"

[Chrstgtr]

So putting aside whether this is real or not...would this even make sense? NY to 190K makes sense, but Houston?

Sure. Firms like K&E were literally giving 100k singing bonuses to lateral to their Houston office into a trans gig. Billing rates in these markets are very similar to NYC, at least at big firms.

Sure it costs 2X to live in MFH, but that aint' your firms problem.

But that was when KE was opening a new office; as far as I know, KE is no longer paying those absurd signing bonuses to attract talent anymore.

When DPW raised bonuses last year, not all firms matched. And if the firm was outside of NYC it was even more likely that the firm did not match. Some firms paid DPW level bonuses to their NYC associates but not their associates in other offices. Not all other cities are as profitable as NYC and not all cities have rebounded as quickly as NYC has (see Chicago legal market).

So it just doesn't make sense to me why STB would raise salaries at all offices to 190 when STB could likely raise salaries in NYC alone or raise salaries in other offices to 175 or something.

Even if STB does raise salaries in all their offices I find it hard to believe that 190 will be the new "market" but instead an above-market rate. Maybe a few really elite firms can match but not others (see Sidley's Chicago bonuses being low last year despite the DPW bonus scale. If Sidley can't match market in Chicago; I don't know how you can call the new rate "market").

[qlube]

So putting aside whether this is real or not...would this even make sense? NY to 190K makes sense, but Houston?

New York firms are lockstep across all offices. Same thing happened when salaries went to $160k, all the big NY-based firms raised salaries for all their US offices. The non-NY firms raised to $160k for their NY offices, but actually took a while to raise all their offices to 160.

This was especially true with bonuses, where non-NY firms actually paid less in bonuses to non-NY offices for a long time. When the recession brought bonuses down, they were low enough for non-NY firms to match for all offices. It's set a bit of a trend that some firms tried to reverse last year during bonuses.

[Anonymous User]

So putting aside whether this is real or not...would this even make sense? NY to 190K makes sense, but Houston?

Sure. Firms like K&E were literally giving 100k singing bonuses to lateral to their Houston office into a trans gig. Billing rates in these markets are very similar to NYC, at least at big firms.

Sure it costs 2X to live in MFH, but that aint' your firms problem.

But that was when KE was opening a new office; as far as I know, KE is no longer paying those absurd signing bonuses to attract talent anymore.

When DPW raised bonuses last year, not all firms matched. And if the firm was outside of NYC it was even more likely that the firm did not match. Some firms paid DPW level bonuses to their NYC associates but not their associates in other offices. Not all other cities are as profitable as NYC and not all cities have rebounded as quickly as NYC has (see Chicago legal market).

So it just doesn't make sense to me why STB would raise salaries at all offices to 190 when STB could likely raise salaries in NYC alone or raise salaries in other offices to 175 or something.

Even if STB does raise salaries in all their offices I find it hard to believe that 190 will be the new "market" but instead an above-market rate. Maybe a few really elite firms can match but not others (see Sidley's Chicago bonuses being low last year despite the DPW bonus scale. If Sidley can't match market in Chicago; I don't know how you can call the new rate "market").

STB's most profitable office for at least the last two years has been its Houston office. There's no reason why they wouldn't raise salaries across the board since they have one salary scale across all their offices and one bonus scale.

Source: Firm presentation to summer associates this summer.

[Anonymous User]

Why would a firm give a handout with a historical graph of NYC salaries instead of just saying, "First years now making 190k!"? Makes no sense.

[Byakuya769]

Why would a firm give a handout with a historical graph of NYC salaries instead of just saying, "First years now making 190k!"? Makes no sense.

To convince stuffy partners that it's been a while since the last round and that a jump to 190k isn't insane... I don't know, looks silly to me as well.