IB increasing base salary by ~17%: Time to push up Biglaw base?? Forum

[Anonymous User]

DPW’s profits per partner jumped an insane 40% this year to $6.3 million, second only to Wachtell based on the preliminary reports from Law.com. They’re head and shoulders above Cravath/S&C/Paul Weiss/etc. PPP figures right now, so they might be the best positioned to lead a raise - if they wanted to. But since they just led the bonus round, I don’t see them raising base salaries anytime soon.

I thought KE's PPEP is higher?

I guess I was focusing on the NYC shops. KE’s PPEP jumped 20% to $6.2 million. So I guess they could make the move if they wanted to as well.

This all misunderstands the mechanics of why firms give raises. They aren’t thinking “gee we made a lot of money, let’s share it with the associates,” many partners think we’re overpaid as it is. They will only give a raise if they think there is some sort of competitive pressure on their legal talent. The fact that DPW/KE partners are making record breaking Scrooge McDuck levels of money is neither here nor there as to whether they will raise salaries.

Both K&E and DPW have been having trouble with retention/ have been aggressively lateral hiring and that might eventually translate into them deciding they need to raise the bar (again in DPW’s case) but generosity will have nothing to do with it.

[Ultramar vistas]

The special bonuses by DPW were an aggressive effort to stave off this exact conversation, by keeping associates happy during the awkward phase in which PPP jumps massively but associate comp stays flat.

Next year, when profits normalize or shrink a little, they’ll have their arguments ready for no special bonuses and no base comp raises.

[Anonymous User]

Both K&E and DPW have been having trouble with retention/ have been aggressively lateral hiring and that might eventually translate into them deciding they need to raise the bar (again in DPW’s case) but generosity will have nothing to do with it.

If the salary scale moves, I imagine it will reflect the reality that firms really want to keep people around through 4 or 5 years. Like the bonuses have bigger increases approaching those years, the new salary scale might do the same. Something like a 210/220/245/285/315 base for years 1 through 5.

[Anonymous User]

DPW’s profits per partner jumped an insane 40% this year to $6.3 million, second only to Wachtell based on the preliminary reports from Law.com. They’re head and shoulders above Cravath/S&C/Paul Weiss/etc. PPP figures right now, so they might be the best positioned to lead a raise - if they wanted to. But since they just led the bonus round, I don’t see them raising base salaries anytime soon.

I thought KE's PPEP is higher?

I guess I was focusing on the NYC shops. KE’s PPEP jumped 20% to $6.2 million. So I guess they could make the move if they wanted to as well.

This all misunderstands the mechanics of why firms give raises. They aren’t thinking “gee we made a lot of money, let’s share it with the associates,” many partners think we’re overpaid as it is. They will only give a raise if they think there is some sort of competitive pressure on their legal talent. The fact that DPW/KE partners are making record breaking Scrooge McDuck levels of money is neither here nor there as to whether they will raise salaries.

Both K&E and DPW have been having trouble with retention/ have been aggressively lateral hiring and that might eventually translate into them deciding they need to raise the bar (again in DPW’s case) but generosity will have nothing to do with it.

Looking at the data on the law.com article, DPW's insane growth in PPEP seems to be off the back of similar insane growth in RPL (up over 20%). Combined with the anecdotal reports about how transactional folks are all crushed at the moment, it wouldn't surprise me that a lot of that increased RPL derives from more hours billed rather than a sudden massive increase in rates.

It's not too far fetched to think that could result in increased levels of associate burnout / trouble yielding laterals, which could give enough pressure to DPW to increase base pay.

The trend would have to continue for the foreseeable future though, because DPW has already made a move with the special bonuses.

[Anonymous User]

DPW’s profits per partner jumped an insane 40% this year to $6.3 million, second only to Wachtell based on the preliminary reports from Law.com. They’re head and shoulders above Cravath/S&C/Paul Weiss/etc. PPP figures right now, so they might be the best positioned to lead a raise - if they wanted to. But since they just led the bonus round, I don’t see them raising base salaries anytime soon.

I thought KE's PPEP is higher?

I guess I was focusing on the NYC shops. KE’s PPEP jumped 20% to $6.2 million. So I guess they could make the move if they wanted to as well.

Ouch. You know Kikrland has nyc office, right? LOL

[Anonymous User]

DPW’s profits per partner jumped an insane 40% this year to $6.3 million, second only to Wachtell based on the preliminary reports from Law.com. They’re head and shoulders above Cravath/S&C/Paul Weiss/etc. PPP figures right now, so they might be the best positioned to lead a raise - if they wanted to. But since they just led the bonus round, I don’t see them raising base salaries anytime soon.

Can anyone please list up the firm names and PPP numbers here for top 10 or 20 if it's not too big of burden? Just curious to see.

[Anonymous User]

DPW’s profits per partner jumped an insane 40% this year to $6.3 million, second only to Wachtell based on the preliminary reports from Law.com. They’re head and shoulders above Cravath/S&C/Paul Weiss/etc. PPP figures right now, so they might be the best positioned to lead a raise - if they wanted to. But since they just led the bonus round, I don’t see them raising base salaries anytime soon.

Can anyone please list up the firm names and PPP numbers here for top 10 or 20 if it's not too big of burden? Just curious to see.