What's the Seattle biglaw/in-house salary like? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have salary information on Perkins Coie and Davis Wright Tremaine? I heard they started on the previous market ($190K) but compressed immediately after the first year. Also interested in WSGR and Cooley, although the offices seem pretty small with main practices outside of general M&A/corporate.

Also heard working in-house at some of the large tech offices in Seattle (Amazon/Microsoft/Google) pays almost Seattle biglaw rates ($160K-$200K). Wondering how common this is for Seattle companies in general and whether those on the upper end of the salary scale come with the same hour demands as biglaw.

[Anonymous User]

Also interested in this

[mongeese]

In-House varies a lot. When I interviewed for Amazon 4-5 years ago, the total compensation for a counsel role (e.g., an individual contributor below director) was around 320-350k. I think it would be closer to 400k now. I know someone who was recently offered a role at director level (second attorney) at a smaller company with 400-500 employees and he was offered 360k total compensation (260k base and rest was equity).

[Anonymous User]

Perkins, WSGR and Cooley all pay market. DWT has never paid market from what I remember.

[urbancowboy]

Perkins Coie is $205,000. https://nalpdirectory.com/employer_prof ... hCondJSON=

[Anonymous User]

https://www.law360.com/articles/1407845 ... ur-targets

[Baron7]

Perkins Coie is $205,000. https://nalpdirectory.com/employer_prof ... hCondJSON=

There’s salary compression at the top, I believe.
https://abovethelaw.com/2021/12/perkins-bonus-2021/

I’m not sure there are many firms that pull full market in Seattle—feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Doesn’t make much sense given the cost of living, which is just as expensive as major markets like Boston and D.C.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone have salary information on Perkins Coie and Davis Wright Tremaine? I heard they started on the previous market ($190K) but compressed immediately after the first year. Also interested in WSGR and Cooley, although the offices seem pretty small with main practices outside of general M&A/corporate.

Also heard working in-house at some of the large tech offices in Seattle (Amazon/Microsoft/Google) pays almost Seattle biglaw rates ($160K-$200K). Wondering how common this is for Seattle companies in general and whether those on the upper end of the salary scale come with the same hour demands as biglaw.

Few firms pay Cravath (or close to it) in Seattle (WSGR, Cooley, DLA Piper and Fenwick). Orrick is close but below Cravath, I think. They also play funny compensation games in Seattle (e.g., making laterals take huge haircuts, a hard 2,000 hours for bonus at certain firms and so on).

Seattle is expensive, its legal market is incredibly insular and the number of lawyers at most firms that pay Cravath or close to it is small. I'd avoid.