Elite boutiques that pay market/above market? Forum

[Phantasio]

1L here trying to gather more information regarding big law alternatives. These firms seem to be under the radar compared with biglaws, and there is no handy list such as Chambers/AM 100/Vault to start with...

[Anonymous User]

Nonsense, Firsthand/Vault has let me know that McDermott is the #1 firm for compensation

https://firsthand.co/best-companies-to- ... mpensation

[Anonymous User]

I'm missing a bunch, but the ones that are nationally famous include

Kellogg, Bartlit Beck, Munger, Susman. Williams & Connolly isn't a boutique per se, but it's often discussed in the same conversation.

Many cities have elite boutiques that aren't quite as famous but similarly competitive. The people that matter know about these places. These include

Dovel & Luner (Santa Monica), Gibbs Bruns (Houston), Keker (SF), Hueston Hennigan (LA)

Then there are the more political ones

Consovoy McCarthy (conservative), Kaplan Hecker (liberal), Cooper & Kirk (conservative) Maybe Lehotsky Keller belongs on this list for the conservatives too.

Going beyond boutiques only, secondary markets tend to have 1-2 lit firms that are considered elite in that city. This is worth considering if you're from one of these markets. Sometimes these overlap with the above. These include

Bondurant (Atlanta), Susman/Gibbs (Houston), Susman (Seattle), Jones Day (Ohio), Gibson Dunn (Dallas), WilmerHale (Boston), SoCal (Munger, Hueston Hennigan), SF (Keker)

[The Lsat Airbender]

Seems weird to me to describe market-paying boutiques as "biglaw alternatives". They have more in common with big firms than with any other kind of employer.

[Anonymous User]

WLRK and Cahill should be considered boutiques unless you only want litigation.

Eimer Stahl in Chicago is an elite boutique with above market bonus. Not sure how much.

[Anonymous User]

WLRK and Cahill should be considered boutiques unless you only want litigation.

Eimer Stahl in Chicago is an elite boutique with above market bonus. Not sure how much.

Even for lit, WLRK is extremely competitive. You'll be much more constrained in the types of cases that you handle, but WLRK on a lit resume would look almost as (if not equally) impressive as a Kellogg or Susman.

[Anonymous User]

Desmarais?

[Anonymous User]

Three of Dovel & Luner's four associates are HLS magna (top 10%). The other one is cum laude, also from Harvard. Crazy competitive.

[Anonymous User]

WLRK and Cahill should be considered boutiques unless you only want litigation.

Eimer Stahl in Chicago is an elite boutique with above market bonus. Not sure how much.

Even for lit, WLRK is extremely competitive. You'll be much more constrained in the types of cases that you handle, but WLRK on a lit resume would look almost as (if not equally) impressive as a Kellogg or Susman.

Fair, I just meant that it's not known as a lit boutique and isn't on the same path of "clerkships first" without a summer program etc.

[kjdsalinger]

WLRK and Cahill should be considered boutiques unless you only want litigation.

Eimer Stahl in Chicago is an elite boutique with above market bonus. Not sure how much.

Cahill pays above market?

[tlsguy2020]

These days, above market boutiques include Milbank, McDermott, Steptoe, Cadwalader, Baker McKenzie, and Norton Rose Fulbright

[Anonymous User]

WLRK and Cahill should be considered boutiques unless you only want litigation.

Eimer Stahl in Chicago is an elite boutique with above market bonus. Not sure how much.

Cahill pays above market?

https://abovethelaw.com/2021/12/cahill-bonus-2021/

[RedNewJersey]

Kellogg, Bartlit Beck, Munger, Susman. Williams & Connolly isn't a boutique per se, but it's often discussed in the same conversation.

Dovel & Luner (Santa Monica), Gibbs Bruns (Houston), Keker (SF), Hueston Hennigan (LA)

Consovoy McCarthy (conservative), Kaplan Hecker (liberal), Cooper & Kirk (conservative) Maybe Lehotsky Keller belongs on this list for the conservatives too.

Bondurant (Atlanta), Susman/Gibbs (Houston), Susman (Seattle), Jones Day (Ohio), Gibson Dunn (Dallas), WilmerHale (Boston), SoCal (Munger, Hueston Hennigan), SF (Keker)

The question was market or above, not "good boutiques." W&C is below market, as are Consovoy and Jones Day. I think Cooper, Bondurant, and and Cooper are too (though I'm not sure).

I might add Selendy & Gay, McKool Smith, MoloLamken, and Wilkinson Stekloff.

[Anonymous User]

I'm missing a bunch, but the ones that are nationally famous include

Kellogg, Bartlit Beck, Munger, Susman. Williams & Connolly isn't a boutique per se, but it's often discussed in the same conversation.

Many cities have elite boutiques that aren't quite as famous but similarly competitive. The people that matter know about these places. These include

Dovel & Luner (Santa Monica), Gibbs Bruns (Houston), Keker (SF), Hueston Hennigan (LA)

Then there are the more political ones

Consovoy McCarthy (conservative), Kaplan Hecker (liberal), Cooper & Kirk (conservative) Maybe Lehotsky Keller belongs on this list for the conservatives too.

Going beyond boutiques only, secondary markets tend to have 1-2 lit firms that are considered elite in that city. This is worth considering if you're from one of these markets. Sometimes these overlap with the above. These include

Bondurant (Atlanta), Susman/Gibbs (Houston), Susman (Seattle), Jones Day (Ohio), Gibson Dunn (Dallas), WilmerHale (Boston), SoCal (Munger, Hueston Hennigan), SF (Keker)

This is really helpful, thank you!!

[Anonymous User]

Seems weird to me to describe market-paying boutiques as "biglaw alternatives". They have more in common with big firms than with any other kind of employer.

Bad word choice, just want to know all the options. The biglaws are more visible and hold more on-campus events, and show up on ranking lists, etc., so I just want to make sure I know what else is out there...
Also, in general, I think in boutique firms, junior associates tend to get more exposure to substantive work earlier, just because of the firm size?

[Anonymous User]

Kellogg, Bartlit Beck, Munger, Susman. Williams & Connolly isn't a boutique per se, but it's often discussed in the same conversation.

Dovel & Luner (Santa Monica), Gibbs Bruns (Houston), Keker (SF), Hueston Hennigan (LA)

Consovoy McCarthy (conservative), Kaplan Hecker (liberal), Cooper & Kirk (conservative) Maybe Lehotsky Keller belongs on this list for the conservatives too.

Bondurant (Atlanta), Susman/Gibbs (Houston), Susman (Seattle), Jones Day (Ohio), Gibson Dunn (Dallas), WilmerHale (Boston), SoCal (Munger, Hueston Hennigan), SF (Keker)

The question was market or above, not "good boutiques." W&C is below market, as are Consovoy and Jones Day. I think Cooper, Bondurant, and and Cooper are too (though I'm not sure).

I might add Selendy & Gay, McKool Smith, MoloLamken, and Wilkinson Stekloff.

Cooper pays market. Jones Day is way above local market in the places where it’s the elite lit firm.

For other boutiques generally (not necessarily above-market), Texas has a ton more, listed on Vault, plus Gibson Dallas, which is pretty much a boutique.

[Anonymous User]

I would note a difference between edging out market (which many boutiques and some biglaw firms do) and truly shattering the market. To my knowledge, the only firms of appreciable size that consistently pay significantly more than market are Wachtell, Susman, and Kellogg. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have any Bartlit Beck Info? For such a popular boutique seems so secretive

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have any Bartlit Beck Info? For such a popular boutique seems so secretive

[Anonymous User]

HH did not pay above-market bonuses to most associates this year and not clear they will going forward either.

[Anonymous User]

HH did not pay above-market bonuses to most associates this year and not clear they will going forward either.

I don't think it should be a surprise that boutiques are only meeting or barely exceeding market in many cases. The above-market lit boutique norm is a product of the early 2010s when biglaw pay was flat, corporate was slow, and many high profile players were able to get big contingency fees (including on E.D. Tex. patent work that's way less lucrative now). It's harder to stay ahead of pay hikes driven by corporate work that boutiques aren't seeing, especially for the newer generation of players like Wilkinson that do substantially more defense-side work. That's not to say that going to a boutique is a bad move - it's arguably better experience for the same pay - though you could argue that that might improve too at a slammed V10 practice relative to before. But it probably doesn't make sense to go to a boutique for pecuniary reasons outside maybe Susman or WLRK.

[Anonymous User]

Seems weird to me to describe market-paying boutiques as "biglaw alternatives". They have more in common with big firms than with any other kind of employer.

I think in general you could get more substantive work early on, just because the firm size is smaller?

[Anonymous User]

HH did not pay above-market bonuses to most associates this year and not clear they will going forward either.

I don't think it should be a surprise that boutiques are only meeting or barely exceeding market in many cases. The above-market lit boutique norm is a product of the early 2010s when biglaw pay was flat, corporate was slow, and many high profile players were able to get big contingency fees (including on E.D. Tex. patent work that's way less lucrative now). It's harder to stay ahead of pay hikes driven by corporate work that boutiques aren't seeing, especially for the newer generation of players like Wilkinson that do substantially more defense-side work. That's not to say that going to a boutique is a bad move - it's arguably better experience for the same pay - though you could argue that that might improve too at a slammed V10 practice relative to before. But it probably doesn't make sense to go to a boutique for pecuniary reasons outside maybe Susman or WLRK.

I'd add Kellogg, especially after its most recent bonus round. Another pecuniary interest is that boutiques offer better partnership chances. PPP isn't V10 high, but it's still high.

[Anonymous User]

Desmarais?

Desmarais pays just above the NYC market these days. They definitely no longer pay 20k above market for base salary and likely never will again. Apparently, bonuses are also dependent on performance. Some get below market bonuses but most get market plus 15-20% or something like that.

[Anonymous User]

Lehotsky Keller pays market for all-in comp. Boutiques can and do pay in ways that biglaw doesn’t—e.g., 401k matches, profit-sharing, covering full cost of health insurance rather than just subsidizing it, generous stipends for tech and home office, etc.