Associate Salaries On The Rise?
For the last week or two, many of the big New York City law firms have been raising associate salaries -- a $15k bump for young associates and a $20k bump for more senior ones -- raising starting salaries to $160,000 for first year associates. It has not hit Chicago directly yet, but the Tribune ran a front page article on it Sunday, Raising The Bar For Legal Salaries. Several large Chicago firms asked to comment for the story all said "they were still discussing the issue and had not made a decision on whether to raise salaries."
If you want more information on the raises, check out the excellent coverage at Above The Law (an entertaining site by former AUSA and creator of Underneath Their Robes David Lat) and The WSJ Blog.
