Chicago Big Firm Salaries Are Rising

Posted on February 7, 2007 by R. David Donoghue

Yesterday the Tribune ran another article on big firm associate salaries -- .Biggest Chicago Firms Boosting 1st-Year Pay.  This story only made page 3 of the Business section, not the front page like the last article.  But unlike the last Trib article which only predicted that firms were considering responses to the New York raises, this one reported that Sidley and Mayer, Brown have both raised first-year salaries from $135,000 to $145,000.  The article also predicts that other large Chicago firms will be following suit. 

The Blog is not going to get side-tracked reporting on which firms do and do not raise, so if you are looking for more updated information check out other sources such as Above The Law and the WSJ Law Blog, which does not cover the salaries obsessively but has done several posts on this round of salary raises.

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Associate Salaries On The Rise?

Posted on January 29, 2007 by R. David Donoghue

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.

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