Davis Polk Joins The Biglaw Associate Salary & Bonus Wars
Big money for Biglaw associates. Exciting news for all!
One by one by one, Biglaw firms at the top of the Am Law 100 ranking are lining up to shower their associates with cash in the form of higher salaries and year-end bonuses, all thanks to Cravath’s new compensation scales.
The latest firm to offer associates raises is one that once led the pack when it came to bonuses, but now it’s just as happy to follow along as all the rest.
We’ve now confirmed that Davis Polk — a firm that brought in $1,849,000,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it at No. 20 in the most recent Am Law 100 — has chosen to use the Cravath scale for its compensation increases, meaning these are the salaries associates at the firm will see come 2024:
- Class of 2023 – $225,000
- Class of 2022 – $235,000
- Class of 2021 – $260,000
- Class of 2020 – $310,000
- Class of 2019 – $365,000
- Class of 2018 – $390,000
- Class of 2017 – $420,000
- Class of 2016+ – $435,000
DPW is also matching the Cravath bonus scale, and this is what year-end bonuses will look like at the firm, paid on December 29:
- Class of 2023 – $15,000
- Class of 2022 – $20,000
- Class of 2021 – $30,000
- Class of 2020 – $57,500
- Class of 2019 – $75,000
- Class of 2018 – $90,000
- Class of 2017 – $105,000
- Class of 2016+ – $115,000
Congratulations to everyone at Davis Polk!
(Flip to the next page to read the firm’s memo.)
Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of compensation updates, so when your firm announces or matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus/Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.
And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for your help!
Davis Polk, Wachtell, Sidley, Skadden Line Up to Match Cravath Salary Scale [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
