Biglaw Firm Kicks Off Holiday Weekend With Raises For Associates
Exciting news, but is this a full Cravath match?
The Biglaw raise race began way back in January, and almost six months later, some firms are first making their own salary announcements. It might have taken a while longer for this firm to get with the program but at least they know how to start a holiday weekend off on the right foot.
Yesterday afternoon, BakerHostetler — a firm that was ranked at No. 59 in the Am Law 100, after bringing in $836,048,000 gross revenue in 2021 — informed associates that starting salaries would be increased across all markets, effective July 1 on a go-forward basis. Here’s an excerpt from the memo that was sent by firm chairman Paul M. Schmidt (available in full on the next page):
Annual starting salaries in our major markets will increase to $215,000 consistent with the associate starting salaries adopted recently by many Am Law 100 firms and our peer firms. Associate starting salaries in our other markets will increase to $200,000. Further information about these and other salary adjustments will be sent by your Office Managing Partner or Partner-In-Charge in the coming days.
We’ll note here that BakerHostetler is one of the only Biglaw firms that hasn’t provided a full lockstep salary table for associates in its announcement. For the time being, we’ll have to assume that all other class years at the firm will be receiving commensurate raises, but cannot yet affirmatively state that this is a full Cravath match.
Will salaries at the firm go up to $415,000 in its major market offices? Hopefully associates will find out soon. Congratulations, and just remember: any raise is better than no raise!
(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from BakerHostetler.)
Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of this stuff. So when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches Cravath”). 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.
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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 or connect with her on LinkedIn.
