This week, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy announced good news for its associates: they will be getting $10,000 or $15,000 raises. Starting salaries for first-year associates at the New York-based firm will now reach $190,000, even higher than the $180,000 starting pay announced by Cravath Swaine & Moore in 2016, which set a new high bar for the industry at the time.

But that news isn't as sweet for lawyers on the other side of the table. In-house leaders have long expressed concerns over firms' growing legal fees, with many turning to alternative service providers or moving work in-house to cut costs. In the past, firms have met competitors' associate increases, a cost that, at the end of the day, gets passed on to clients. So far, Winston & Strawn, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Proskauer Rose have said they will match Milbank's new pay scale, and more firms may follow.

Corporate Counsel reached out to a number of in-house leaders following Mibank's announcement to gauge their reactions. Many opted to remain anonymous, but all displayed strong feelings about this development. Here are their responses, some of which have been lightly edited for clarity and length.