Where Associate Salaries Soar, Signing Bonuses Fall, New Report Finds
Fatter associate salaries have meant for slimmer hiring bonuses, especially in certain markets, according to a recruiter's analysis.
November 07, 2018 at 04:24 PM
3 minute read
While associates at big law firms might be riding high on their recent salary increases, a new report finds that their prospects for signing bonuses might be a little bleaker.
The report by legal support services provider Special Counsel found that signing bonuses for its law firm associate clients have declined since 2017. The data collected comes from 84 of the 617 placements made by Special Counsel who reported receiving a signing bonus through October of this year. Of those 84 placements, 37 associates were placed within Am Law 200 firms and 32 attorneys were placed within non-Am Law firms.
In 2017, the average signing bonus was $27,000 for associates, with the highest at $90,000. But in 2018, that number dipped to $17,000, with $60,000 being the highest signing bonus paid out this year, the data found.
This decline was most likely due to the associate salary increases that took place this summer, the report suggested.
“It's not overall that surprising, since most of the larger firms raised salaries for the second time this year,” said Amanda Ellis, senior vice president at Special Counsel who leads its legal staffing and attorney search division, Parker + Lynch Legal.
In June, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy announced that it would raise starting associate pay to $190,000, and fourth-through-eighth-year associates would receive $15,000 raises. Cravath, Swaine & Moore quickly upped the ante, going $5,000 and $10,000 beyond the Milbank scale for its midlevel and senior associates. A wave of increases at other firms followed.
But as Special Counsel looked firm by firm and placement by placement, a clear trend emerged.
“One thing that stood out was that several of the firms that did not match the Cravath-Milbank scale are the ones who are offering the higher end of the signing bonus,” Ellis said. “They're the ones offering that $40,000 to $60,000 range versus the firms that are paying Cravath-Milbank scale.”
This is a trend that other legal recruiters are also taking note of.
“Some firms I advise are thinking about relying more on bonuses and less on salary increases in the leadup to a potential economic downturn, and due to the associate salary bubble that has developed,” said Kent Zimmerman, a law firm management consultant at the Zeughauser Group.
The data compiled by Special Counsel also showed how signing bonuses depended on the legal market where associates were placed. On average, candidates placed in Boston, Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago and Cleveland were likely to be offered a higher signing bonus than in other markets, Ellis said. However, Special Counsel did not breakdown the average signing bonuses for junior, midlevel and senior associates.
The data collected for the report will be available in Special Counsel's January 2019 salary guide.
READ MORE:
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSimpson Thacher Launches in Luxembourg With Hires From A&O Shearman, Clifford Chance
3 minute readA&O Shearman's Former U.S. Co-Chair to Leave Partnership
Trending Stories
- 1Friday Newspaper
- 2Judge Denies Sean Combs Third Bail Bid, Citing Community Safety
- 3Republican FTC Commissioner: 'The Time for Rulemaking by the Biden-Harris FTC Is Over'
- 4NY Appellate Panel Cites Student's Disciplinary History While Sending Negligence Claim Against School District to Trial
- 5A Meta DIG and Its Nvidia Implications
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250