Holland & Knight Increases First-Year Associate Pay by $20K in Miami
First-year associates in the Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Mid-Atlantic, New York and California offices saw their salaries rise to $190,000.
December 19, 2018 at 05:45 PM
3 minute read
(Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)
Holland & Knight has bumped up starting salaries for associates in its South Florida offices by $20,000, pushing total salaries from $160,000 to $180,000.
The firm did not announce the 13 percent increase, which kicked in on Oct. 1, but confirmed the raise on Wednesday. First-year associates in the firm's Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Mid-Atlantic, New York and California offices got their pay bumped to $190,000. Salary levels for more senior associates were also increased in all markets.
“Associate salaries at many law firms have increased over the last few months,” Holland & Knight Managing Partner Steven Sonberg said in an email. “In response to these changes, Holland & Knight recently adjusted its compensation structure to ensure that it remains competitive and properly rewards its associates for their contribution.”
Greenberg Traurig currently pays first-year associates in Miami $165,000. Akerman, the third Florida AmLaw100 firm, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the Daily Business Review, the firm was paying associates in South Florida $140,000 in 2016—the last date for which salary figures for the firm are available.
The raise at Holland & Knight puts the firm's associate salaries on par with other Am Law 100 firms. In June, New York-based Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy announced associate salaries of $190,000. With the bar set, pay raise announcements started rolling in.
Joe Ankus of Ankus Consulting says firms regularly engage in salary brinkmanship to help with retention. Higher pay, in theory, makes a firm more attractive to better talent. But Ankus doesn't buy it.
“It became this surreal Kafkaesque bidding war for these 20-something associates that just graduated and have no experience,” said Ankus. “The fallacy about the bidding war is that there's still a tremendous amount of turnover.”
It's not uncommon, he said, to see attorneys with six years of experience with three different firms on their resume. Furthermore, the raises cut into a firm's bottom line, which means potential increases in fees for legal services.
The biggest caveat, said Ankus, is the student loan debt crisis. Students in the United State owe a combined $1.5 trillion to lenders. When faced with looming debt, the calculus changes for newly-minted attorneys.
“These kids have $300,000 worth of student loan debt and that's a problem,” Ankus said.
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