Biglaw Firm’s Raises Met With Skepticism From Associates

// We’re halfway through February already, but that doesn’t mean Biglaw is done giving out raises. Just today, Perkins Coie, a firm that made $1,163,764,000 in gross revenue in 2022, making it #42 on the Am Law 100, announced its own set of associate raises.

Here’s the new compensation scale at the firm:

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That sure *looks* a lot like the market compensation scale that debuted in late 2023 — and it’s even retroactive to January 1. But there’s a catch. Junior associates, classes 1-3, will get the raises, no questions asked. However, midlevel and senior associates must have met the hours requirement from the previous year (1950 hours) to get the raises. If an associate who misses the raise cut off hits 2000 hours this year (the hours expectation for 2024), they’ll receive a bonus equal to the raise amount to be made whole.

According to insiders at the firm, folks are not pleased with the terms and conditions placed on the firm’s largesse. That’s because there are apparently plenty of associates who didn’t hit their hours — not because they didn’t want to, but because there’s not enough work to go around in many offices. As a tipster said, “this policy is basically asking them to leave if their practice group doesn’t have enough work for them.”

You can read the firm’s full memo on the next page.

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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].

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2023 Associate Salary Increase, Biglaw, Bonus News Alerts, Bonuses, Money, Perkins Coie