Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing informed its associates that the Houston litigation boutique firm is increasing their annual base compensation by $10,000.
First-year associates at AZA will now earn $235,000 a year, up from the corporate law industry standard of $225,000. Second-year associates will also see their annual salaries jump $10,000.
“We have had a couple of our first-year associates play active roles in large civil trials within the first few months of them starting their jobs, and I don’t mean just taking depositions — they are doing witness examinations and opening statements,” AZA Hiring Partner Monica Uddin told The Texas Lawbook in an interview Monday.
“Our young lawyers aren’t stuck making other people’s outlines. They’re out trying cases, and we’ll pay them more for it,” she said. “The whole ideology of this firm is to train the next generation of trial lawyers.”
Uddin said the firm hired four new first-year associates who are starting in the next month and has 65 total lawyers.