Susman Godfrey, AZA, Reid Collins & Tsai and Smyser, Kaplan & Veselka are the latest law firms to match the associate pay hike that Davis, Polk & Wardwell set a few weeks ago.
Two of the firms, Susman Godfrey and Reid Collins, are actually exceeding the Davis Polk standard that begins at $202,500 for 2021 law school graduates and $205,000 for 2020 graduates.
Depending on seniority, the pay scale for Susman Godfrey begins at $210,000 for 2020 law school graduates and ends at $370,000 for 2013 graduates — which is $5,000 more than Davis Polk’s in each year. The firm said the salary increases are effective July 1.
Reid Collins is going even bigger, now paying its first to third-year associates $225,000. The maximum of the range, which is $325,000 for its most senior associates (fifth to seventh-years) is $50,000 more than what Davis Polk is now paying its fifth-year associates (Class of 2017) but $5,000 less than what Davis Polk is paying its seventh-year associates (Class of 2015).
SKV is matching the Davis Polk scale of $205,000 for first-year associates. The Dallas-based litigation shops McKool Smith and The Brewer Firm announced associate pay increases earlier this month.
Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing, known as AZA, said it is matching the Davis Polk model for the first four years (beginning with the 2021 class) and after that will customize salary “according to effectiveness.”
The development is the latest example of elite litigation boutiques stepping in the trenches of the BigLaw-induced associate pay war that seems to reverberate across the nation every summer. Two other boutiques based in Texas said they are still discussing internally what their decision will be.