Associates at some corporate law firms in Texas will be getting large pay increases starting next month.
Houston-headquartered Vinson & Elkins announced Monday that it is boosting the annual compensation of its first-year lawyers from $190,000 to $202,500 starting July 1. Senior associates who have been at the law firm for more than seven years will make $365,000 a year.
If you add the special bonuses V&E and other corporate firms announced earlier this year and the traditional year-end bonuses they receive, senior associates will see their total compensation package climb above $500,000 in 2021.
New York-based Davis Polk & Wardwell, which has become the national trendsetter in increasing associate salaries and bonuses, announced Friday that it hiked pay for its junior attorneys to $202,500. Davis Polk’s move came less than 24 hours after another New York-headquartered corporate law firm, Milbank, disclosed it increased associate compensation to $200,000.
Several law firm leaders told The Texas Lawbook Monday that they expect their firms’ partnerships to vote to match the pay hike sometime this week.
V&E has been the market leader in setting associate compensation in Texas for a couple decades, but the energy law powerhouse has found itself in a mighty battle for talent with out of state law firms, such as Latham & Watkins, Sidley Austin and Kirkland & Ellis, during the past few years.
In addition, the firm announced May 3 that Houston corporate section leader Keith Fullenweider will replace V&E’s current leader Mark Kelly as its new chair on Jan. 1.
The Texas Lawbook 50, which tracks revenues of the top 50 corporate law practices in Texas, shows that V&E’s 424 lawyers in Texas generated $498 million in 2020. Add in the firm’s non-Texas offices and V&E topped $782 million in revenues last year, which was down 1.3% from 2019. The firm recorded profits per partner of $2.94 million in 2020, which was a 5% jump from the prior year.
Dozens of large corporate law firms, including V&E, announced in March that they would pay associates special bonuses ranging from $12,000 for first year associates to $64,000 for eighth year lawyers.
The traditional holiday bonuses for senior associates at the larger corporate law firms in Texas range from $75,000 to $125,000.
The Texas Lawbook will provide additional details as they become available.