Is lockstep associate pay falling out of favor?
More BigLaw firms are paying their associates different salaries depending on their performance and location, while others are offering customized bonuses, sign-on incentives and forgivable loans to attract top junior lawyers. (Illustration by Sara Wadford/ABA Journal)
More BigLaw firms are paying their associates different salaries depending on their performance and location, while others are offering customized bonuses, sign-on incentives and forgivable loans to attract top junior lawyers.
At least 54 Am Law 200 law firms reported a range of salaries for their first-year associates in 2025, in a move away from the lockstep pay model, according to a story from Law.com. Seventeen of those firms are in the Am Law 100.
Drilling down into the compensation data, Law.com shows that the average minimum pay for a first-year associate in the Am Law 200 last year was $193,004, and the average maximum pay was $207,213. In the Am Law 100, the average minimum pay was $210,535, and the average maximum pay was $220,840. (This was before Milbank announced that it was raising associate salaries, Law.com notes.)
Taft Stettinius & Hollister, as one example, offered between $175,000 and $215,000 to first-year associates last year, Law.com reports. A representative from Taft told Law.com that the firm “conducts extensive competitive analysis to draw top talent” to offices in each of its markets.
According to Law.com, which also spoke with associate recruiters for its story, most Am Law 50 firms are likely to maintain their lockstep associate pay model.
“It’s a very well-worn model, and I don’t see that changing,” Kate Reder Sheikh, a partner at legal consulting company Major, Lindsey & Africa, told Law.com. “I don’t think that an Am Law 20 firm is going to suddenly decide to pay their Colorado associates less than their San Francisco associates or anything like that.”
Among other adjustments to compensation schemes, legal recruiters have seen the return of signing bonuses for associates, particularly in the last six months, Law.com reports.
“This really is supply and demand,” Stephanie Biderman, a partner in the associate practice of Major, Lindsey & Africa, told Law.com. “If the demand is there, then we’re going to continue seeing the signing bonuses. And then when the market cools off and associates have fewer options, firms won’t have to offer the signing bonuses.”
Firms are also seeking to increase retention by offering associates performance bonuses and forgivable loans, Law.com reports.
See also:
BigLaw’s lockstep compensation is declining in order to keep and attract talent
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