Survey of the Largest Law Firms Hiring Contacts and First-Year Associate Salaries

The first-year associate salaries have changed slightly from 2008 to 2009. While 110 firms completed the survey, 68 reported their 2009 first-year associate salaries. Last year, 77 firms reported those salaries.

Two intellectual property firms — Leydig, Voit & Mayer and Banner & Witcoff — led the way by reporting that their 2009 first-year associate salaries were $165,000 — the same as last year. But Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell went from $165,000 in 2008 to $160,000 in 2009.

In 2009, 29 firms reported that they paid either $160,000 or $165,000. Seven firms that reported their salaries both last year and this year decreased their first-year associate salaries from 2008 to 2009. And five firms that reported those salary numbers last year and this year saw an increase from 2008 to 2009.

Many experts have talked about whether the days of first-year associate salaries increasing like a skyrocket are a thing of the past. They say a lot may depend on what the economy holds for the rest of this year and next year, and how this economic downturn has affected law firms’ overall business plans.

Of the 21 firms with 150 or more Illinois lawyers, five held back from the $160,000 mark — Hinshaw & Culbertson at $100,000, DLA Piper at $145,000, Seyfarth Shaw at $145,000, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg at $125,000, and Wildman Harrold at $145,000.

K&L Gates/Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, Chapman and Cutler, and Jones Day did not report their numbers because they were either to be determined or not available.

And Drinker Biddle & Reath has a plan to pay their first-year associates $105,000 for six months of training, and then their salaries go to the market rate.

Follow this link for the survey results.