London Law’s Senior Associate Problem No One Wants to Talk About Fresh from Quinn Emanuel joining the fray in London, as we reported last week, the latest 5% across-the-board hike has pushed newly qualified lawyers to £189,000 from 1 July, with the scale running up to £373,000 for the most experienced associates. That puts QE […]
The deal firms have not yet decided what to tell the market in the Pay War KEY TAKEAWAY: Six firms have matched Milbank’s 2 June 2026 scale of $235K–$455K. Every one — McDermott Will & Schulte, Hueston Hennigan, Quinn Emanuel, Katten, Texas litigation boutique Vartabedian Katz Hester Haynes, and Dunn Isaacson Rhee on bonuses —
Litigation Won The First Round Of The 2026 Pay War Read More »
Hot on the heels of Milbank breaking the long freeze and kicking off the 2026 pay war stateside, London litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel has cranked up its associate pay by 5% across the board. Effective 1 July 2026, newly qualified lawyers in the firm’s City office will now take home £189,000 (up from £180k), with
Quinn Emanuel Joins the Fray: London Juniors Now Pocket £189k as the Pay Wars Heat Up Read More »
It took longer than anyone on r/biglaw thought possible, but the BigLaw salary scale has finally moved and, in news that will shock precisely nobody, Milbank is once again the firm doing the heavy lifting for everyone else’s associates. The firm has announced a new associate pay scale effective 1 July 2026, with raises ranging
Milbank Breaks The Freeze And BigLaw’s 2026 Pay War Is Back On Read More »
It is May 2026, and the BigLaw salary scale has not moved for two and a half years.
That sentence would have sounded unthinkable in 2021, when Milbank ignited a comp war that pushed first-year associates from $190,000 to $215,000 in eight weeks. Three years on, Class of 2025 first-years are starting on $225,000 — the same number Milbank put on the board in November 2023. Eighth-years are still on $435,000. Cravath confirmed in its November 18, 2025 bonus memo, in writing, that base salaries would not rise in 2026.
The lockstep is intact. The escalator has stopped.
So when does it start again, we ask – and presumably you want the answer to that so we’ve done our best to pose some on-the-button questions.
Log in and check how the salary scale looks now . . .
The Phantom Raise: Why The 2026 BigLaw Scale Hasn’t Moved — And Which Firm Breaks First Read More »
It’s April 2026, and the usual spring fever has hit r/biglaw, except this year the chatter isn’t about bonus season (that already came and went). It’s all about the next salary scale.
Log in to see the 2026 scale . . .
2026 BigLaw Salary Scale: When Is the Next Raise Dropping? r/biglaw Weighs In Read More »
BigLaw associates received a welcome end-of-year boost in late 2025 as Cravath Swaine & Moore set the pace with year-end bonuses ranging from $15,000 (prorated for first-years) to $115,000 for seniors, plus special bonuses of $6,000–$25,000. This brought total payouts to approximately $21,000 for new associates and up to $140,000 for those in the Class
2025 BigLaw Bonus Season: Market Scale Holds Strong, But Talent Wars Drive Premium Plays Read More »
In the rarefied atmosphere where partners measure success in eight-figure payouts and associates measure it in how many weekends they haven’t seen since the bar exam, one number looms above all others: profit per equity partner, or PEP.
PEP is the metric that makes managing partners beam, headhunters salivate, and mid-level associates stare at their billable hour trackers with a particular brand of existential dread.
The 2026 Am Law 100 rankings — reflecting 2025 fiscal performance — haven’t been formally published yet. But early reports are already in, and if you thought the 2025 numbers were eye-watering, with 4.6 trillion (that’s ‘illion’ with a ‘T’) brace yourself.
Kirkland & Ellis has become the first law firm in history to crack $10 billion in annual revenue, posting $10.56 billion for 2025 — up 20% year-on-year.
PEP at the Chicago colossus hit $11.1 million, also up approximately 20%. Since 2020, Kirkland’s average partner profits have risen 80%. Let that arithmetic sink in for a moment. A Kirkland equity partner today earns roughly what a senior Magic Circle partner in London earns in four years.
The PEP-Talk Numbers
Taylor Wessing’s highest-earning partner managed to haul in a whopping £200,000 a week in the latest financial year — that’s roughly the same as a Premier League striker on a good bonus season. It highlights just how ludicrous top-end pay has become in London’s legal market.
According to Law Society Gazette, the top-paid LLP member at Taylor Wessing managed to net that £200k-a-week haul as profits were dished out across the partnership. That kind of pay packet makes even the notorious Cravath scale seem almost modest.
Sure, mid-market firms can cry “but we’re all about work-life balance,” but when your top partner’s annual take amounts to north of £10m, it’s hard not to feel the sting of disparity.
Pallas Partners Outpaced Biglaw Bonus Scales Norma Harris Pallas Partners, the transatlantic litigation boutique headed by power lawyer Natasha Harrison, that’s been quietly building a reputation with elite hires on both sides of the Atlantic has just dropped a compensation grenade into Big Law’s year-end bonus melee. The firm’s associates and counsel will receive total
Pallas Partners Blows Up Cravath-Scale Bonuses in 2025 Bonus Wars Read More »
