Which BigLaw firms pay the highest starting salary?
Hughes Hubbard & Reed pays new associates a top salary of $235,000, which is $10,000 above the going rate at many top law firms. (Image from Shutterstock)
Hughes Hubbard & Reed pays new associates a top salary of $235,000, which is $10,000 above the going rate at many top law firms, according to a survey by the National Law Journal at Law.com.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was second, paying new associates a top salary of $230,000, according to the 2024 NLJ 500 survey, which ranks the nation’s top 500 firms based on head count. The results are summarized here.
About 50 firms paid a top first-year salary of $225,000, while about half of that number had top pay of $215,000.
At the bottom of the list is Crowley Fleck, which has 158 attorneys and offices in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming. Its top starting pay is $85,000.
This is the first year that the survey asked firms about salary. The data collected is for the 2023 calendar year.
