Cravath Sees Milbank’s Raise to $190K for First-Years and Adds $340K for Senior Associates

Cravath Swaine & Moore, which broke the nine-year stalemate on associate salaries two years ago, is now part of the latest effort to push starting salaries upward.

The firm, in a memo, said it would add up to $10,000 to the associates salary scale that, at some major firms anyway, now starts at $190,000 for lawyers newly graduated from law school. Milbank,Tweed, Hadley & McCloy unexpectedly started the ball rolling last week when it hiked salaries from $180,000 where they had been since 2016.

Cravath’s action makes it more likely that other firms will follow suit and make firms who ...