GC and Managing Partner Weigh In on Associate Salaries

Chelsea Grayson, the general counsel of American Apparel, and Steve Taylor, managing partner of Keker & Van Nest, fielded some questions from Big Law Business about the recent pay raises that’s sweeping big law firms.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore lifted associate salaries for first-years from $160,000 to $180,000 last week, as well as junior and senior associate pay by between $20,000 and $35,000.

The news, as well as that of the 40-plus law firms that subsequently matched the raises, has prompted questions about why law firms chose this year — the first in the past nine to raise salaries — to make the leap. ...