Hocus-Pocus! Biglaw Firm Casts Spell And Makes Higher Salaries Magically Appear
Another UK-based firm joins Biglaw's cash grab for associates. Congratulations!
Abracadabra! We know this firm is trying to escape its Magic Circle designation, but the money ring that is the Biglaw raise race is the only magic circle its associates care about right now. Freshfields just announced a salary increase on top of bonuses for its U.S. associates, and they’re delighted.
We’ve now confirmed that Freshfields — a firm that brought in $2,276,264,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it at No. 17 in the most recent Global 200 — has chosen to use the Cravath scale for its compensation increases, meaning these are the salaries associates at the firm will see in January 2024:
- Class of 2023 – $225,000
- Class of 2022 – $235,000
- Class of 2021 – $260,000
- Class of 2020 – $310,000
- Class of 2019 – $365,000
- Class of 2018 – $390,000
- Class of 2017 – $420,000
- Class of 2016+ – $435,000
Freshfields is also matching the Cravath bonus scale, and their year-end bonuses will be paid on December 29, 2023:
- Class of 2023 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
- Class of 2022 – $20,000
- Class of 2021 – $30,000
- Class of 2020 – $57,500
- Class of 2019 – $75,000
- Class of 2018 – $90,000
- Class of 2017 – $105,000
- Class of 2016+ – $115,000
Congratulations to everyone at Freshfields!
Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of compensation updates, so when your firm announces or matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus/Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.
And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for your help!
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
