Elite Firm Announces Associate Salary Increases On Top Of Year-End Bonuses
Baker McKenzie, one of the world's leading law firms, is spreading the wealth to its associates through salary bumps and bonuses.
Biglaw firms are quickly rushing to match the new market compensation and bonuses set by Cravath yesterday afternoon. Which firm will be the next to step up to the plate to increase its associates’ salaries?
That would be Baker McKenzie, a firm that’s twice now (in 2020 and 2022) been the first firm to announce bonuses ahead of Cravath. The leading law firm — which brought in $3,300,189,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it in 4th place the most recent Am Law 100 — has chosen to use the Cravath scale for its compensation increases, meaning these are the salaries associates at the firm will see, as of February 9, retroactive to January 1:
- Class of 2024 – $225,000
- 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
Baker McKenzie is also matching the Cravath bonus scale, and this is what year-end bonuses will look like at the firm for eligible associates, to be paid on February 9:
- 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
The firm will also be offering a “premium bonus” for those who have “materially exceeded” their billables for the year. Congratulations to everyone at Baker McKenzie!
(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from the firm.)
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.
