Elite Firm Ramps Up Its Compensation, Offering Higher Salaries To Associates
Associates can really rake in the dough at this firm.
The news out of the legal sector has been nothing but doom and gloom lately, with layoffs and deferrals quickly spreading thanks to headwinds from the still suffering tech industry as corporate demand continues to falter. With plenty of bad news to go around, yet another boutique firm is taking this as an opportunity to flaunt its generous compensation scheme.
The firm we’re speaking about is Dovel & Luner, a California litigation boutique that specializes in plaintiff-side litigation on a contingency fee basis. The firm is tiny, but its salary structure sure is mighty. Check out the latest pay scale:
| Class | Annual Salary |
| 1st year | $225,000 |
| 2nd year | $235,000 |
| 3rd year | $260,000 |
| 4th year | $295,000 |
| 5th year | $345,000 |
| 6th year | $370,000 |
Not only is the firm paying its first-years above the going Biglaw market rate (as first announced last year), but now, thanks to a recent increase, its fifth- and sixth-year attorneys are being paid market money.
If you like these salaries, you should see the firm’s bonuses, which are directly tied to the firm’s success. Dovel & Luner’s bonuses typically beat Biglaw’s market scale bonuses by multiples — sometimes rising to amounts as high as $700,000. If you’re thinking about making a lateral move, this firm seems like it could be a nice place to make your new home.
Congratulations to Dovel & Luner for raising its compensation scale for fifth- and sixth-year associates. There’s nothing we love more than a firm that keeps its attorneys happy and pays well on top of that.
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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 or connect with her on LinkedIn.
