{"id":154369,"date":"2026-06-11T15:22:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/11\/milbanks-power-move-on-raises-may-show-us-biglaws-haves-and-have-nots\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:22:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T23:22:34","slug":"milbanks-power-move-on-raises-may-show-us-biglaws-haves-and-have-nots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/11\/milbanks-power-move-on-raises-may-show-us-biglaws-haves-and-have-nots\/","title":{"rendered":"Milbank\u2019s \u2018Power Move\u2019 On Raises May Show Us Biglaw\u2019s Haves And Have-Nots"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><u>Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/tag\/quote-of-the-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>It\u2019s a little bit of a power move. The top 25 law firms are making more money than ever, and they\u2019re absolutely outpacing the next 25 and then the next 25\u2014it\u2019s not even close.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong><em>\u2014\u00a0\u00a0Sean Burke, founder of legal recruiter Whistler Partners, in comments given to <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/business-and-practice\/law-firm-salaries-climb-despite-ai-promise-of-lower-costs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bloomberg Law<\/a>, on Milbank\u2019s decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/alert-milbank-does-it-again-associate-salaries-are-going-up\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">raise associate salaries<\/a> to a scale ranging from $235,000 to $455,000. While the biggest and most profitable firms have traditionally moved in lockstep when it comes to associate compensation, this year\u2019s salary wars may be highlighting an increasingly stark divide between the industry\u2019s top tier and everyone else. Several firms have <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/associate-compensation-scorecard-the-2026-summer-of-salary-increases\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">already matched Milbank<\/a>, but many others are still weighing whether they can afford to keep pace.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Staci-Zaretsky.jpg?resize=150%2C100&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66762\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/author\/staci-zaretsky\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to <a href=\"mailto:staci@abovethelaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/stacizaretsky.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Bluesky<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stacizaretsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">X\/Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@stacizaretsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/staci-zaretsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/milbanks-power-move-on-raises-may-show-us-biglaws-haves-and-have-nots\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Milbank\u2019s \u2018Power Move\u2019 On Raises May Show Us Biglaw\u2019s Haves And Have-Nots<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-single__featured-image post-single__featured-image--medium alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/money-muscle-GettyImages-78491073-300x200.jpg?resize=300%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p><em><u>Ed. note<\/u>: Welcome to our daily feature,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/tag\/quote-of-the-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Quote of the Day<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>It\u2019s a little bit of a power move. The top 25 law firms are making more money than ever, and they\u2019re absolutely outpacing the next 25 and then the next 25\u2014it\u2019s not even close.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong><em>\u2014\u00a0\u00a0Sean Burke, founder of legal recruiter Whistler Partners, in comments given to <a href=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/business-and-practice\/law-firm-salaries-climb-despite-ai-promise-of-lower-costs\" id=\"https:\/\/news.bloomberglaw.com\/business-and-practice\/law-firm-salaries-climb-despite-ai-promise-of-lower-costs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bloomberg Law<\/a>, on Milbank\u2019s decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/alert-milbank-does-it-again-associate-salaries-are-going-up\/\" id=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/alert-milbank-does-it-again-associate-salaries-are-going-up\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">raise associate salaries<\/a> to a scale ranging from $235,000 to $455,000. While the biggest and most profitable firms have traditionally moved in lockstep when it comes to associate compensation, this year\u2019s salary wars may be highlighting an increasingly stark divide between the industry\u2019s top tier and everyone else. Several firms have <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/associate-compensation-scorecard-the-2026-summer-of-salary-increases\/\" id=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/2026\/06\/associate-compensation-scorecard-the-2026-summer-of-salary-increases\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">already matched Milbank<\/a>, but many others are still weighing whether they can afford to keep pace.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/Staci-Zaretsky.jpg?resize=150%2C100&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66762\" title=\"\"><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/author\/staci-zaretsky\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to <a href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection#37444356545e775655584152435f525b56401954585a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/stacizaretsky.bsky.social\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Bluesky<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stacizaretsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">X\/Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@stacizaretsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/staci-zaretsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature,\u00a0Quote of the Day. It\u2019s a little bit of a power move. The top 25 law firms are making more money than ever, and they\u2019re absolutely outpacing the next 25 and then the next 25\u2014it\u2019s not even close. \u2014\u00a0\u00a0Sean Burke, founder of legal recruiter Whistler Partners, in comments given [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Staci-Zaretsky-GciHW9.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}