{"id":165170,"date":"2026-10-16T10:54:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/16\/show-them-the-money-top-biglaw-firm-raises-salaries-for-associates\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T10:54:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T18:54:55","slug":"show-them-the-money-top-biglaw-firm-raises-salaries-for-associates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/10\/16\/show-them-the-money-top-biglaw-firm-raises-salaries-for-associates\/","title":{"rendered":"Show Them The Money: Top Biglaw Firm Raises Salaries For Associates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could it be? Are Biglaw firms finally coming around and making Milbank matches without Cravath\u2019s permission? It sure looks like it!<\/p>\n

The latest firm to hop aboard the Milbank money train is Cooley, which announced today that come January 1, 2027, all associates on the US compensation scale will be paid at the new market rate that was set back in June<\/a>. \u201cWe believe our people are our greatest assets, and investing in exceptional talent remains a top priority,\u201d Rachel Proffitt, the firm\u2019s chief executive officer, noted in the firm\u2019s compensation memo. Here\u2019s what the new salary scale looks like at Cooley:<\/p>\n

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On top of these raises, Cooley announced that it will be \u201cawarding special bonuses for 2026 to eligible associates and special counsel before year-end or early 2027.\u201d We assume that this is likely a match of Milbank\u2019s summer special bonuses<\/a>, which ranged from $6,000 to $25,000.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Cooley associates on the forthcoming raises and special bonuses! Good news like this is always better late than never.<\/p>\n

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Cooley.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a>) or\u00a0email us<\/a>\u00a0(subject line: \u201c[Firm Name] Raise\/Matches\u201d). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don\u2019t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019d like to sign up for ATL\u2019s 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\u2019t need to do anything. You\u2019ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for your help!<\/p>\n

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Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is 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\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The post Show Them The Money: Top Biglaw Firm Raises Salaries For Associates<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Could it be? Are Biglaw firms finally coming around and making Milbank matches without Cravath\u2019s permission? It sure looks like it!<\/p>\n

The latest firm to hop aboard the Milbank money train is Cooley, which announced today that come January 1, 2027, all associates on the US compensation scale will be paid at the new market rate that was set back in June<\/a>. \u201cWe believe our people are our greatest assets, and investing in exceptional talent remains a top priority,\u201d Rachel Proffitt, the firm\u2019s chief executive officer, noted in the firm\u2019s compensation memo. Here\u2019s what the new salary scale looks like at Cooley:<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On top of these raises, Cooley announced that it will be \u201cawarding special bonuses for 2026 to eligible associates and special counsel before year-end or early 2027.\u201d We assume that this is likely a match of Milbank\u2019s summer special bonuses<\/a>, which ranged from $6,000 to $25,000.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Cooley associates on the forthcoming raises and special bonuses! Good news like this is always better late than never.<\/p>\n

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Cooley.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/a>) or\u00a0email us<\/a>\u00a0(subject line: \u201c[Firm Name] Raise\/Matches\u201d). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don\u2019t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019d like to sign up for ATL\u2019s 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\u2019t need to do anything. You\u2019ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for your help!<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is 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\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

1<\/strong> 2<\/a>Next \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could it be? Are Biglaw firms finally coming around and making Milbank matches without Cravath\u2019s permission? It sure looks like it! The latest firm to hop aboard the Milbank money train is Cooley, which announced today that come January 1, 2027, all associates on the US compensation scale will be paid at the new market […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":165153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165170","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=165170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}