The medians make it clear this isn\u2019t one guy with an OpenAI cap table skewing the numbers. The median Silicon Valley partner reported $2.3 million. The median New York partner reported $1.24 million. (The Valley\u2019s median was already north of $2 million last time. What\u2019s new is that the average finally caught up.)<\/p>\n
Silicon Valley partners reported average client originations of $9.31 million, up from $5.55 million in 2024. That\u2019s an increase of about 68% in two years, more than $3 million ahead of New York\u2019s $5.95 million, and nearly two and a half times the survey-wide average of $3.84 million. MLA\u2019s regression analysis found that client originations alone account for roughly 62% of the variation in partner pay.<\/p>\n
Silicon Valley wasn\u2019t the only big mover. Washington, D.C., came in third at $2.21 million, a 46% jump from $1.51 million. I\u2019m sure that has nothing at all to do with every company in America needing a lawyer to explain what the federal government is doing this week. Boston went the other way, sliding from $1.80 million to $1.30 million.<\/p>\n
The rising tide also isn\u2019t lifting everyone. Across the full survey, average compensation rose 10% while the median rose only 3%. As usual, that means the gains piled up at the top. Equity partners averaged $2,173,075, while non-equity partners averaged $611,185, a gap that keeps raising the same uncomfortable question<\/a>. MLA\u2019s own read on the market is blunt:<\/p>\n For firms, it is whether they are creating more rainmakers or simply competing for the ones already made.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Right now, the rainmakers are in California, and their rates aren\u2019t coming down anytime soon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier:<\/strong> Biglaw\u2019s AI Partnership Wars Have Officially Begun<\/a> Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Biglaw\u2019s Best-Paid Partners Now Live In Silicon Valley, Sorry Manhattan<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n You probably think the top of the Biglaw pay pyramid has a Manhattan address \u2014 and historically, that\u2019s accurate, but things are changing. According to Major, Lindsey & Africa\u2019s 2026 Partner Compensation Survey, Silicon Valley partners reported average 2025 compensation of $2.57 million. That beats New York\u2019s $2.47 million and puts the Valley first among all the metro areas the recruiting firm tracks.<\/p>\n Two years ago, it went the other way. In the 2024 survey<\/a>, New York partners averaged $2.33 million and Silicon Valley partners $2.24 million. Since then, Valley partner pay is up about 15%. New York managed roughly 6%, which is less than the 10% bump in average comp across the entire Am Law 200 sample.<\/p>\n The medians make it clear this isn\u2019t one guy with an OpenAI cap table skewing the numbers. The median Silicon Valley partner reported $2.3 million. The median New York partner reported $1.24 million. (The Valley\u2019s median was already north of $2 million last time. What\u2019s new is that the average finally caught up.)<\/p>\n Silicon Valley partners reported average client originations of $9.31 million, up from $5.55 million in 2024. That\u2019s an increase of about 68% in two years, more than $3 million ahead of New York\u2019s $5.95 million, and nearly two and a half times the survey-wide average of $3.84 million. MLA\u2019s regression analysis found that client originations alone account for roughly 62% of the variation in partner pay.<\/p>\n Silicon Valley wasn\u2019t the only big mover. Washington, D.C., came in third at $2.21 million, a 46% jump from $1.51 million. I\u2019m sure that has nothing at all to do with every company in America needing a lawyer to explain what the federal government is doing this week. Boston went the other way, sliding from $1.80 million to $1.30 million.<\/p>\n The rising tide also isn\u2019t lifting everyone. Across the full survey, average compensation rose 10% while the median rose only 3%. As usual, that means the gains piled up at the top. Equity partners averaged $2,173,075, while non-equity partners averaged $611,185, a gap that keeps raising the same uncomfortable question<\/a>. MLA\u2019s own read on the market is blunt:<\/p>\n For firms, it is whether they are creating more rainmakers or simply competing for the ones already made.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Right now, the rainmakers are in California, and their rates aren\u2019t coming down anytime soon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier:<\/strong> Biglaw\u2019s AI Partnership Wars Have Officially Begun<\/a> You probably think the top of the Biglaw pay pyramid has a Manhattan address \u2014 and historically, that\u2019s accurate, but things are changing. According to Major, Lindsey & Africa\u2019s 2026 Partner Compensation Survey, Silicon Valley partners reported average 2025 compensation of $2.57 million. That beats New York\u2019s $2.47 million and puts the Valley first among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":166866,"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-166877","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\/166877","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=166877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
This Biglaw Leader Thinks AI May Trigger Layoffs, But Not At His Firm<\/a>
Meet The $4,000\/Hr Biglaw Partners<\/a>
Biglaw Partners Are Making Bank, Very Satisfied With Their Pay<\/a>
Are Nonequity Partners Getting A Bum Deal On Compensation?<\/a>
Partners Making More Money Than Ever, But Gender Diversity Gaps Stubbornly Remain<\/a><\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2021\/06\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/05\/money-bloom-spring-GettyImages-1330697472-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/figure>\n\n
This Biglaw Leader Thinks AI May Trigger Layoffs, But Not At His Firm<\/a>
Meet The $4,000\/Hr Biglaw Partners<\/a>
Biglaw Partners Are Making Bank, Very Satisfied With Their Pay<\/a>
Are Nonequity Partners Getting A Bum Deal On Compensation?<\/a>
Partners Making More Money Than Ever, But Gender Diversity Gaps Stubbornly Remain<\/a><\/p>\n
\nKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"