News Flash: Big Firm Associates Are Overpaid, Undersatisfied

What a surprise -- Big Firm associates get paid a lot and are still unhappy:

Start with the lack of knowledge that law students have about firms. Students can’t easily differentiate between prospective employers, so they rely too much on pay as an indicator of prestige. Competitive and clueless, students are “the most uneducated consumers of law firm life and what it really means to practice,” says a Simpson Thacher & Bartlett mid-level. (Like the other associates quoted in this story, this mid-level declined to be identified.)

Traditional recruiting practices, which usually involve only brief interviews with partners, do little to fill in the blanks.”

“When you interview with folks, almost everyone seems nice,” says an associate at Drinker Biddle & Reath, number 87 on the survey question measuring satisfaction with compensation. “You try to read stuff on vault.com, research the firms, but ultimately that doesn’t tell you a whole lot.” In this vacuum, quantifiable things, such as the size of bonuses, become an easy means for assessing a firm.

Add to that equation the frustrations and uncertainties of firm life. By the time law students become mid-levels, the work is often unfulfilling, the hours are long, and the firms still seem fungible. Bonuses or small differences in salary take on an outsize psychological importance, even if those differences represent a miniscule portion of overall earnings. “A lot of people have the feeling that firms offer comparable experiences, so if Akin hadn’t moved to the $160,000 pay scale, then people would just leave,” says a mid-level at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Slim prospects for equity partnership amplify the importance of compensation. “We’re like pro athletes,” says a Jenner & Block mid-level. “Only a few will make equity partner, and [most] will have a limited amount of time at a big firm.”

In that scenario, the growing paycheck becomes a substitute for an enduring career with a single firm.

It’s also become a stand-in for other, nontangible benefits, such as client contact or career development. Because partners are “working at the speed of light to feed the profitability of the firm,” says legal consultant Carolyn Wehmann, they are too busy to pay attention to associates. “So [partners] grit their teeth and pay them more,” she says.

Besides, improvements in associate training, development and mentoring are difficult to achieve. “It’s easier to give an across-the-board raise than [implement] some sort of positive management change,” Wehmann says. Mid-levels see that, too. “Don’t just throw money at us,” says a survey respondent from Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, which ranked 101st on satisfaction with compensation. “Train us, mentor us, help us become excellent attorneys.”

There'a a lot of truth to this. Partners are fighting for origination credit, billable hours, and collections. Associates are stuck doing grunt work often because opportunities for meaningful court time are slim and partners are eager to impress their clients. Rationalizations abound at every level to explain the status quo. What's left to fill the hurt inside but money? And when money doesn't satisfy then what?