Milbank, McDermott Raise Associate Salaries Up to $455,000 (1)

Milbank LLP is raising salaries for its associates, a move quickly followed by McDermott Will & Schulte.

Milbank upped its associate salaries by $10,000 to $20,000, depending on seniority, the Manhattan-founded law firm announced on Tuesday. The firm’s associate pay scale will now range from $235,000 to $455,000.

McDermott was the first to say it would match Milbank’s new scale, a move likely to be followed by several other firms. Milbank, known as Big Law’s first mover when it comes to associate salaries, kicked off the modern associate salary races in 2016 and boosted pay several times over the following years.

Most of the country’s 100 largest law firm’s posted financial gains in 2025, said Summer Eberhard, a California-based legal recruiter at Lateral Link.

The industry has stabilized from the ups and downs of the last five years, she said. “We are kind of back into growth mode—cautiously,” Eberhard said.

“Unlike in 2024, where there was a little bit of hesitation and it kind of took a longer time for some firms to increase salaries, I think we’re going to see a lot more firms matching faster,” Eberhard said.

Milbank rolled out summer bonuses in August 2025, with extra associate pay ranging from $6,000 to $25,000. “It’s interesting that Milbank came out with the raise instead of the bonus,” this year, said Stephanie Biderman, an associate recruiter for Major Lindsey & Africa.

“Maybe we still will, who knows?” she said of the potential for seeing separate bonuses. “When you look at the profitability of some of these very large firms, on top of the fact that things have been quite busy this year—and associates in particular are quite busy—and it’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen [raises], so I guess it’s not super surprising,” Biderman said.

Still, the salary bump is a welcomed development for associates, Eberhard and Biderman agreed.

“This is about a long-term investment in the associates and so I think it is actually more indicative of a positive outlook for firms versus a one-time special bonus,” Eberhard said.