Government Disclosures Shed Light on Big Law Salaries

Law firm partnerships fiercely guard against disclosing what they pay their principals. But when partners go into the government, federal financial disclosures help reveal some of the best kept secrets in the legal industry.

Law firms are private entities, allowing them to keep compensation figures under wraps. Firms are sensitive to revealing salaries and other compensation figures largely due to privacy concerns, but they also don’t want to be seen as gouging clients.

“There’s a feeling in firms that we don’t want to rub our clients’ noses in the fact that some lawyers make more than decision makers at some ...