BigLaw Salaries: "A Fundamental Reset"

A growing number of managing partners and management consultants say recent cuts to associate compensation aren't a temporary phenomenon. And a few see an even more significant correction to entry-level lawyer salaries coming in the year ahead. James Cotterman, a consultant at Altman Weil, is one of the pessimists (or realists, depending on your point of view). "We do not see any movement to reinstate the pre-recession pay levels" in the medium term, Cotterman says. Since February 2009, at least 19 Am Law 200 firms have rolled back entry-level pay. Most have trimmed between $15,000 and $30,000 from first-year associate salaries that had reached $160,000 in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., beginning in 2007. The pace of change appears to have picked up in recent months, with some global firms announcing far-reaching changes. Reed Smith cut incoming first-year s…