- U.S. & Americas
- Pay & bonuses
Fenwick & West will move its associates to the $235,000 Milbank salary scale effective 1 January 2027. The change applies to lawyers in good standing on its 1,950-hour track, with individual memos due by 31 December 2026, according to Above the Law. In a separate See Also roundup, the outlet said Fenwick did not need "Cravath's permission to make money moves" and asked whether other firms would match the Milbank scale as bonus season approaches (Above the Law).
Milbank has set all six Big Law pay raises since 2016
Milbank raised first-year base pay to $235,000 and eighth-year pay to $455,000, effective 1 July 2026. The increases of $10,000 to $20,000 reopened the associate pay war, as reported by Original Jurisdiction. Milbank has now led all six associate raises since 2016, replacing Cravath as the market scale-setter. That was the backdrop to Fenwick acting without waiting for Cravath.
The scale spread quickly. More than a dozen firms adopted it within weeks, and 17 announced raises in June 2026. Many were elite litigation boutiques competing with Big Law for the same associates (Original Jurisdiction). Quinn Emanuel matched after McDermott Will & Schulte and Hueston Hennigan (The American Lawyer).
Fenwick's California tech base takes the scale beyond New York corporate
Fenwick is a California-rooted technology and life-sciences firm. Its match suggests that the Milbank scale now extends beyond New York's corporate elite to tech-focused practices (Above the Law). Consultants attribute the raises to partner profitability rather than inflation. Firms report that they are "very busy" and are passing gains to associates. Demand for associate work has not fallen (Original Jurisdiction).
With bonus season approaching, firms are deciding whether to match the Milbank scale. That may add retention pressure on peers that have not moved (Above the Law).
Nee passes on Weil chair amid partner departures and a collapsed merger
The retention pressure may weigh most on firms already losing partners. Ramona Nee, who was slated to lead Weil Gotshal in early 2027, told firm leaders she will not take the role. Her decision came amid partner departures and the collapse of merger talks with Willkie Farr & Gallagher, as reported by The American Lawyer. Nee has held discussions to join Simpson Thacher, and insiders expect a substantial part of Weil's Boston partnership to follow her (Semafor). That prompted the roundup's quip that Simpson Thacher should "consider opening a Weil wing."
Weil's corporate and M&A chair Michael Aiello left for Cravath on 11 September 2026 with six partners, including M&A co-head Matt Gilroy (Bloomberg Law). Earlier, bankruptcy leader Ray Schrock moved to Latham & Watkins in 2024, Jonathan Polkes moved to White & Case in early 2025, and Jeffrey Osterman moved to Paul Weiss (Bloomberg Law). Weil has lost nearly 30 partners this year. Nee's withdrawal has raised fears of a "run on the bank" as the firm searches for a successor to 16-year leader Barry Wolf (Bloomberg Law).
The departures are concentrated in Weil's corporate, M&A, private equity and restructuring practices, the same high-end corporate work that drives the pay competition (Bloomberg Law). Weil grew revenue at half the rate of its New York rivals between 2008 and 2025. Last year, its revenue rose under 3%, while the 50 largest firms grew more than 13% (Bloomberg Law). The firm has tried to close the gap by hiring a record 39 lateral partners in 2025 and 16 more in early 2026. Billings rose 27% and revenue rose 19% in the first four months of 2026 (Bloomberg Law).
The scale firms now adopt is Milbank's, not Cravath's. A firm must fund it while competing for the partners whose work generates the profits behind the raises.
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