BigLaw Salary Scale 2026: First-Year Associates at $245,000, the Full Ladder, Bonus Thresholds and Who Matches
The scale moved again this year, as it has in every strong year since 2016. What has changed is who gets hired to earn it.
Key points
- The 2026 scale runs from $245,000 for first-years to $475,000 for eighth-years, a $20,000 increase at every level over the 2024–25 scale.
- Year-end bonuses for 2025 ran from $25,000 to $135,000, with most firms requiring 1,900 to 2,000 billable hours for the full amount.
- Roughly a hundred firms match in their major offices; first-year class sizes at many of them are smaller than in 2022, and the scale now covers fewer people.
NEW YORK — Milbank raised associate base salaries by $20,000 at every level in January, and within three weeks the rest of the market had followed, as it has after every increase for a decade. First-year associates at the hundred or so firms on the scale now earn $245,000 before bonus; eighth-years earn $475,000. The number is the easy part of the story. The harder part, told by hiring partners and law school career offices, is that the scale is being paid to smaller classes, that the bonus thresholds behind it are enforced more strictly than they were, and that the work first-years were hired to do is changing faster than the pay that rewards it.
"The scale has never been about what a first-year is worth. It is about what the firm across the street is paying," a hiring partner at a New York firm told The Counsel.
The 2026 scale
| Class year | Seniority | 2026 base | 2024–25 base | 2025 year-end bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | First-year | $245,000 | $225,000 | $25,000 |
| 2024 | Second-year | $255,000 | $235,000 | $30,000 |
| 2023 | Third-year | $280,000 | $260,000 | $57,500 |
| 2022 | Fourth-year | $330,000 | $310,000 | $75,000 |
| 2021 | Fifth-year | $385,000 | $365,000 | $90,000 |
| 2020 | Sixth-year | $410,000 | $390,000 | $105,000 |
| 2019 | Seventh-year | $440,000 | $420,000 | $120,000 |
| 2018 and earlier | Eighth-year+ | $475,000 | $435,000 | $135,000 |
Summer associates are paid the first-year rate pro rated by week — about $4,700 a week in 2026. Clerkship bonuses for incoming associates who completed a federal clerkship range from $50,000 for one year to $150,000 for two at the top of the market, with some firms paying more for Supreme Court clerks.
How the scale moves
The ladder is lockstep: every associate in a class year at a matching firm earns the same base, regardless of practice group, office or hours. It moves when one firm raises and the others follow — Cravath for most of its history, Milbank for the increases since 2018. Firms match because the scale is public and because failing to match costs them recruits; they match quickly because a week of silence reads as weakness. The last three increases came in strong years for transactional and litigation revenue; the scale did not move in 2023, when deal work slowed. Partners' profits have grown faster than the scale over the same decade, which is the usual answer to the question of whether firms can afford it.
Bonuses and the hours behind them
- The threshold. Most firms pay the full year-end bonus only to associates who bill 1,900 or 2,000 hours, counting a capped number of pro bono, recruiting and training hours. Several firms raised their thresholds or tightened the credit rules in 2025.
- Below it. Prorated bonuses at some firms; nothing at others. The scale's public figures assume the threshold is met.
- Above it. A minority of firms pay above-scale bonuses at 2,200 or 2,400 hours; a few pay special bonuses in strong years.
- Timing. Bonuses are announced in late November or December and paid in January, which is also when associates leave.
Who matches, and where
| Market | Base for first-years | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New York, Washington, California, Chicago, Boston | $245,000 | Full scale at the hundred largest firms and elite boutiques |
| Texas (Houston, Dallas, Austin) | $245,000 | Full scale since the 2021–22 competition for Texas talent |
| Other major cities (Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Seattle) | $185,000–$225,000 | Scale-matching firms often pay a discounted scale outside core offices |
| Large regional and mid-size firms | $130,000–$195,000 | Not on the scale; raises follow the scale with a lag |
| US offices of London-headquartered firms | $245,000 | Match in the US; newly qualified lawyers in London at US firms earn about £180,000 |
The scale has never been about what a first-year is worth. It is about what the firm across the street is paying.
A hiring partner, to The Counsel
The smaller class behind the bigger number
The scale's increase arrived alongside a quieter change: first-year classes at many of the matching firms are 10 to 20 percent smaller than in 2022, summer programs have shrunk, and several firms have said in recruiting that the document review, due diligence and first-draft work that occupied first-years is now done, in part, by software supervised by fewer associates. The firms deny that the scale is being paid to fewer people because of the technology — hiring tracks revenue, and the class sizes of 2022 were a pandemic-era peak — but career services offices report fewer offers from the top hundred, and the share of graduates entering the largest firms has fallen from its 2022 high. The scale is a statement about the price of an associate. The class size is a statement about the demand.
What associates should know
- Base is lockstep; bonus is not. Ask about the threshold, the credit rules and the prorating policy before accepting.
- Office matters. A firm on the scale in New York may pay 85 percent of it in Denver.
- Clerkship bonuses are negotiable at the margins, and the hiring plan for federal clerkships starts in the second year of law school.
- The scale is public; the retention rate is not. Ask what share of a class is still at the firm in year five.
What is the BigLaw salary scale?
The lockstep base-salary ladder matched across roughly a hundred large firms, historically set by Cravath and lately by Milbank; in 2026 it runs from $245,000 for first-years to $475,000 for eighth-years.
How much do first-year associates make in 2026?
$245,000 base at firms on the full scale, with a $25,000 bonus for 2025; 75 to 90 percent of scale in secondary markets.
How do bonuses work?
Seniority-based year-end bonuses from $25,000 to $135,000, usually conditioned on 1,900 to 2,000 billable hours, with reduced or no bonus below the threshold and extra bonuses at some firms above it.
Which firms pay the scale?
Nearly all of the hundred highest-grossing US firms in their major offices, the US offices of large London firms and the elite boutiques, with clerkship bonuses of $50,000 to $150,000 at the top of the market.
The Counsel will update this guide when the 2026 year-end bonus scale is announced. Readers with offers in hand should compare total compensation, not base, and ask about office-specific scales in writing.
Daniel Okafor
Daniel covers the Second Circuit, securities litigation and antitrust trials.
This report is for general information only. Salary and bonus figures are as announced by firms and reported by law school career offices and may vary by office and practice group.