Dechert is bumping first-year salaries by $20k to $125k for its Philly & Princeton offices (the Boston office already pays $125k for first-years, down from $135k in 2001).
It's a stupendously awful idea. Boston firms did the same thing in response to salary hikes over in Silicon Valley. If one firm raises the salary, most others must follow to maintain a competitive advantage on associate hiring. To compensate, new associates must work like crazy.
So much for the hopes of laid-back urban firms somewhere in the United States!
How urban is urban? Cincinnati is laid back, and urban in my mind, but then, I come from a rural setting. Pay isn't Boston high, but then neither are the hours. Work is top notch. City is fun, but very.... how do we say... non-diverse.
Posted by: Catherine on September 1, 2002 10:28 AMthere are laid-back urban law firms? This gives me hope!
BTW, what qualifies as laid back I wonder (Im having major stress about what to do post-undergrad, am interested in law, but fear donating my body to a heartless evil firm)
Posted by: eric on September 5, 2002 07:40 PM