Highest-paying plaintiff firms for associates? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Besides quasi-biglaw shops like Quinn and Boies, which plaintiff-side firms come closest to paying market? Edelson? Keller Postman? Others?

[nealric]

Sussman is typically above market. Some might consider them quasi biglaw, but they are a lot smaller than Quinn. There are others, but it can be very market dependent and salaries may not be public, especially for the smaller firms.

[Anonymous User]

Anywhere that does securities, general commercial, or other financial-type litigation will pay more.

[Anonymous User]

Besides quasi-biglaw shops like Quinn and Boies, which plaintiff-side firms come closest to paying market? Edelson? Keller Postman? Others?

Keller's base salary is not market rate. Though, with bonuses, I've heard it gets close and can be above.

[Anonymous User]

Besides quasi-biglaw shops like Quinn and Boies, which plaintiff-side firms come closest to paying market? Edelson? Keller Postman? Others?

Keller's base salary is not market rate. Though, with bonuses, I've heard it gets close and can be above.

I’d love to get a sense of all-in comp for places like Keller, Cohen Milstein, Edelson, Hagens Berman etc. Understanding that it’s more variable and dependent on firm performance.

[Anonymous User]

Anywhere that does securities, general commercial, or other financial-type litigation will pay more.

Products liability/complex PI and privacy class action work has huge financial upside as well, but this is generally right. Civil rights/employment/general impact lit will pay the least (along with unsophisticated PI), and I think consumer class action work is somewhere in the middle.

[Anonymous User]

Kellogg and Susman, if you count them. True plaintiff's law is more variable but has significant upside.

[Anonymous User]

I'm at Keller Postman and have gotten slightly above market (though the benefits are much better--401k match, great insurance, etc.). I've heard of a few people getting well over, but I think it's more common to get below.

That said, the firm has a lot of variation hiring and compensation. People who lateral from biglaw, or come straight from clerkships or law schools where biglaw was their alternative will get around that. People who lateral from plaintiff-side places where they were making far under market will do well, but will not get market (unless they perform at or above the level of other associates).

[Anonymous User]

I'm at Keller Postman and have gotten slightly above market (though the benefits are much better--401k match, great insurance, etc.). I've heard of a few people getting well over, but I think it's more common to get below.

That said, the firm has a lot of variation hiring and compensation. People who lateral from biglaw, or come straight from clerkships or law schools where biglaw was their alternative will get around that. People who lateral from plaintiff-side places where they were making far under market will do well, but will not get market (unless they perform at or above the level of other associates).

Very helpful. Any sense of how comp compares with other top plaintiffs firms like Lieff Cabraser, Edelson, Robbins Geller, etc.?

[Anonymous User]

Does Edelson offer a clerkship bonus?

[Anonymous User]

Very helpful. Any sense of how comp compares with other top plaintiffs firms like Lieff Cabraser, Edelson, Robbins Geller, etc.?

Higher than Robbins or Lieff, similar to Edelson (though I think our high-end goes higher, and low-end goes lower, for associates).

[Anonymous User]

Bumping for other high-paying plaintiff's firms.

[Anonymous User]

One of the top (based on ISS settlements, Band 2/3 on Chambers) plaintiff-securities firms: around $175k base, ~$5k-10k bonus for a 1st year in a VHCOL city; around $150k base, same bonus in MCOL/HCOL city.

One of the top (Band 1 on Chambers) plaintiff-side antitrust firms: around $170k for a first-year, in MCOL/HCOL city.

[Anonymous User]

What about these big-name sorts of places like Motley Rice or Lanier?

[Anonymous User]

Desmarais

[Anonymous User]

Would love to see more numbers thrown out there for these places.

I am a senior associate at a consumer class action shop that I think is sophisticated as far as these places go. Lots of T-14, ex-biglaw, fed clerk types, including myself. Base is $205k, bonus is probably $15k in a 10th percentile year to $100k in a 90th percentile year. Benefits are better than biglaw but not incredible.

If there are shops that are truly around biglaw market comp, then I need someone to let me DM them and I will try to earn you a referral bonus.

[prac578]

Would love to see more numbers thrown out there for these places.

I am a senior associate at a consumer class action shop that I think is sophisticated as far as these places go. Lots of T-14, ex-biglaw, fed clerk types, including myself. Base is $205k, bonus is probably $15k in a 10th percentile year to $100k in a 90th percentile year. Benefits are better than biglaw but not incredible.

If there are shops that are truly around biglaw market comp, then I need someone to let me DM them and I will try to earn you a referral bonus.

Actually just DM me if the bolded applies to you (I'm quoted anon).

[Anonymous User]

Would love to see more numbers thrown out there for these places.

I am a senior associate at a consumer class action shop that I think is sophisticated as far as these places go. Lots of T-14, ex-biglaw, fed clerk types, including myself. Base is $205k, bonus is probably $15k in a 10th percentile year to $100k in a 90th percentile year. Benefits are better than biglaw but not incredible.

If there are shops that are truly around biglaw market comp, then I need someone to let me DM them and I will try to earn you a referral bonus.

I didn't think many class action shops attracted T14 clerk types. Edelson and Cohen Milstein are the only ones I can think of. Are there others?

[top_of_the_bellcurve]

Depends what you mean by “T14 clerk types.”

In terms of attorneys who literally are T14 clerks, from my research (I was involved with a Plaintiffs’ Law Association at my school, did lots of research/outreach on many, many p-side complex lit firms), yes, the top p-side firms generally don’t have as many A3 clerks.

Some do - if I remember correctly, Labaton, Bernstein Litowitz, Keller Postman, Suman Godfrey, Robins Kaplan, among others, are pretty stacked with A3 clerks. These firms *tend* to also have more big law laterals. So, attorneys who have taken the more “traditional” path to success.

Securities shops - RGRD, KTMC, and others - also have lots of Delaware clerks.

Oftentimes, the top shops are pulling cum/magna students from T14 and magna/summa from top regional schools. Students who probably could clerk if they wanted to.

The not-top-shops (the ones who don’t regularly go toe to toe with the top BL firms, whose revenue model is based on knowing a defendant won’t want to pay its lawyers $1000/hour for a MTD and so will settle with the p-side firm) definitely don’t seem to have a clerking/intellectual culture.

My thoughts on why people don’t clerk as much on the p-side:
- smaller clerkship bonuses;
- since people *generally* like the work more than on the defense side, they don’t feel compelled to clerk after 2-3 years; and
- with some firms as exceptions, p-side firms *generally* attract a kind of person who is more entrepreneurial/risk-taking and is more comfortable leaving the clerk->BL or BL-> path that’s been nicely set out for them by their school. Many of my peers who went to BL felt like they needed to clerk, once they had the grades.

I’m new to the space, so take what I say (you, and also for any other TLS readers for whom I wrote this [the forum has been a helpful source of knowledge for me, so now it’s my time to contribute]) with a grain of salt. But the plaintiffs’ side seems to care so much less about pure pedigree/résumé gold stars and to care more about the ability to deliver value to the team that helps the team win. While a clerkship can help with that, it is far from indispensable. A p-side firm might see more value in one’s time as a prosecutor, as they had to build a case, than one’s time as a federal clerk.

[Anonymous User]

Based on this thread so far it seems like Edelson and Keller Postman outpay the other prominent plaintiff shops at least for base. Are there any pay disparities between the others (i.e., do the securities-focused firms pay the same as the other non-Edelson/KP firms)?

[Definitly Doxable]

Desmarais

Is Desmarais still considered plaintiff side? My understanding is they have transitioned to more typical defense work over the years.

[Anonymous User]

At H, Edelson tends to be perceived as pretty hard to get (or that's my read of the types of people who end up there)

[Anonymous User]

At H, Edelson tends to be perceived as pretty hard to get (or that's my read of the types of people who end up there)

It's not easy, but I'd say it's also quirkier and more idiosyncratic; being reasonably competitive on paper is necessary but being very competitive on paper is not sufficient

[basketofbread]

What about hours? I’m a 4th year in a Delaware corporate / securities focused lit group annualizing 2700 hours. I would make the jump to one of our plaintiff counterparts if I could expect to work about 1000 fewer hours.

[Anonymous User]

What about hours? I’m a 4th year in a Delaware corporate / securities focused lit group annualizing 2700 hours. I would make the jump to one of our plaintiff counterparts if I could expect to work about 1000 fewer hours.

Are you based in NYC?