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On January 1, 2006, Alston had raised first-year pay from $100,000 to $115,000; in February, Alston raised it even more to $130,000. And starting January 1, 2008, it will be as high as $145,000.
However, some are critical of Alston's increases.
"Several blog posters criticized Alston for pay compression, pointing out that the firm is not increasing pay for more senior classes at the same $15,000 rate as for first-years," says an article on www.law.com.
"'First-years get a 15K raise. I get 5K,'" said one blogger.
Lowe was disappointed to hear this. "We try to determine what the market is with respect to associate salary in each of the cities where we have offices, and this was our best effort at determining the market in Atlanta at this time."
According to Stephen D. Stone, a legal recruiter at Cambridge Partners, "Big firms are feeling pressure to raise entry-level associate pay to attract the best legal talent coming out of law school, but 'the midlevels are getting the brunt. They don't think it's fair that they're making what they consider just gradually more money than first-years when they are adding much more in value.'"
But with the overall pay increase, some are worried about where the firms will get the money. And this could lead to, according to Linda Sloan of the legal recruiter Hughes & Sloan, "firms hiring fewer first- and second-years. 'People will hire more laterals who've been trained and paid for by someone else,'" from www.law.com.
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