Ken Shigley's August 6 post, "New associates' salaries compared with judicial salaries," at the Atlanta Injury Law & Civil Litigation Blog reveals Shigley's frustration with the current salary situation. He finds it very difficult to swallow the fact that two Atlanta law firms—Alston & Bird and Hunton & Williams—have raised associate starting salaries to $145,000 (which, by the way, is exactly 10 times the pay he used to draw 30 years ago as a public prosecutor, without adjusting for inflation). He says his heart bleeds for the hardships of associates "anonymously whining that it isn't enough" and goes on to say, "I don't care how much money big law firms throw at bright kids with no experience straight out of law school. Neither do I care how much the Atlanta Falcons pay Michael Vick. The real scandal is when you compare those law firms' starting salaries with the salaries of judges who are responsible for running the court system."
Shigley does have a point, but as "Will" says in a comment below the post, "Great post. Sad thing was the whining in the link. The only thing of importance was how much each firm was paying, what other markets paid, and whether the scale of raises was sufficient. Not a single mention of 'great place to work,' 'good clients,' or anything remotely related to actual practice of law."
See you next week, folks. Take care.
