Making it to midlevel in Biglaw isn’t straightforward, particularly when the overwhelming majority of what you realize is pandemic and post-pandemic Biglaw life. At the moment’s midlevels — third-, fourth- and fifth-year associates — labored extremely lengthy hours throughout the unsure instances COVID-19 introduced upon the authorized occupation and the world at giant, after which they have been thrust again into workplace life they knew little about for an ever-increasing variety of days.
That’s, after all, no straightforward activity, however in the event you did make it to your agency’s midlevel ranks throughout the previous few years, it was arguably tougher than ever. Associates crave coaching and mentorship alternatives, however not each Biglaw agency has been capable of fulfill their finish of the discount. The American Lawyer simply launched its midlevel associates survey, and as famous by Dan Roe, “the sheer existence of a mentorship program or formal coaching doesn’t assure that midlevel associates are being adequately mentored.” He goes on to elucidate that at present’s midlevels are searching for out steering, however that some packages are lacking the mark:
When given the chance to broaden on how they felt about their corporations, midlevels talked about mentorship greater than almost each different subject, together with compensation. …
Certainly, midlevels have been fast to distinguish between the roll-out of firmwide or practice-wide coaching efforts and the significance of getting relationships with more-senior attorneys. “Present really efficient mentoring versus formal mentoring packages that really feel compelled and don’t contribute a lot,” mentioned one Latham & Watkins midlevel.
The problem for companions, after all, is that they have already got in depth calls for on their time, and huge affiliate lessons lately have resulted in much more midlevels for every associate to take care of. Subsequently, some associates steered that corporations acknowledge mentorship contributions when contemplating who to advertise.
To give you these outcomes, Am Legislation requested midlevel associates to judge how happy they’re with their agency on a wide range of totally different questions: compensation and advantages; coaching and steering; relations with companions and different associates; curiosity in and satisfaction degree with the work; the agency’s coverage on billable hours; and administration’s openness about agency methods and partnership probabilities.
General, midlevels’ satisfaction was flat in comparison with final yr, at 4.371 out of 5. Why might which were? As famous by Am Legislation, whereas billable hours are as much as 1,951 yearly, common base wage was “largely flat,” up only a hair to $290,740. Whole common bonuses, nevertheless, elevated by almost $10,000 to $58,046. Mentorship was a “vibrant spot” on the survey, nevertheless:
Midlevels rated their relationships with companions at 4.45 out of 5 factors on common, increased than they rated each different class (together with the significance of their work, compensation and advantages, communications from administration, billable hours and associate observe readability) in addition to relationships with fellow associates and agency attitudes towards professional bono.
Greater than two-thirds of midlevels mentioned they have been getting the correct quantity of suggestions, whereas 28% mentioned they have been getting too little. In the meantime, 91% mentioned they’d a mentor of some type, whereas 9% didn’t.
That mentioned, let’s get all the way down to the rankings. The complete record is obtainable here, however these are the corporations that make the highest 20 by way of midlevel satisfaction:
- O’Melveny & Myers
- Clean Rome
- Morgan Lewis
- Gibson Dunn
- Akin Gump
- Winston & Strawn
- Munger Tolles
- McDermott Will
- Patterson Belknap
- Baker & Hostetler
- Paul Hastings
- Sheppard Mullin
- Finnegan Henderson
- Fish & Richardson
- Mayer Brown
- Alston & Chicken
- Clifford Likelihood
- Loeb & Loeb
- Cahill Gordon
- Jenner & Block
Congratulations to all of the corporations that made the record — and to the midlevels who’ve jobs they’re comparatively pleased with, all issues thought of. Who is aware of, perhaps sooner or later they’ll get pleasure from their Biglaw corporations much more in the event that they obtain the mentorship and steering they’ve been craving for.
The 2025 Midlevel Associates Survey: The Rankings [American Lawyer]
Engaged Mentors Can Make or Break the Midlevel Associate Experience [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Legislation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be at liberty to email her with any suggestions, questions, feedback, or critiques. You possibly can comply with her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join along with her on LinkedIn.
