September 2022 - Big Law Salaries?

[chaboywb]

1 hour ago, Freshtransplant said:

With the news today in Vancouver that Cozen just poached 13 lawyers from Clark Wilson, maybe some firms might start feeling the pressure.

Wishful thinking..

Does Cozen pay above market in Canada?

[Freshtransplant]

On 9/3/2024 at 12:36 PM, chaboywb said:

Does Cozen pay above market in Canada?

I’ve heard that they do. But I have nothing more than just a few anecdotes

[Ex1L]

Can anyone provide insight as to what Dolden Wallace Folick pays across Canada? They have offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Guelph, and Kelowna.

 

 

[Forever Curious]

Hearing some rumours about a bump for associates in Vancouver at a couple national firms, has anyone else heard anything? 

[Ramesses]

1 hour ago, Forever Curious said:

Hearing some rumours about a bump for associates in Vancouver at a couple national firms, has anyone else heard anything? 

Osler and Cassels I think.

[Ghalm]

Maybe its just the Vancouver rumours reaching Toronto, but has anyone heard of Toronto big law firms considering a salary bump? 

[switchdog]

On 2/3/2025 at 4:24 PM, Ghalm said:

Maybe its just the Vancouver rumours reaching Toronto, but has anyone heard of Toronto big law firms considering a salary bump? 

I have heard rumblings, but nothing concrete. 

[QueensLawStudent]

Any news on Calgary salary bumps if we are talking Vancouver/Toronto?

[Ghalm]

Best have heard is McCarthy's considering, Stikes considering, Osler considering, Davies made a 25k bump across all boards (can anyone confirm, including via private message if so), and that Torys is considering it but did not give a bump in the comp memos for 2025 (doesn't mean they are not gonna do it, just that they have not).

Edited February 10 by Ghalm

[switchdog]

I heard McCarthy's bumped (amount depends on YoC). New scale is: 

• 1st - 135 (+5k)
• 2nd - 155 (+5k)
• 3rd - 180 (+5k)
• 4th - 200 (+5k)
• 5th - 230 (+15k)
• 6th - 255 (+20k)

[Ghalm]

16 minutes ago, switchdog said:

I heard McCarthy's bumped (amount depends on YoC). New scale is: 

• 1st - 135 (+5k)
• 2nd - 155 (+5k)
• 3rd - 180 (+5k)
• 4th - 200 (+5k)
• 5th - 230 (+15k)
• 6th - 255 (+20k)

The 5ks are depressing, but nice! Hopefully other firms will move and implement a bump at or higher than this... pretty sure last time around it started with a small McT bump and ended up at a full 20-25k bump.

[switchdog]

3 minutes ago, Ghalm said:

The 5ks are depressing, but nice! Hopefully other firms will move and implement a bump at or higher than this... pretty sure last time around it started with a small McT bump and ended up at a full 20-25k bump.

Here's hoping!

[Rembrandt]

If Davies is making a 25k bump, I doubt that other firms are only willing to give a 5k bump.

[Lawyer579830]

Is it likely that other sister firms will match, even those who have already announced their associate comp for the year? 

Edited February 10 by Lawyer579830

[MCT12345]

I have not heard about a Davies bump from my friends at the firm. They already pay above scale (160, 180, 205, 235, 265, 295) so I doubt they will add another 20-25k bump on top of that. I have heard confirmation from the McT bump and I heard that a couple of firms are considering a bump as well. 

[Freshtransplant]

Can confirm a raise in Vancouver, at least for more senior associates. I know of 4 of the big firms who are now on this grid (give or take a few thousand) so the rest of them will likely adopt this scale soon: 

1st year: $116

2nd: $128

3rd: $145

4th: $165

5th: $185

6th: $205

7th: $220

8th onwards: negotiated 

[easttowest]

6 hours ago, Rembrandt said:

If Davies is making a 25k bump, I doubt that other firms are only willing to give a 5k bump.

Nobody cares what Davies does. They do their thing and everyone else does something else.

5 hours ago, Lawyer579830 said:

Is it likely that other sister firms will match, even those who have already announced their associate comp for the year? 

Yes.

[multilingualcat]

1 hour ago, Freshtransplant said:

Can confirm a raise in Vancouver, at least for more senior associates. I know of 4 of the big firms who are now on this grid (give or take a few thousand) so the rest of them will likely adopt this scale soon: 

1st year: $116

2nd: $128

3rd: $145

4th: $165

5th: $185

6th: $205

7th: $220

8th onwards: negotiated 

1st year calls only get a 1,000 dollar raise? lol 

[Freshtransplant]

10 hours ago, multilingualcat said:

1st year calls only get a 1,000 dollar raise? lol 

Lol. I don’t know what they were at before, just reporting on the scale I’ve seen. 

[multilingualcat]

54 minutes ago, Freshtransplant said:

Lol. I don’t know what they were at before, just reporting on the scale I’ve seen. 

I think this is the current scale for Vancouver: 

1 year $115,000

2 years $125,000

3 years$140,000

4 years $155,000

5 years $175,000

6 years $190,000

7 years $200,000

Edited February 11 by multilingualcat

[Freshtransplant]

1 hour ago, multilingualcat said:

I think this is the current scale for Vancouver: 

1 year $115,000

2 years $125,000

3 years$140,000

4 years $155,000

5 years $175,000

6 years $190,000

7 years $200,000

Correct that this remains the current grid.  However, firms like Osler, Fasken, McCarthys and another (whose name escapes me) have now increased senior associate salaries to the grid I posted above. This latest increase matched the senior associate salaries that Lawson Lundell instituted about a year ago.

I fully expect the other firms to match. 

[Forever Curious]

2 hours ago, Freshtransplant said:

Correct that this remains the current grid.  However, firms like Osler, Fasken, McCarthys and another (whose name escapes me) have now increased senior associate salaries to the grid I posted above. This latest increase matched the senior associate salaries that Lawson Lundell instituted about a year ago.

I fully expect the other firms to match. 

BLG, Lawsons and Cassels (at the new Toronto scale i believe) have also bumped. 

[Forever Curious]

18 hours ago, Freshtransplant said:

Can confirm a raise in Vancouver, at least for more senior associates. I know of 4 of the big firms who are now on this grid (give or take a few thousand) so the rest of them will likely adopt this scale soon: 

1st year: $116

2nd: $128

3rd: $145

4th: $165

5th: $185

6th: $205

7th: $220

8th onwards: negotiated 

Some not so good news - hearing that Osler and Fasken have implemented a range, instead of a typical lockstep, for 4th years and after (with the upper amount being the amount of the typical lockstep). Has anyone heard anything similar at other firms or is able to confirm this?

[Lawyer579830]

13 minutes ago, Forever Curious said:

Some not so good news - hearing that Osler and Fasken have implemented a range, instead of a typical lockstep, for 4th years and after (with the upper amount being the amount of the typical lockstep). Has anyone heard anything similar at other firms or is able to confirm this?

Are you hearing that in Toronto or Vancouver? 
 

edit: didn’t see you were responding to a post about Vancouver so i assume it’s for there.

Edited February 11 by Lawyer579830

[Freshtransplant]

2 hours ago, Forever Curious said:

BLG, Lawsons and Cassels (at the new Toronto scale i believe) have also bumped. 

Do you mean that Lawson bumped even higher? Because that firm has been on this new scale for a while I believe. Everyone is playing catch up now. 

38 minutes ago, Forever Curious said:

Some not so good news - hearing that Osler and Fasken have implemented a range, instead of a typical lockstep, for 4th years and after (with the upper amount being the amount of the typical lockstep). Has anyone heard anything similar at other firms or is able to confirm this?

Just confirmed this at one of the firms you mentioned.