Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner is the last major California firm to announce a pay raise as a part of the recent wave of increases. Rather than establishing a starting salary of $160,000 across the board, Thelen Reid created a two-tier pay structure that pays associates that work 2,000 hours a year $160,000, and pays those that work less $145,000. The two-tier scale will be effective on July 1 in California, Washington, D.C., and New Jersey. This structure allows more flexibility for those associates who balance life/work issues, putting less pressure on them to perform up to a $160,000 standard. The associates can move between the two tiers without falling off the partner track – twice a year they can move into the 2,000-hour tier, and they can move back into the less-than-2,000-hour option once. Fenwick & West has a similar system, letting associates choose between a 1,800 or 1,950-hour pay scale.
Source: www.law.com