Making it to midlevel in Biglaw isn’t simple, particularly when the overwhelming majority of what you realize is pandemic and post-pandemic Biglaw life. As we speak’s midlevels — third-, fourth- and fifth-year associates — labored extremely lengthy hours in the course of the unsure occasions COVID-19 introduced upon the authorized occupation and the world at massive, 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 simple process, however for those who did make it to your agency’s midlevel ranks in the course of the previous few years, it was arguably tougher than ever. Associates crave coaching and mentorship alternatives, however not each Biglaw agency has been in a position to fulfill their finish of the cut price. 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 clarify that at this time’s midlevels are searching for out steering, however that some packages are lacking the mark:
When given the chance to develop on how they felt about their companies, 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 pressured 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 in recent times have resulted in much more midlevels for every companion to take care of. Subsequently, some associates instructed that companies acknowledge mentorship contributions when contemplating who to advertise.
To provide you with these outcomes, Am Regulation requested midlevel associates to judge how glad they’re with their agency on a wide range of completely different questions: compensation and advantages; coaching and steering; relations with companions and different associates; curiosity in and satisfaction stage 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 may which were? As famous by Am Regulation, whereas billable hours are as much as 1,951 yearly, common base wage was “principally flat,” up only a hair to $290,740. Complete 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, greater than they rated each different class (together with the significance of their work, compensation and advantages, communications from administration, billable hours and companion observe readability) moreover 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 right down to the rankings. The total checklist is offered right here, however these are the companies 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 & Chook
Clifford Probability
Loeb & Loeb
Cahill Gordon
Jenner & Block
Congratulations to all of the companies that made the checklist — 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 companies 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 Affiliate Expertise [American Lawyer]
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Regulation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be at liberty to electronic mail her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You possibly can observe her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join together with her on LinkedIn.
