The 2026 Salary Wars Are On… So Where Is Biglaw?

More than a week has passed since Milbank kicked off the 2026 salary wars, and the compensation scorecard is rapidly filling up. Recruiters anticipated a swift wave of matches. And their prediction proved accurate—with one significant caveat: the firms engaging in matching are nearly exclusively litigation boutiques.

Take a look at the current scorecard. Among the firms that have adjusted salaries since Milbank’s announcement, the list reads like a directory of elite commercial litigation outfits: Hueston Hennigan; Vartabedian Katz Hester Haynes; Quinn Emanuel; Groom Law Group; AZA; Elsberg Baker & Maruri; Wilkinson Stekloff. And, of course, Susman Godfrey, which not only matched Milbank but exceeded it, sparking its own boutique compensation arms race that prompted Holwell Shuster & Goldberg to follow suit. (Kellogg Hansen is also above market, but they have been for some time without others matching.) The sole traditional Biglaw firm that acted (McDermott) did so on the same day as Milbank’s announcement, before the ink had barely dried. And then… largely silence from the major players.

In 2023, when Milbank announced raises in November, the Biglaw matches arrived within weeks. Cravath moved on November 28, three weeks after Milbank, and once Cravath weighed in, the floodgates opened. You can see it in the 2023 scorecard: the list of matches shifted from a trickle to a torrent the moment the market received its official endorsement from Cravath. That’s how the compensation cascade operates: Milbank initiates it, Cravath validates it (or goes above), and everyone else falls into line.

We are not at that point yet in 2026.

The prevailing theory, and it’s a sensible one, is that traditional Biglaw is holding back. Not because the funds are lacking (Biglaw had a strong 2025, and the Am Law 100 numbers reflect that). And it’s not due to philosophical objections to paying associates more—they know they must offer top-of-market compensation to retain elite talent. Rather, it’s because the lockstep model relies on consensus, and no firm wants to be the one that moved before Cravath and then had to readjust. So the white-shoe crowd watches and waits while the litigation boutiques take the early lead.

This brings us to the other story unfolding in parallel, and it’s what’s getting Biglaw associates talking (well, that and the epic Knicks run).

The Susman scale is a boutique phenomenon (admittedly, Susman’s revenue places it in the rarefied air of Biglaw, but at its core, it’s a boutique), and it reflects what elite litigation-only shops can achieve when they operate lean, charge premium rates, and fiercely compete for a small pool of exceptional litigators. It’s a distinct market from the lockstep Biglaw world, and the Milbank scale remains the operative benchmark for the broader industry unless and until someone disrupts it at the top.

Who could do that? Realistically, Cravath. That’s always been the dynamic: Milbank moves, the market follows, and the whole thing resets only if Cravath comes in over the top. Davis Polk could theoretically make a move too, but if history is any guide, the firm most likely to shake up the Biglaw compensation ladder is Cravath. Until that happens, Milbank’s new numbers are the standard.

There’s one more point worth highlighting, and it’s directed squarely at the Biglaw firms still sitting on their hands: the raises are effective July 1. That means you have a moment before your associates are technically behind on pay. But here’s the thing: everyone knows you’re going to match. You know you’re going to match. The only people pretending otherwise are the partners who haven’t sent the memo yet.

So why the delay? Why put your associates through the anxiety? The only plausible strategic reason to hold off is the possibility of a re-raise—if Cravath comes in over the top for certain class years, as it did in 2023, you’d theoretically have to run the administrative process twice. But is that really so onerous that it justifies leaving your associates refreshing their inboxes and wondering if their firm values them? The administrative burden of a second compensation memo is approximately zero compared to the goodwill cost of making people feel like an afterthought during a salary war everyone is watching in real time.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1

Topics:

2026 Salary Increase

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Boutique Law Firms

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