Milbank Scale Now Market: $235K–$455K as Compensation Wave Widens

The Milbank-led salary reset announced June 2, effective July 1, 2026, has now cascaded across the market. The new scale — $235,000 for first-year associates rising to $455,000 for eighth-years, with $10K raises for juniors and $20K for mid-to-senior levels — represents the first major shift to the Cravath lockstep structure since January 2024. By mid-August, dozens of Am Law 100 and Am Law 200 firms had matched the scale; Above the Law's compensation scorecard tracked firm-by-firm adoption through August 13. Milbank further announced summer special bonuses on July 27 — ranging from $6,000 for the Class of 2026 to $25,000 for the Class of 2018 and senior counsel — payable by August 31 and on top of year-end bonuses. The compounding cost effect for firms: a fourth-year associate who matched the new scale costs approximately $320,000 in base salary alone before overhead allocation, up from $310,000 under the prior scale — and that's before the 10%+ overhead growth reported by Citi.