LOS ANGELES � Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is raising first-year salaries to $135,000, a move that will likely drive salaries up across the Los Angeles legal landscape and beyond.

A few smaller firms, such as Irell & Manella, boosted first-year salaries to $135,000 earlier this year. But Gibson, Dunn is the first major California-based firm to make the move, and experts expect it will force other large firms to hike salaries that have largely been frozen since the tech boom fizzled.