While some legal industry observers are skeptical that the latest associate salary increases this week will move past the elite firms, history shows many law firms, including those up and down the Am Law 100, ultimately hiked their compensation in the previous round of market pay boosts.

As of spring 2023, at least 70 firms, mainly across the Am Law 100, had gone up to $215,000 or more. That’s the starting salary Milbank set when it increased pay in early 2022.