The American Lawyer Midlevel Associates Survey Highlights (2017)

The American Lawyer published results from its annual Midlevel Associates Survey, finding that “associates generally continued to report high levels of satisfaction with their jobs,” and report being happier with their compensation than they were a year ago.

Each year, the publication surveys third-, fourth-, and fifth-year associates on several aspects of job satisfaction, including compensation and benefits, training and guidance, interaction with partners and other associates, the interest and satisfaction level of the work, the firm’s policy on billable hours, and management’s openness about firm strategies and partnership chances. The participating firms were ranked on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score possible.

According to the report, “the greatest increase in associate satisfaction came in the area of benefits and compensation,” with respondents giving firms an average score of 4.29, up from an average of 4.17 last year. Of the 102 firms surveyed, the top five firms in terms of midlevel associate satisfaction in numerical order were Cozen O’Connor, O’Melveny & Myers, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Paul Hastings and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

See highlights of the full report and article on The American Lawyer.

Contact Bill Sugarman for more information.