Law firm McCarter & English plans to increase its starting salary for first-year lawyers from $135,000 to $150,000.
The increase, which applies to all nine offices in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, becomes effective Jan. 1, 2017, the firm announced, and applies to associates who graduated law school in 2016. McCarter & English is based in Newark, N.J., with offices in Hartford, Boston, and other cities.
Salaries for associates who graduated law school in 2015 will be $155,000. All other associates at the firm will continue to be considered for merit-based increases or bonuses.
This past summer, the HBJ reported a trend of pay hikes for lawyers hitting Connecticut.
“We weighed the need to remain competitive as to salaries against the needs of our clients to contain the costs of our providing excellent legal services,” said Joseph T. Boccassini, the firm’s managing partner. “The hallmark of our firm, since its inception, has been excellence, and to provide that, we have always hired excellent attorneys. This salary structure will enable us to continue doing so, to the benefit of our clients.”
Boccassini said the firm surveyed competitors’ salary structures in each of the cities in which it operates before setting the starting salary at $150,000 firm-wide.
