About the Ranking

The firms below have the highest paid midlevel associates (3rd-5th years). Per hour that is. This year Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel garnered the top honor with an associate pay of $83.02/hour. Rounding out the Top 100 is Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz with an hourly rate of $56.77/hour, or 68% of the pay received at Kramer Levin. The median hourly rate for these Top 100 firms is $68.09/hour. How much the pay hike at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett will reorder this ranking remains to be seen.

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Methodology

The hourly rate is calculated by dividing compensation, salary plus bonus, by 50 weeks and dividing that number by the average number of hours worked. The salary information is as reported in 2006 and the bonuses are as reported in 2005.

Only firms for which the AveryIndex has both bonus and salary information were included. Notable firms such as Williams & Connolly, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Boies, Schiller & Flexner are not represented as salary or bonus information was unavailable. The data for the calculations is principally based on over 6,500 associate surveys (3rd-5th years) from 2005 and 2006. See The American Lawyer's 2006 Midlevel Associates Survey. Only firms with 10 or more respondents are represented.

The Highest Pay Per Hour for Associates

1-10 | 11-30 | 31-50 | 51-70 | 71-100

Rank	Firm	2006 Salary	2005 Bonus	Total	Hours Worked	$ per Hour
11	Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto	$176,250	$25,263	$201,513	52	$77.51
12	Shearman & Sterling	$184,583	$37,518	$222,101	57.5	$77.25
13	Weil, Gotshal & Manges	$184,216	$39,676	$223,892	58.4	$76.68
14	Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison	$186,346	$42,786	$229,132	59.8	$76.63
15	Schulte Roth & Zabel	$182,391	$38,625	$221,016	58.4	$75.69
16	Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft	$181,868	$36,842	$218,710	58.2	$75.16
17	Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle	$179,688	$15,625	$195,313	52	$75.12
18	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton	$182,206	$36,140	$218,346	58.2	$75.03
19	Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson	$184,000	$33,156	$217,156	57.9	$75.01
20	Clifford Chance	$186,111	$33,188	$219,299	58.7	$74.72
21	Dewey Ballantine	$185,588	$32,625	$218,213	58.5	$74.60
22	White & Case	$185,448	$27,270	$212,718	57.1	$74.51
23	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	$184,918	$43,723	$228,641	61.4	$74.48
24	Kaye Scholer	$181,140	$20,460	$201,600	54.3	$74.25
25	Thacher Proffitt & Wood	$188,667	$27,275	$215,942	58.4	$73.95
26	Heller Ehrman	$170,267	$27,324	$197,591	53.5	$73.87
27	Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman	$169,706	$14,406	$184,112	50.6	$72.77
28	Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom	$189,628	$17,636	$207,264	57	$72.72
29	Kirkland & Ellis	$174,458	$42,302	$216,760	59.9	$72.37
30	Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe	$174,896	$27,207	$202,103	55.9	$72.31