Legal experts say that many top boutiques pay associates more or the same as larger, elite firms. And, while they may offer more hands-on experience and a faster partnership track, they’re certainly not backing down from high billable hour annual requirements, with many of them requiring almost 2,000 billable hours annually for associates.
Many New York-based boutiques—like Holwell Shuster & Goldberg and Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna—are staying close to or on the Cravath scale to be able to compete with firms like Kirkland & Ellis for the best associates.
