London associates at Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader will be paid on different scales after their merger goes live this summer, with Cadwalader’s London lawyers continuing to benefit from higher New York rates.
Cadwalader’s City associates will continue to be paid on the so-called ‘Cravath scale’ used by New York’s leading law firms, which starts at $225,000 for first-year associates.
That equates to roughly £170,000 — around £25,000 more than the £145,000 salary for Hogan Lovells’ newly qualified London lawyers.
Hogan Lovells currently has around 270 associates and senior associates in London, compared with just 34 at Cadwalader, according to the firms’ websites.
As such, any move towards Cadwalader’s pay rates would represent a significant investment for the newly merged firm.
Across the pond, Hogan Lovells associates will continue to be compensated at the same rates as their Cadwalader colleagues.
A spokesperson for Hogan Lovells, acting on behalf of both firms, said: ‘Our associate pay structures are aligned in the US markets. They differ in London as Cadwalader lawyers are compensated in line with New York pay scales and billable-hours targets.’
‘After the combination, the combined firm will be focused on ensuring we continue to reward all our lawyers with comparable contributions and performance fairly and competitively across the markets in which we operate.’
This week Milbank and McDermott Will & Schulte fired the starting gun on what could be another race to raise associate pay, bumping pay for NQ associates to $235,000.
The Hogan Lovells Cadwalader merger, which will go live on 1 July, has been billed as the biggest law firm merger of all time, with combined revenues of more than $3.9bn.
While Hogan Lovells has seen consistent growth over recent years, Cadwalader’s track record has been patchier.
The firm, which also explored a combination with Alston & Bird, has seen revenue grow by roughly 42% over the last 15 years, compared with 78% at Hogan Lovells.
Cadwalader has also seen a series of high-profile partner departures, with Orrick being a notable beneficiary, taking a 37-lawyer collateralised loan obligations team in late 2025.
