What Legal Industry Crisis? One Houston Firm Is Paying First-Years A Staggering Salary

AZA AZA shareholder Joseph Ahmad

Amid complaints the industry is failing, a small boutique litigation firm in Houston is upping the ante.

Ahmad Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. announced this month it's raised the starting salary of first-year associates as well as guaranteeing them a bonus.

From the press release:

“We are small and lean, and we successfully go toe-to-toe with the biggest law firms in the country on a regular basis,” says AZA founding partner John Zavitsanos. “Like our bigger competitors, we’ve paid our first-year lawyers $160,000 until now. But we’re growing and doing more exciting work, and we want to attract even more top-level talent. We want law grads who are not interested in carrying someone else’s briefcase, but would rather stand up in court themselves.”

AZA now provides first-year lawyers a $165,000 salary and an additional guaranteed $5,000 bonus.

The industry standard for first-years at BigLaw firms in major cities is around $160,000.

With these raises, associates at AZA are "living as well as someone earning $414,000 in New York City," Above The Law said of the news. "That’s a staggering sum for a first-year associate."

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