And now, a handful of major firms are doing away with one of the most distinctive industry traditions lockstep associate pay.
Most large firms pay every associate in a hiring class the same base salary.
At the end of each year until partnership, associates get to move one rung up the pay ladder. Unless associates screw up badly, they get to march in tandem with the rest of their class. There are long-standing, notable exceptions. St. Louis's Bryan Cave has used a similar merit system since the mid-1990s. A large number of firms, moreover, hand out merit bonuses to associates to reward overachievers.