Its no secret that the spread in partner compensation across The Am Law 200 has grown over the years, but more recently that gap has turned into a chasm at some firms. To quantify the partner pay gap between firms highest- and lowest-paid partners, The American Lawyer studied data from six years’ worth of Am Law 200 surveys. We looked at a group of 70 firms for which we had compensation data from 2006 through 2011. (The ratios cited include equity and nonequity partners.)
In 2006 the average partner compensation spread was 9.4:1 at our 70 firms. Five years later, the average spread had increased by 13 percent, to 10.6:1. (Last year, five firms reported ratios of 20:1 or higher.)
