All things considered, midlevel associates are a fairly content lot: That’s the main takeaway from our 2012 Midlevel Associates Survey of third-, fourth-, and fifth-year associates. The average composite score—which is based on 1-to-5 ratings that 5,638 respondents give their firms in 12 areas, with 5 being the high score—was 3.984, up sharply from 3.729 in 2011.
Large firms showed some of the most improvement. Of the 10 biggest year-to-year gainers, six were Am Law 100 firms: Kaye Scholer, Holland & Knight, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, DLA Piper, Jenner & Block, and Bingham McCutchen.
