At Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Loving the Work Led to Promotions - NYTimes.com

Now get this: In 1976 Times columnist James Stewart, fresh out of Harvard Law, started at Cravath.  He made $16,500.  I was a pass-fail graduate of Rutgers - the People's Electric Law School - I started my first law job - earning $13,500 as a J.D. desirable - but not required - Business Rep at Actors Equity Association- AFL-CIO.   But today an associate at Cravath makes $160,000 to start and an associate at a small firm makes perhaps $60,000.  A year at a private law school then was $2,500.  Today it is $45,000 or more.  You do the math. - GWC
At Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Loving the Work Led to Promotions - NYTimes.com:
by James B. Stewart

When I crossed the threshold of Cravath, Swaine & Moore 36 years ago next month, fresh from the bar exam and Harvard Law School, I entered a new world and began what turned into a life-changing experience.
Cravath’s offices were at One Chase Manhattan Plaza, headquarters for the Rockefellers’ Chase Manhattan Bank and a magnet for prominent law firms. I was just a short elevator ride away from lunch with my friends at Davis Polk & Wardwell; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. All of Cravath’s lawyers and support personnel fit into two floors — 57 and 58 — and everyone knew one another, except for a cadre dispatched to Armonk, N.Y., for an I.B.M. case and small offices in London and Paris.

As a newcomer, I shared an office with a more senior associate, who got the coveted window seat. Cravath did its best to keep the outside world at bay and minimize distractions. Among these was what other lawyers were being paid. I was told when I arrived that my salary would be $16,500 and it was Cravath policy to always pay the highest rate. While my friends at other firms were speculating avidly about whether, say, Sullivan & Cromwell would raise starting salaries and others would follow, at Cravath we knew that if they did, our firm would top them. We were all paid the same based on seniority, and bonuses were unheard-of, so there were no jealousies or resentments.

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