Liu Shur Kravis LLP, the Washington, D.C., litigation boutique founded by three former federal prosecutors just five months ago, has matched the new Milbank salary scale, effective immediately. Associates will earn between $235,000 and $455,000 depending on class year, per a memo sent today by founding partners Jessie Liu, Justin Shur, and Jonathan Kravis.
LSK launched back in April when the trio departed their respective perches at Skadden, MoloLamken, and Munger, Tolles & Olson to build something new. The firm is intentionally lean, partner-driven, and focused on the highest-stakes white-collar criminal defense, government investigations, complex civil litigation, and crisis management work. In the months since, they’ve assembled what the memo describes as “a full docket of complex, high-stakes matters” appearing before virtually every major enforcement authority in the United States, litigating in D.C., New York, California, and beyond.
So a firm that opened its doors in April 2026 is matching the Milbank scale in September 2026, effective immediately. While much of the Am Law 100 has been conspicuously slow to move on the new scale — firms with hundreds of attorneys and billions in revenue still waiting, ostensibly, for Cravath to say something — a five-month-old boutique of three founding partners has stepped up. Kudos.
Now, most salary memos are functional documents — here’s the new scale, here’s the effective date, congrats — but this one is something different:
We want to take a moment to say something that we feel deeply: thank you. Each of you made the decision to leave established platforms at top firms and take a leap of faith on a start-up. That is a bold and courageous choice, and we do not take it for granted. You believed in this firm before it had a track record, and your talent, dedication, and hard work are a major reason we have one now. The trust you placed in us, and in each other, is the foundation of everything we are building.
Awww, isn’t that a warm and fuzzy way to start work after the long weekend.
Congratulations to everyone at Liu Shur Kravis. You took the leap and it’s paying off.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
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