Fast-growing Dallas-based litigation firm Vartabedian Katz Hester Haynes has matched the new Milbank salary scale, effective July 1, 2026, delivering meaningful pay rises across its associate ranks.
The firm, widely known as VKHH, operates offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston, and has built a strong reputation as a complex commercial litigation boutique since its founding in early 2024.
Junior associates at the firm will receive a $10,000 salary increase, while mid-level and senior associates are set to benefit from a more substantial $20,000 bump.
The increases represent a full match of the Milbank scale, placing VKHH firmly alongside the largest and most well-resourced firms in the country on compensation.
News of the salary match came via an internal memo sent to associates and signed by all four name partners: Rob Vartabedian, Marc Katz, Conrad Hester, and Craig Haynes.
The memo was notably warm in tone, with partners describing a firm performing well ahead of its own expectations heading into the second half of the year.
The partners wrote that VKHH is “in the midst of a second quarter that will be the strongest in the Firm’s history by a wide margin, from both a productivity and financial performance standpoint.”
The firm has form when it comes to putting associates first, having previously distributed summer bonuses to all attorneys and staff before Biglaw more broadly had moved on the bonus front.
At that time, the firm was still operating under the name Vartabedian Hester and Haynes, making its track record of associate-friendly decisions a consistent thread running through the firm’s short history.
For a firm founded in early 2024, matching Milbank within just two years of opening its doors is a significant statement about its financial health and ambitions.
The partners closed their memo on an optimistic note, writing that they “look forward to continuing this momentum in the second half of the year.”
The move is the latest example of salary competition spreading beyond traditional Biglaw strongholds, with boutique firms increasingly willing to go toe-to-toe with the largest practices in the market on pay.
Associates at VKHH are entering the second half of 2026 with both their salaries and their firm’s financial performance trending firmly upward.