Armen at Nuts & Boalts, on first year lawyer salaries going to (get your zero-ometers ready) $160,000.00:

UPDATE III: Crap, just what I was afraid of. MoFo has increased salaries ONLY in their NY office. While OMM is increasing LA and DC to $145 just as I predicted. $20 that all the WC firms follow the lead and do the same. I've been thinking about it a bit more, and generally the WC billable requirement is 1950. With any increase, that's going to go up to 2000, if not 2100. One way or another, the firms' bottom lines should not take any hit.

"Billable requirement" indeed. Ah, youngsters. The interstitial resentment around this will be such that not only will you work your fingers to their carpal-tunnel-ridden musculoskeletal extremes before you know it, but you can count on making damn near this number even if you are determined/insane enough to do it for a long, long, LONG time to come. (By the way, if you're female and even remotely interested in having a family, read this now as opposed to then. This too, while you're at it.)

Bonus link, Young Associates in Trouble: "The available empirical evidence suggests that success within the elite law firm environment often entails a difficult array of personal and professional trade-offs. Although we find our empirical data to be informative, the novel may be a particularly effective vehicle for examining the rather existential nature of these choices."