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Generally speaking big law firms pay the largest salaries (125K to 135K for 1st year associates), New York usually leads the way in this area and most major cities follow. They provide excellent benefit packages and usually a number of perks (like tickets to events or a discounted gym membership). However, be expected to WORK for this money. Nobody pays that much who isnt going to expect at least 2000 billable hours a year (you will be able to bill a max of about 80% of your working day, assuming you work very efficiently, which in the beginning you won't). Most firms are expecting 2200 to 2400 billable hours a year.
Big firms are not all the same and some have more or less of a sweatshop mentality. However, you should be clear on why you want to work for a large law firm. Many people do it for a few years to pay off loans or because they want the experience of working on certain types of cases only large firms handle. If you are looking at this as a long term gig and you are seriously concerned about quality of life issues, you may want to revaluate.
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