Associate Bonus Watch: Gibson Dunn Quickly Distinguishes Itself From Latham

After yesterday’s Latham bombshell, Biglaw eyes turned to other California firms. Will Latham be a pack leader or a poop bag?

Last night, Gibson Dunn gave the first answer.

In individual meetings that started yesterday — and will continue today and tomorrow — Gibson associates are being informed of their 2008 bonus. As we understand it, Gibson Dunn associates will be receiving a Half-Skadden bonus.

We don’t like Half-Skadden bonuses around these parts (see here, here, here, and of course here). But given that Latham won’t even announce their bonus structure until after the new year, you have to be happy that Gibson said something.

Of course, thanks to Latham, the bigger question is what Gibson is going to do with associate salaries. More on that after the jump.


Again, because of the individualized nature of Gibson’s decision making process, there hasn’t been any official firm announcement about their salary structure. But Gibson Dunn sources from New York to L.A. report that they were promised that salary raises will proceed as planned. One tipster reports:

During reviews, each associate gets a 1 page sheet that details their hours for the year, 2008 bonus etc. It also has a line that says “2009 Salary”. … The others who I know who have received their reviews also have the same line showing the increased salary.

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Since our story about Latham’s pay freeze, a number of people have remarked that Latham could be setting a trend for other Biglaw firms to follow. The Recorder reports:

Latham & Watkins said Tuesday it will freeze associate salaries in response to “challenging economic times,” a move that could signal the rest of the industry to follow suit, observers said.

“Everybody’s been waiting for some kind of signal from the market leader,” said consultant Peter Zeughauser, founder of The Zeughauser Group. “This will be a profound signal to the market about what to do.”

But with the Gibson Dunn news, maybe Latham doesn’t have the market pull that Cravath was able to induce with their weak bonuses?

We can only hope.

Latham’s Salary Freeze May Launch Trend [Law.com]

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Earlier: Latham & Watkins Salary Shenanigans Follow-Up

Prior ATL coverage of associate bonuses.