Associate Bonus Watch: Sidley Austin Open Thread

Bonuses at Sidley Austin are out, and they are all individualized. Perhaps Sidley doesn’t want its associates to know what their colleagues are making.
Which might be a smart move. Above the Law sources report that there is significant variance in the Sidley bonus. We’ve heard of bonus payouts as high as $90,000 for associates. That’s the kind of payment that blows Cravath and S&C out of the water.
But we’ve also heard about associates who received nothing at all. According to our sources, some Sidley associates received a bonus of squat (though none of the people who allegedly received nothing spoke with us directly; all of our tipsters received at least something).
Still, with a big bonus disparity, you can understand why the firm might want to keep the information hidden from its own people. You don’t want these kinds of conversations at the holiday party:
SIDLEY: Look, no large purchases, okay? Don’t draw attention to yourself. Nothin’ flashy.
WINNER: Check out this new coat I bought for my girl! Ain’t it beau-ti-ful ?
SIDLEY: Whatta you, stupid? You’re gonna get us all pinched!
WINNER: I’m sorry, Sidley, I just thought ..
SIDLEY: Get it outta here, get it outta here!
LOSER: Ahh, ahh, Sidley, umm, we’ve got to talk. I ain’t got paid yet.
SIDLEY (to winner): Keep that guy away from me.
WINNER (to loser): Why are you coming in here bustin’ balls? C’mon, it’s Christmas.
LOSER: Look, I see guys with fur coats, guys with fancy Christmas trees, and I ain’t got paid yet. I want my money, I want my money.
WINNER: And you’re gonna get it. Trust me. But right now let’s relax and have a good time.
LOSER: I want my money Sidley.
After the jump, we have a couple of reports on how Sidley chose its winners and losers.


One interesting wrinkle is that the bonus payouts weren’t just about the hours:

If you compare the current memo to past ones, there is more of an emphasis on quality of work instead of hours.

Another source reports:

My bonus was solid, and I’m just under 2,000. My hours were not spectacular.

But evidently his work was.
Not to throw a monkey wrench into Sidley’s clever plan of not telling people what everybody is making, but it seems to me that there should be some discussion of what the payouts were. Did anybody get more than $90K? How many people are enjoying the bonus of “having a job and liking it”?
Let us know in the comments.
Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of associate bonuses

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