Associate Bonus Watch: Curtis Mallet Matches Cravath (With a Little Sweetener for Some)

Bonus news is out at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle. Basically the firm matched the Cravath scale. “Totally expected and acceptable,” said a contented Curtis associate, “since hours aren’t terrible and people (generally) don’t hate their lives.”

It was “basically” a Cravath match, because even Curtis — which only has around 200 lawyers, and which “tends to round out the bottom of the Am Law 200,” in the words of a Curtis source — was slightly more generous than Cravath and all the CSM followers, at least to certain top performers….

For the most part, Curtis is a lockstep firm. Its base salary scale is the standard NYC lockstep — $160K, $170K, $185K, etc. — and its bonuses are generally paid on a lockstep basis too.

But this year, in addition to matching the standard Cravath scale on a lockstep basis, Curtis is paying $5,000 discretionary bonuses to associates who demonstrated “exceptional performance.” It’s not a huge amount — David Boies isn’t quaking in his black sneakers — but it’s something.

“Doesn’t say much for the ‘big boys,'” said our Curtis tipster. “What’s the conversion rate for prestige points again?”

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch 2010

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