Associate Bonus Watch: Cahill Gordon Beats The Market Once Again

How much did Cahill beat the market by this time?

This should come as no surprise, but yet again Cahill Gordon has handily beat the Biglaw bonus market.

A quick primer on how Cahill bonuses work — because Cahill gives out so much money, so frequently, that explanation is required. In recent years, Cahill has paid out standard NYC-scale bonuses in January, plus “special” bonuses in December, plus “special” bonuses in July. This time around, Cahill is doing the same thing (and on the regular January bonuses, it’s matching the more generous Davis Polk scale).

So here is what the Cahill numbers look like:

Class Year: December special / January regular

Class of 2014: NA / prorated
Class of 2013: 5/15
Class of 2012: 5/25
Class of 2011: 10/50
Class of 2010: 10/65
Class of 2009: 10/80
Class of 2008: 15/90
Class of 2007: 15/100
Class of 2006: 15/100

And remember when contemplating Cahill comp, these amounts should be on top of the summer bonuses we previously covered.

How are Cahill associates receiving the news? Well, how do you think?

It’s great! Better than expected. The partners have said they want associates to be the best paid.

Sponsored

Accord:

All that time speculating about what S&C would do when everyone already knew Cahill would once again be the firm to trump the market. That day has come with bonuses just announced. Looks like Cahill matched Davis plus a sweat bonus.

But one associate voiced a minority view:

Still above market, but people aren’t happy…. Disappointing.

(UPDATE (1:50 p.m.): We’ve also heard that bonuses for discovery attorneys were trimmed from $5,000 in 2013 and 2012 to $3,000 this year.)

Sponsored

We asked the tipster what might explain this:

Think the reason is for the first time in a while it isn’t our ‘best year ever.’ That’s been the rumor ever since we didn’t have holiday parties for the litigation and corporate groups like we did last year. But not sure I entirely buy it as people have been getting stretched extremely thin — the leverage[d finance] market has been pretty hot this year and there’s a ton of litigation work.

Leveraged finance and litigation are, of course, two of Cahill’s marquee practices.

My view: Cahill is a victim of its own high standards. At any other firm, these bonuses would be met with across-the-board rejoicing.

“2014 has been another strong year for Cahill, and we will again pay a special bonus to our associates in recognition of their outstanding effort and dedication,” William M. Hartnett, Cahill’s executive committee chairman, told ATL. “Cahill associates work extraordinarily hard to serve our clients. This bonus, which is in addition to Cahill’s regular year-end market bonus and summer bonus, reflects the way we value their talent and efforts.”

Indeed. As my colleague Staci Zaretsky observed last year, Cahill “has consistently proven that it truly values all of its associates’ hard work.”

If you can deal with feelings of envy, flip to the next page for the full Cahill memo. Congrats, Cahill associates, on the wonderful bonus bounty!


Bonus Time

Enter your email address to sign up for ATL's Bonus & Salary Increase Alerts.