Biglaw, Bonuses, Gunderson Dettmer, Money

Associate Bonus Watch: A Great Year Means Great Bonuses At This Firm (Better Than Cravath!)

Don't you wish your firm was this generous with its money after a good year?

onDecember 15, 2015 at 10:32 AMDecember 15, 2015 at 6:55 PM

If you were disappointed with your Biglaw bonus this year, then perhaps it’s time to switch to a firm that’s willing to show its associates even more cold, hard cash when it’s had a great year.

Today, we’ve got news about a Silicon Valley powerhouse where the vast majority of bonuses exceed the 2015 Cravath scale. Which one could it be?

It’s none other than Gunderson Dettmer, the firm that laid the groundwork in 1999 for associate salaries that soared over the $100,000 mark, a pay raise that soon spread to firms across the country. On Sunday evening, the firm brought its associates joy when it announced it would pay them bountiful bonuses. Here’s an excerpt from Gunderson’s bonus memo, sent by chairman and founding partner Robert V. Gunderson Jr.:

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Bonuses for US-based associates this year are based upon the so-called “Cravath scale” (that is, the bonus amounts recently announced by Cravath, which have subsequently been adopted by a number of other New York-based firms).

Nearly half of this year’s bonuses exceed the Cravath scale and a third of this year’s bonuses are at the Cravath scale.

Gunderson went on to state that “[t]he level of this year’s bonuses is a direct result of the firm’s performance in 2015 as well as our level of confidence going into the new year.” Don’t you wish your firm was this generous with its money after a good year? (In case it wasn’t entirely obvious, we’re looking at you, New York-based firms with millions — and even trillions — of dollars in M&A deals logged over the course of 2015.)

Enjoy your money, Gunderson associates. You’ll get a fat paycheck this Friday.

If you have compensation news that we haven’t covered yet, please email us or text us (646-820-8477). We’ll continue to keep you informed this bonus season.