Biglaw, Bonuses, Money

Associate Bonus Watch: After 'Massive Disappointment' Comes Major Elation

Which firm is making up for last year's less-than-thrilling bonuses in 2015?

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Last year at about this time, we were giving out an award for the most anger-inducing bonuses of the 2014 season. The “winner” of that prize was Sidley Austin, a firm that that induced sadness and rage in its associates after shorting them with below market or roughly market bonuses. Are associates more satisfied this year?

Based on the many tips we’ve received, it seems that Sidley has learned its lesson. As one tipster noted, the firm “got your message loud and clear.” From what we’ve been told, bonuses at the firm either met or exceeded the Cravath scale across all of its offices.

As you may recall, Sidley does individualized bonuses, based on “the quality of an associate’s work,” as well as “the hours that each associate has spent on chargeable, pro bono, and certain non-chargeable matters, such as legal services and other special contributions to the Firm.” Even though the memo states that quality of work is “the most important factor,” tipsters tell us that hours play a major role.

Here are some of the reactions we received from a number of our sources. In several cases, we’ve made details like billables more vague — e.g., replacing a specific number with something like “over 2300″ or “more than $100K” — to protect tipster anonymity.

  • “Sidley paid individualized bonuses yesterday. Happy to report an above-market bonus for a senior associate without crazy hours.”
  • “Sidley class of 2008, satellite office. Over 2300 billable, bonus was more than $100K.”
  • “Bonus was above market this year, so really happy. The other people I talked to were above market as well.”
  • “Sidley bonuses are out and rumor is they’re market. At least it’s not a repeat of last year.”
  • “I’m a junior associate and got slightly above market for my class year. Very happy after last year’s debacle.”
  • “2009 litigator at Sidley Austin, over 2200 hours, satellite office, beat market (more than $90K). Super happy, as are others in office.”

Thus far, we’ve heard from only one disappointed Sidley disciple. With over 2200 billable hours, this tipster’s bonus was slightly below the applicable Cravath scale amount for the class of 2011 ($65,000). That’s got to sting, but it must sting even worse knowing how pleased everyone else was with their bonuses. Better luck next year!

Congratulations to everyone at Sidley Austin. We’re thrilled most of you are so happy!

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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.

(If you’re interested, flip the page to see the full Sidley Austin bonus memo.)

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