Biglaw, Bonuses, Money

Associate Bonus Watch: Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me A Match

Sources seem generally happy about the news; bonuses will be paid in January.

By  
on

With news of law firms like Gunderson Dettmer and Susman Godfrey meeting or exceeding the Cravath bonus scale, today arguably isn’t a good day to announce a simple match. But Clifford Chance did just that this morning, and our sources seemed generally happy about it:

  • “Nothing surprising there; the firm is a compensation follower, not leader. That said, good bonuses again market-wide.”
  • “Christmas coming a little late this year (Jan. 15), but still thrilled we are matching the scale.”

As our tipster noted, Clifford Chance will be making bonus payments on January 15, 2016. Quite a few firms pay their bonuses in January of the new year (and have done so for quite some time), but some associates wonder whether there are any sinister motives for them doing so — especially since certain Biglaw associates may be pushed into a different tax bracket in 2016 due to these late bonus payouts, while partners may get a tax benefit after being able to deduct bonuses next year. Why do you think some Biglaw firms defer bonus payments like this?

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.

(Flip to the next page to see the Clifford Chance bonus memo in full.)

Sponsored

1 2Next »
Bonus Time

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

Topics

, , , , ,