Associate Bonus Watch: Two More Matches -- Including One From A Major Player

One of these firms is a shop that might have given Cravath a run for its money.

With all due respect to Milbank Tweed and Paul Weiss, it wasn’t very surprising when they both matched the 2015 Cravath bonus scale a few hours after it was announced. They’re both superb firms, but neither is one of the Fab Five, the five firms whose moves matter when it comes to compensation.

The latest firm to follow the Cravath scale, however, is most definitely a Fab Five firm. Simpson Thacher famously raised starting salaries to $160,000 in January 2007, and it also kicked off the 2014 bonus season in generous fashion, ahead of usual leader Cravath.

So STB is one of the big dogs — but this year it decided to follow Cravath, leader of the pack. Bonuses will be paid on December 30, as noted in the memo sent out shortly before 9 a.m. by Simpson chairman Bill Dougherty (posted on the next page). Here are some associate reactions:

  • “Very disappointing considering Simpson was a market leader last year and given that all I’ve heard since I was a summer in [redacted] is about how great the firm is doing. Law school tuition has risen every year since 2007, but Biglaw salaries remain stagnant, and bonuses (for more junior associates) are still lower than they were in 2007.”
  • “[A]ssociates are unsurprised [about bonuses but] optimistic that the static bonuses might signal the firm increasing salaries in January.”

Simpson is doing well this year — it’s riding the M&A wave, and it announced a healthy partner class of nine new partners last month — so maybe it can repeat its feat from January 2007 in January 2016.

In other (and completely unexciting) bonus news, Cleary Gottlieb also matched the Cravath scale. Bonuses at CGSH will be paid on Wednesday, December 23, as noted in the memo from partners Rich Lincer and Brian Byrne.

(Flip to the next page for the complete Simpson and Cleary bonus memos.)

Sponsored


Bonus Time

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