Associate Bonus Watch: Latham & Watkins

Do the firm's bonuses reflect how well it's doing? Opinions differ....

Biglaw bonus money 100 dollar bill ribbonThings seem to be going swimmingly over at Latham & Watkins. It’s now the #1 firm in both the Am Law 100 and the Global 100 (the top firms in the nation and in the world, ranked by revenue). It recently scored a nice coup in hiring Jonathan Lippman, former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, who will focus on appellate and pro bono work — two areas he knows quite a bit about.

On Friday, Latham announced its bonuses (as we mentioned briefly). They’ll be paid out this coming Friday (and then “people will drop like flies,” as one source of ours put it).

Do the bonuses reflect the firm’s current success? That’s a subject of debate. Here’s the table from the bonus memo (posted in full on the next page):

CLASS “BASE” BONUS MEDIAN BONUS TOP BONUS
2007 $100,000 $100,000 $100,000
2008 $100,000 $105,000 $125,000
2009 $90,000 $95,000 $115,000
2010 $80,000 $85,000 $105,000
2011 $65,000 $69,000 $85,000
2012 $50,000 $52,500 $65,000
2013 $25,000 $26,000 $35,000
2014 $15,000 $16,000 $25,000

As reflected in the table, we’re dealing with bonuses that beat but don’t destroy the market (defined this year by the Cravath scale). So reactions are, predictably, mixed. On the positive side:

  • “Same as last year [roughly,] and I’m loving it! Hope this lasts for next year as well…. We’re having drinks to celebrate!”
  • “I was happy with my bonus. With little less than 2200 billables (including pro bono and knowledge management) my bonus was $10k above Cravath.”
  • “Exactly as expected. Base bonus matches market, which the firm always does, and median is slightly higher. As for me, I got the base, but was only at 2100 or so hours [including lots of pro bono], so I’m quite pleased.”
  • “The people I’ve heard from are generally happy.”

On the negative side:

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  • “Midlevel litigation associate here — billed over 2100 and got [a little above market]. Good money but was expecting at least a slight bit more given how well the firm did this year. The median bonus for my class year actually dropped compared to last year. Seems like the bump over base bonus was skewed towards very high billers.”
  • “I would have expected bonuses to rise more this year given that LW has now become the most profitable law firm in the world. Why then aren’t profits trickling down more?”

As you can see, positive reactions outnumber negative reactions, although not overwhelmingly so. The overall mood could be described as contentment, but not elation. It seems very consistent with this bonus season as a whole — so if Latham was trying to mirror the market, just at a slightly elevated level, then it succeeded.

We know there are several bonus announcements out there that we have not yet covered — mainly due to a lack of sufficient tips. Please share your bonus info, opinions, and memos, by email or by text message (646-820-8477). Thanks.

(Flip to the next page for the complete Latham & Watkins bonus memorandum.)

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