Biglaw, Bonuses, Clerkships, Midsize Firms / Regional Firms, Money

Another Firm Raises Its Clerkship Bonus; Is This A Trend In The Making?

Are clerkship bonuses heading higher? Here's one new data point.

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gavel money cash clerk clerkship bonus bonusesYour editors here at Above the Law sometimes feel a bit like Gretchen from Mean Girls: “ATL, stop trying to make NY to 190 happen. It’s not going to happen.”

While we wait for Biglaw base salaries to budge, we’ll have to settle for smaller bits of compensation news. In recent months, we’ve reported on specific Biglaw firms moving (closer) to market rates, as well as certain other cities moving (closer) to the Simpson Thacher scale (now more than nine years old).

And, of course, we cover clerkship bonuses. Back in January, leading litigation firm Quinn Emanuel announced that it was raising its clerkship bonus to $75,000. We wondered: could $75K become the new standard?

That hasn’t yet happened, but we are seeing some signs of movement. For example, here’s good news we received from Theresa R. Wardon, a partner at the Denver-based litigation boutique of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP:

We just announced an increase in our federal clerkship bonuses. For federal circuit court clerks, that bonus is $60,000, exceeding the national bonus of $50,000. (Federal district court clerks will receive a bonus of $40,000.)

Wheeler Trigg is a Denver-based trial boutique. Although we are Denver-based, we do work nationwide. We do not hire first-year associates, so the bulk of our associates come from clerkships. We have clerks from nearly all of the federal circuits and many federal district courts.

Personally, I came to Denver to clerk for Judge Gorsuch on the Tenth Circuit. Rather than return to Chicago to work for a large law firm, I decided to join Wheeler Trigg. We provide early on-your-feet experience (depositions, trials, oral arguments) for associates.

If Wheeler Trigg’s name rings a bell, perhaps you remember it from Vault’s list of the Best Midsize Law Firms to Work For.

Why is Wheeler Trigg paying a premium for clerkly talent? Theresa Wardon explains:

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Overall, we think that clerkships equip our lawyers with skills and knowledge that help them to step into cases and contribute meaningfully for clients from day one. Clerks spend a year (or two) focused on high-level research and writing, which is valuable in itself, but particularly so because, as a clerk, you’re working directly for the judge. There’s no senior associate or junior partner above you to whom you could pass the buck. The same is true here. We staff leanly, so our associates are generally working directly with a partner.

This model allows us to provide us the early experience that I mentioned previously. For instance, nearly 80 percent of our associates took depositions last year, 30 percent argued in court, and 100 percent had direct client contact. I personally had a jury trial where I crossed a witness in my first year of practice. As an associate, I had five jury trials, four in which I took witnesses and argued motions and jury instructions. I also argued three appeals as an associate. I know that for me my clerkship experience has been invaluable in my own practice, both on the trial and appellate level.

Some 80 percent of Wheeler Trigg’s associates have had state or federal clerkships. Firm-wide, it boasts 24 lawyers with federal circuit court clerkships and 15 with federal district court clerkships.

But Wheeler Trigg, as an elite boutique, isn’t big enough to move the market. Are any Biglaw firms upping the clerkship bonus ante? We’ve heard a rumor of one major player paying six-figure clerkship bonuses — and no, we’re not talking about Kellogg Huber ($175,000) or SCOTUS clerkship bonuses ($300,000 or more) — but we have not yet confirmed it. If you can shed some light on this subject, please contact us email (subject line: “Clerkship Bonus”) or text (646-820-8477). Thanks.

Best Midsize Law Firms to Work For [Vault]

Earlier: Clerkship Bonus Watch: Will $75K Become The New Standard?

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