The bonus news is coming fast and furious today. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is trying to nail down the market at the Cravath level. Multiple tipsters sent in the STB bonus announcement and the firm is following Cravath at all class levels.

Regular Above the Law readers will note that there is absolutely no surprise about Simpson’s bonus. Last year at around this time — when there was still a clear separation between Skadden’s bonus and Cravath’s bonus — Simpson rushed in to follow Cravath.

Given that history, we don’t know a lot of people that expected Simpson to do anything other than follow Cravath. Long gone are the days when Simpson led the charge to $160K.

But don’t forget about Sullivan & Cromwell. The firm’s had a good year, and with all of its competitors falling in line behind Cravath, they could get some real market separation here with a bonus that is still smaller than what they paid out last year.

What a fun Friday. I wonder if anybody else will rush out a bonus announcement before five o’clock? I’m going to need another Red Bull.

Read the STB bonus memo, after the jump.

Bonus season is now in full swing. Sources report that Willkie Farr has announced bonuses and it is matching the Cravath scale.

Here’s the breakdown from a tipster:

From: The Executive Committee To: ASSOCIATES - NY; ASSOCIATES - DC Cc: PARTNERS - FIRMWIDE Sent: Fri Nov 20 11:11:01 2009 Subject: 2009 Associate Bonuses

The Executive Committee is pleased to announce the following year-end bonuses for associates:

Class of 2008: $7,500
Class of 2007: $10,000
Class of 2006: $15,000
Class of 2005: $20,000
Class of 2004: $25,000
Class of 2003: $30,000
Class of 2002 and senior: $30,000

Bonuses will be paid on December 18, 2009, consistent with our customary practices.
The Firm greatly appreciates the efforts of our associates over the course of the year.

Don’t feel bad, guys; there are a lot of great things you can do with $7,500.

More on Willkie’s bonuses after the jump.

Skadden has decided to match the Cravath scale.

Here’s the scale:

2008 — $7,500
2007 — $10,000
2006 — $15,000
2005 — $20,000
2004 — $25,000
2003 — $30,000
2002 — $30,000

With Skadden and Cravath on the same page, the rest of this bonus season might be devoid of any real drama. Associates will take their $7,500 and up and like it.

Skadden’s move here isn’t all that surprising. Last year, the firm doubled the Cravath payment. While that generated a lot of positive press for the firm, evidently good cheer isn’t something that shows up on the partners’ bottom line.

And you know that Cravath has to be happy about this. Now the firm won’t have to look like it paid low bonuses two years in a row.

We should expect the rest of the top firms to fall in line. Now the question turns to firms that are not in the position of Cravath, Skadden, and Cleary. Will they fall into line with the big boys, or might they go even lower?

Then again, how much lower can this bar really go?

After the jump, check out the memo senior associates got from Skadden about their Cravath bonus.

After Cleary announced its 2009 associate bonus, we asked you if the market had been set at the Cravath level. In response to the question “is it over,” 83% of you said “yes.”

Not so fast my friends. There was an all associates meeting at the D.C. office of Sidley Austin. Tipsters report that the Sidley bonus could be larger than it was last year.

Details from our tipsters after the jump.

Ed. note: This post was originally published at 4:27 p.m. today. We have changed the timestamp to place it at the top of the page, but we will eventually return it to its original place.

We have confirmed the news of a Cravath bonus match with multiple sources at Cleary Gottlieb. One exchange went something like this:

ATL: Any good news today?

CGSH: No. Cravath news. Bonus FAIL.

So the 2009 bonus market is probably going to coalesce around the Cravath-level bonuses — unless S&C shows up and trumps CSM. Stay tuned.

The timing of the announcement is telling. Usually bad news is saved for Friday afternoons, so it gets lost in the pre-weekend shuffle. Did CGSH view its bonus numbers as potentially disappointing to the recipients?

Perhaps. In our reader poll on the Cravath bonuses, a majority of respondents said the CSM bonuses made them either “unhappy” or “very unhappy” (the most popular choice). Approximately 30 percent said the bonuses made them “neither happy nor unhappy.” Under 20 percent said the bonuses made them “happy” or “very happy.”

The Cleary memo and another READER POLL, after the jump.

Monday, Cravath kicked off bonus season. Cravath’s announcement started a fresh round of bonus speculation.

We previewed bonus season in October. Before Cravath came out with its bonuses, we wrote:

The most common speculation we’ve heard is that this bonus season will defy the follow-the-leader market matching of the past. People expect that firms in a stronger financial position will pay more than firms in a weaker financial position. It sounds like simple economics, but we can’t remember the last time there was systemic bonus separation among top law firms.

Ashby Jones of the WSJ Law Blog had a similar thought after Monday’s news:

But the question on our minds: Will others follow in step with Cravath? In previous years, most firms have fallen right in line with the first mover. (Last year was an exception, though, with the lion’s share of firms giving bonuses equal to half of what Skadden paid out.)

After the jump, let’s see what others in the legal industry are saying about the future.

Year-end bonuses have been announced at the market-leading firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. And they are even lower than last year’s Cravath bonuses.

But look, this is 2009. Welcome to the Great Recession. Your true bonus is: you get to keep your job. That shouldn’t be taken for granted, even at Cravath.

Anyway, here’s the Cravath bonus scale for 2009 (via the WSJ Law Blog):

Class of 2008 — $7,500
Class of 2007 — $10,000
Class of 2006 — $15,000
Class of 2005 — $20,000
Class of 2004 — $25,000
Class of 2003 — $30,000
Class of 2002 — $30,000

Cravath’s bonus announcement is always important because the market tends to follow Cravath — as it did last year. Skadden’s 2008 bonuses, at roughly twice Cravath’s levels, were ignored.

Could this year be different? Are the Cravath bonus levels low enough such that a firm of similar or even lower prestige will try to better CSM? Or will other Biglaw shops simply avail themselves of the political cover provided by Cravath — which is arguably what happened last year, when Skadden’s generous bonuses went unmatched (excluding Wachtell)?

So, readers, what do you think? Read the FULL MEMO, take a READER POLL, and COMMENT — after the jump.

Ed. note: Above the Law has teamed up with Law Shucks, which has done excellent work translating all of the layoff news into user-friendly charts and graphs: the Layoff Tracker.

Last week we wrote that jobless claims were higher than expected and that predicting anything with any degree of confidence seemed pointless. This week, the number of people receiving unemployment benefits was lower than expected, the lowest levels in seven months, and that was before announcement that benefits will be extended again. Still, the best that can be said is that the cuts are slowing:

Companies are cutting fewer jobs as they see more evidence of a recovery, helped by government stimulus efforts and less weakness in housing and manufacturing. While a separate report today showed the economy expanded for the first time in more than a year, a rebound in hiring may take longer to materialize

So while things bounced around unpredictably in the broader market, we had two notable announcements in law-firm innovations this week. We’ll cut right to them after the jump.

It’s the last week of October. You know what that means? It means it is time to start rampant speculation about this year’s bonuses!

Last year at this time, we wrote:

Whenever the bonuses are announced, most people we are talking to agree that the overall numbers will be somewhat down from last year. A common thought is that top law firms will adopt the same basic bonus package as last year, but drop the “special” bonus compensation. This will cost associates between $10K and $50K depending on your year.

A mere three weeks after we wrote that, Skadden announced its bonuses, and our speculation proved to be prescient. For Skadden associates, the 2008 bonus was essentially the 2007 bonus minus the “special bonus.”

Of course, not everybody followed the Skadden plan. Cravath announced its bonus the next day, and it was half of what Skadden offered. Most other top law firms ended up following Cravath, and the market was set.

Last year firms were preparing for one of the worst legal economies that anyone can remember. What can we expect this year?

It’s the first Monday in October. There is a chill in the air, the Yankees and Red Sox are gearing up for the post-season (while the Mets mercifully go away), and the hearts and minds of Biglaw associates turn to their year-end bonuses.

Some have predicted a “no bonus” season, courtesy of the Great Recession. But DLA Piper has given Above the Law the first concrete bonus information of the season, and bonuses will be paid.

Associates at DLA Piper were informed on Friday that while this year’s bonus won’t meet last year’s half-Skadden levels, the firm will be paying bonuses this year. Sources report that DLA’s bonus will come in between $5,000 and $50,000. A tipster reported the news this way:

I’m just finishing up my first full calendar year at DLA. I’ve got a job, I’ve got a bonus. I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give. I WILL SURVIVE.

Congratulations.

DLA won’t make a final decision until January. But as of now, we have a market floor for bonuses, and it is greater than zero! That is pretty awesome.

Other good news from DLA Piper after the jump.

In this economy, if a newly-minted attorney can find a job, especially one paying over $100,000, she should be grateful. Based on our many conversations with law students and young lawyers, we think that most of them understand these new economic realities.

But not all of them. At least one Above the Law reader is still living in the heady days of “NY to 190.” Here’s what she wrote to us:

Can we put some pressure on firms that pay $160K to match at least those few firms that pay more than $160K (doesn’t a DC firm pay $180K and no, or little, bonuses?). It’s getting close to internal bonus discussion time, and any firm paying first years less than a $20K bonus will be paying less than those few firms, right?

Do we reward those firms paying a base of more than $160K with some positive press? If we do, does that put pressure on every other “peer firm” to remain a peer firm?

Honey, what recession-free universe are you living in? A sense of entitlement is so 2006.

A reality check, after the jump.

Last week, we reported on stealth layoffs at Sullivan & Cromwell. We mentioned that 15 to 20 associates were laid off (although subsequent reports we’ve received indicate the number may be closer to 30).

We also observed that S&C’s promised spring bonus would be an excellent opportunity to see if the layoffs were motivated by the economy, or by poor performance from the firm’s attorneys. Last week, I wrote:

This provides Sullivan with a rare opportunity to prove that its layoffs are performance based. If everything is fine, if the economy is not a factor, if the firm has really just laid off 15 to 20 “bad lawyers,” then maybe S&C will reward the good lawyers still at the firm?

Well, news is now trickling in about the special bonus S&C paid out late last week. Last year, the spring bonus was as much as $30,000 for eighth-year associates.

This year, sources report that eighth-year associates topped out at $8,500. For first-year associates, the spring bonus was $500.

No, I didn’t miss a zero.

One tipster reports general dissatisfaction with the bonus:

People here are mostly furious. We view it as extremely insulting to our intelligence that the firm would tell us this is about economic problems despite having sky-high PPP — almost a million above Skadden. Morale is terrible, both because of the stealth layoffs and the shameful bonuses. People are talking about leaving when the economy picks up.

It doesn’t sound like things are looking much better for summer associates. More details after the jump.

When we reported on the salary cuts at Nixon Peabody, we mentioned that the firm would allow associates to make up some of the money come bonus time. Here’s how the firm explained the opportunity:

With our new levels of base pay in place, we will be introducing a bonus program that offers the potential of up to 30% of base pay based on firm and individual performance. We believe this innovative pay structure will reward our highest performing associates while lowering total compensation for those who perform at lower levels.

We’ve gotten a look at Nixon’s proposed “up to 30%” bonus structure. This hasn’t been finalized, but here is what is going around the office:

Let’s break this down, after the jump.

We’ve already reported that Mayer Brown pushed back its start date for incoming first year associates to January 19, 2010.

But today, we’ve learned that Mayer Brown is also giving people the option of deferring for an entire year. A Mayer Brown spokesperson confirmed that the voluntary deferral will include a stipend of $5,000 per month:

[A]nyone in that class who voluntarily chooses to extend their deferral for any reason may do so, up to October 2010. Those who choose to take advantage of this option will receive a $5,000 monthly stipend.

The deferral option is being communicated to incoming first year associates over the phone, just in time for final exams.

Pushing back start dates is just one of many things going on a Mayer Brown right now. We have some new management details after the jump.