Associate Bonus Watch
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Did MoFo Just Use Cravath as an Excuse to Screw Over New York Associates?
Today we offer more evidence that if you are an associate working and living in New York, you are a chump. You are paying a higher cost of living than anywhere else in the country, and you're not getting paid any more for the effort. In fact, if you work at Morrison & Foerster, you might be getting a smaller bonus just because you work in New York.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Associate Salaries, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Bingham McCutchen's 'Extraordinary' Bonuses
Congratulations to Bingham McCutchen, which recently earned a spot on Fortune's best companies to work for -- for the eighth year in a row. And congratulations to Bingham's nine new partners. And congratulations to high-billing associates at Bingham. They were rewarded with "extraordinary" bonuses, as set forth in the firm's bonus memo.... - Sponsored
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Orrick's Merit-Based Matrix Continues to Be the Most Transparent
The firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has been a leader in instituting a merit-based compensation system. Two aspects of their system make Orrick’s commitment to merit-based seem genuine: 1. Partners put in significant time so that merit evaluations are more than just hours cut-offs. 2. Orrick is transparent about how many people get paid. […]
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Associate Salaries, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money, Silicon Valley
Associate Bonus Watch: Wilson Sonsini Announces Bonuses and Base Salary Scale
Yesterday, everyone was talking tech, thanks to Facebook's upcoming IPO. In light of how Silicon Valley is dominating the news cycle, it seems fitting to discuss the recent bonus and salary news from Wilson Sonsini -- one of SV's top firms, and counsel over the years to many startup companies turned tech giants. So what kind of bonuses did WSGR just announce? Let's find out.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Finnegan Deals Nice Merit Bonuses to the Worthy
I was getting a little worried yesterday about the state of Biglaw bonuses. But a new day brings a new hope. Yesterday, Law360 (subscription req.) reported that Finnegan broke off a huge bonus payment that once again highlights how cheap Cravath and other Biglaw firms following Cravath have been this season. Don’t get me wrong, […] -
Arnold & Porter, Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Finally, Someone Is Paying Less Than Cravath
Yesterday's bad news was that after a trend of firms easily topping the low bonuses set by the former "market leaders" at Cravath, we're now looking at a firm that claims it is top tier, but is paying demonstrably less than the already sad CSM bonus amount. Maybe making a pathetic bonus payment isn't so much of an issue in Washington, D.C.? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Latham Bonus Out, No Word on Spring Bonuses
Well, spring bonuses are officially late. Last year, Sullivan & Cromwell announced spring bonuses on January 21. Here we are on January 23rd, and we're still waiting. But in other bonus news, the latest firm to make Cravath bonuses look small is Latham & Watkins. Their median bonus is especially more generous than CSM's as people become midlevel or senior associates.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Associate Salaries, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Bonuses, Money, Pro Bono
Associate Bonus Watch: Goodwin Procter Makes Good
Tomorrow, associates at Goodwin Procter will receive individualized news of their bonuses. You may recall that last month, when ATL’s new director of research, Brian Dalton, compiled a list of Biglaw’s ten most generous firms — i.e., the ten firms that pay the best bonuses, when measured against their profits per partner — Goodwin did […] - Sponsored
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American Bar Association / ABA, Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Bloomberg, Bonuses, Job Searches, Law Schools, Partner Issues, Partner Profits, Unemployment, Videos, YouTube
Is the Legal Recession Finally Ending?
At the start of this new year, what is the outlook like for legal employment? There's certainly a fair amount of bad news out there, particularly for recent law school graduates. But what about for denizens of Biglaw, the lawyers fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to work at the nation's largest law firms? What does 2012 hold for them? Earlier this month, Elie made some predictions for the legal profession. Lat will follow in his footsteps and venture some prophecies of his own for the year.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Dechert's Bonus Is Contingent On Something That Sure Sounds Like Billable Hours
Just after Christmas, Dechert announced its 2011 end-of-year bonuses. We guess you'd call it a "match" of the Cleary Gottlieb scale. Dechert is paying a pro-rated bonus to first-year associates and has a top payment of $42,500 for very senior associates. But Dechert isn't a lockstep firm. You have to meet a requirement in order to get the bonus.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Kasowitz Benson, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Kasowitz Rewards Superior Legal Minds
Today's bonus news comes to us from Kasowitz Benson. The litigation powerhouse, which describes itself as "a national law firm primarily focusing on complex and sophisticated commercial litigation, numbering 375 lawyers," announced its bonuses last Thursday, January 5. So how much is Uncle Marc paying to the superior legal minds who work for him? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Irell Whacks Cravath, Again
As we've been saying, it's not that hard to give your associates a better bonus than what they're doling out at Cravath. At the elite California firm of Irell & Manella, they do it every year. Once again, Irell has issued bonuses that put Cravath's to shame. No muss, no fuss -- multiple sources tell us the the bonuses were much bigger than the Cravath bonuses. So how much bigger are we talking about? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Cheapness, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Who's Still Waiting for Their Bonus Announcement?
While it might be fun for Cravath and Sullivan & Cromwell to play chicken over who will announce spring bonuses first, there are a whole bunch of firms who are just sitting around waiting to find out how much they are going to have to pay. And there are a bunch of associates who are starting to wonder if they'll be getting any kind of bonus at all. So who did we miss? Who still owes you a bonus announcement?
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Ho-Love, Hogan & Hartson, Lovells, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Hogan Lovells
In our recent post on the top 10 most generous large law firms, the firm of Hogan Lovells placed second. Under the rankings, this meant that Hogan partners are taking the second-biggest hit to their own bottom lines in order to keep their associates happy and well-compensated. But is this still the case today? Based on what we're hearing about the most recent Hogan bonuses, one wonders whether the Ho-Love partners have turned from Santas into Scrooges.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Crime, Insider Trading, Money, White-Collar Crime
Associate Bonus Watch: Fried Frank Announces Bonuses 'Up to $52,500'
Here’s a Fried Frank bonus for you: Matthew Kluger, the former Fried Frank associate who sued the firm for alleged discrimination, is going to prison. As you may recall, Kluger — who also worked as an associate at other top law firms, including Cravath, Skadden, and Wilson Sonsini — was charged in a massive insider […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: A Nice Bonus At Kirkland & Ellis, Assuming Cravath Remains Cheap
Earlier this week, Kirkland & Ellis associates started receiving phone calls about their bonuses. Many associates are reporting that their bonuses "shattered the market." It's important to note that Kirkland has a "black box" bonus structure, in which the payouts are highly individualized and based on performance and hours. Every year, there are some winners and losers. And right now, we're hearing a lot of chatter from K&E winners.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Updates and Addenda
In the world of Biglaw, the subject of bonuses is a hot-button issue. People will disagree, often vehemently, on whether the bonuses paid by a particular firm are generous or cheap. Some of our recent bonus posts have generated salient updates and dissenting opinions. After the jump, we bring you postscripts regarding bonuses at several major law firms, including Cravath, Kaye Scholer, Quinn Emanuel, Sidley Austin, and Weil Gotshal.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Dewey Get Bonuses? Why Yes, You Do!
This actually happened last Wednesday — but, due to the less-than-exciting nature of the news, we doubt anyone has been prejudiced by our delay in reporting it. The law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf announced associate and counsel bonuses, on the Sullivan & Cromwell scale (i.e., the Cravath scale, but topping out at $42,500 instead […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Cheapness, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Schulte Roth & Zabel Leaves a Trail of Bonus Crumbs
Schulte Roth & Zabel really came up with a creative way to make this terrible bonus season even worse for SRZ associates. Schulte is matching the Cravath scale, but not all at once. Half of the bonus is being paid now, the other half in March. It's Schulte's way of issuing a retention bonus without actually spending any extra money.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Bonuses, john quinn, Litigators, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Quinn Emanuel Rewards High Billers
It seems that founding partner John Quinn isn't the only one at Quinn Emanuel with a surplus of Benjamins right about now. On Friday, the litigation powerhouse announced its 2011 year-end bonus scale -- and, for the most part, it's more generous than the benchmark Cravath bonus scale....