Associate Bonus Watch
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Sidley's Bonus Match Draws Yawns From Associates
Elie has a disproportionate amount of lawyer friends who work at Sidley Austin. Their bonuses have caused all sorts of fun to happen in his inbox. The firm appears to be matching the market bonus in New York and D.C. We haven't seen the memo, but we understand that Sidley is matching the Cravath scale instead of the higher Sullivan & Cromwell mark.... -
Antitrust, Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money, Partner Issues
What Do Cravath Partners Say About The Bonuses To Other Biglaw Partners When They Think Nobody Is Listening?
A tipster let us in on an overheard conversation between Cravath partner Susan Webster and a Biglaw partner at a different firm. When we contacted her, Webster told us that the tipster mischaracterized the nature of her accidentally public conversation. But why don't you take a look, and prepare yourself for the possibility of a very sad spring.... - Sponsored
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Gibson Dunn Does Its Thing(Or: Gibson Dunn Open Thread -- 2011)
Partners at Gibson Dunn are conducting associate reviews this week. Associates receive news of how they’re doing — and how much they’ll be getting, in terms of bonuses that will be paid out later this month. As we’ve explained in 2010 and 2009, the GDC bonus system is not transparent and not lockstep. Instead, associates […]
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Clifford Chance and Covington Play the Match Game
MOAR BONUS NEWS! Enough with all this sadness about these pathetically low bonuses that Cravath has engineered for everybody. Let’s try to be positive. People are getting money. Yay money. Who can be sad when they are getting more money? In fact, I have a great idea: instead of just writing checks that reflect the […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Boutique Law Firms, Clerkships, Litigators, Money, Partner Issues, Susman Godfrey, Texas
Associate Bonus Watch: Susman Godfrey Pays Ten-Gallon Bonuses (and Announces New Partners)
Just as it did last year, the powerhouse litigation boutique of Susman Godfrey announced associate bonuses that put the bonus scales of most other firms to shame. Happy Holidays, Susman Godfrey associates! So, the Susman bonuses -- what are we looking at here? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: It's Cahill Time (aka Time for Cravath Associates To Feel Bad, Again)
Last year, Cravath initially low-balled the bonus market, and Cahill Gordon made them look foolish by using the Cravath scale as a floor for its bonuses. This year, Cravath has come out with another crappy bonus scale, and Cahill is beating the bag out of it again. This year, Cahill is making a "special bonus" payment right now, in time for everybody's next paycheck. This is before they even delve into the regular year-end bonuses that Cravath has set at such a low mark. So just how special are these special bonuses? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Cadwalader Matches S&C Bonus Scale
It’s beginning to look a lot like last year’s Christmas at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. CWT announced yesterday that it would be matching the Sullivan & Cromwell bonus scale. It starts at $7,500 for the class of 2010 and tops out at $42,500 for the class of 2003 and more senior. All bonuses will be […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Paul Weiss Matches
Bonuses have just been announced at Paul Weiss. The firm is matching what we’ll call the Cleary Gottlieb scale, which seems to be the most generous bonus schedule among the main-line law firms (i.e., excluding outliers like Boies Schiller and Wachtell Lipton). The Cleary scale provides for (1) prorated bonuses for class of 2011 members […] - Sponsored
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Davis Polk Matches
The pulchritudinous law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell just announced its year-end bonuses. Are they as hot as DPW attorneys? Apparently not. One of the sources who sent it our way had this one-word summary: "Ugh." Said a second: "Bummed but not surprised." Is there a stub bonus for the class of 2011? What about mention of spring bonuses? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Debevoise and Plimpton Matches S&C
This is my least favorite post to write every year. The Debevoise & Plimpton bonuses were just announced. So now it’s time for me to sit back and marvel at how much money I personally left on the table when I decided to quit Debevoise what feels like a lifetime ago. In fact, the very […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Simpson Thacher and Cleary Matching S&C
The floodgates are open and we are awash in bonus news. Sources are reporting that Simpson Thacher and Cleary Gottlieb are both matching the Sullivan & Cromwell bonus scale. That means a little extra money for those at the very top of the scale. But does it mean spring bonuses? -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Kaye Scholer Tries to Confuse By Matching Cravath's Year-End Bonus and Last Year's Spring Bonus
Read carefully, because Kaye Scholer is hoping you won't. The firm announced a match of the Cravath regular bonus from this season. And a match of the Cravath spring bonus from last season. But that has nothing to do with this season's spring bonus, which Sullivan & Cromwell alluded to. Keeping you apprised of the latest bonus shenanigans is what Above the Law is here for.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Sullivan & Cromwell 'Beats' Cravath -- and Promises Spring Bonuses
Sullivan & Cromwell has shown up to Bigfoot the partnership of Cravath -- sort of. It has announced a year-end bonus scale that is very similar to, but slightly better than, the Cravath bonus scale. And, more importantly, it has promised spring bonuses. Let's get into the specifics....
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Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Weil Matches Cravath (And There's Nothing 'Distinguished' About It)
After yesterday’s excitement over the Boies Schiller bonuses, we’re back to the Cravath scale. Today Weil Gotshal came out with its year-end bonuses. The firm is matching Cravath. Our sources report the Weil scale starts at $7,500 for full first-year associates — no stub-year bonus for the class of 2011, like at Milbank — and […] -
Akin Gump, Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Associate Salaries, Bonuses, Dewey & LeBoeuf, Ho-Love, Money, Partner Profits
Keeping Up With the Cravathians: The Ten Most Generous (or Foolish?) Law Firms
Cravath is among the most profitable firms in the world. We thought it would be interesting to see what the implications of matching Cravath are for those firms with much lower profit margins. Which firms’ partners willingly take the biggest hit by keeping up? Are these firms arguably more “generous”? After the jump, check out those firms that pay the largest percentage of PPP in bonuses.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, David Boies, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Boies Schiller Shellacks Cravath
The first firm to make Cravath associates feel impoverished this season appears to be Boies Schiller. Yep, the house that David Boies built is once again paying money to its people like bonuses are a reward for hard work. But some say the payouts don't appear to be quite as generous as last year. Others disagree. But you really don't have to try that hard to beat Cravath anymore... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Proskauer Matches
Let's keep the bonus news rolling. On Friday, our sources reported that Proskauer Rose matched the Cravath 2011 bonus scale. We now have the official firm memo. Apparently this news is likely to anger many Proskauer associates. Given that fact, we're not exactly sure why the firm was eager to be one of the early adopters of Cravath's bonus scale.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Job Survey, Money, Reader Polls
Bonus Season Blues
Perhaps you’ve already heard that Cravath announced its 2011 bonus scale on Monday (swiftly followed by Skadden and Milbank), and apparently it’s 2009 all over again. We can’t help but wonder if this bonus season’s dyspepsia is typical of lawyers and law students generally.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses
Associate Bonus Watch: Milbank Matches -- or Beats? -- Cravath and Skadden
Milbank Tweed matched the Cravath bonus scale for 2011. But wait -- did Milbank perhaps beat the Cravath and Skadden bonus scales? Let's look at the details of the Milbank bonus announcement.... -
Associate Bonus Watch 2011, Biglaw, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Skadden Matches Cravath
No surprises here: Skadden has matched the 2011 Cravath bonus scale. Given the sheer size of Skadden, in terms of attorney headcount, this announcement directly affects the pocketbooks of more lawyers than the Cravath news. Let's look at the memo, along with reactions from SASMF associates....