Associate Bonuses

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?

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?

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 […]

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....

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....

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 […]

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....

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....

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?

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....

In this week’s Career Center Survey, we asked you to predict how Biglaw’s 2011 year-end bonuses will stack up against bonuses based on 2010 performance. Of the more than 700 responses we received, 28% of respondents think (or is hope the better word?) that the 2011 year-end bonus will be bigger than the combined 2010 […]

We’re about a month or so away from the arrival of the 2011 year-end bonus season. You know what that means: time to start freaking out. And maybe make a prediction while you’re at it. Take our short survey, brought to you by Lateral Link, and give us your best guess as to how Biglaw’s […]

File this under the category of “better late than never.” Holland & Knight never adopted spring bonuses like other Biglaw firms. Why? Who knows. The firm didn’t want to play ball. Whatever. Now the firm wants to put a little extra money into the pockets of Holland & Knight associates. Today, sources tell us that […]

There was no rational foundation to do [the spring bonuses]. It was not as if suddenly all the law firms in The Am Law 100 were minting money. — Ralph Baxter, longtime chairman and CEO of Orrick (shortly before he was overheard screaming at the Wheeling career associates to mint more money).

This week brought annual reviews and individual bonus news for associates at Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Today (Friday) is payday, so everyone at MLB should know their bonus by now (or fairly soon). Back in November, firm chairman Francis M. Milone stated that 2010 bonuses would be “substantially larger” than last year. So that set […]

Even though the holidays may be behind us, bonus news is not. Much of the big bonus news tends to come down in November and December, but announcements (and payments) continue into January, February, and beyond. So stay tuned for the latest updates. Yesterday we posted an open thread for discussion of firms that have […]

Over the holiday break, Irell & Manella announced its associate bonuses. Multiple sources are telling us that the Irell bonuses doubled the bonuses offered by Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, or their followers. That’s great news, but Irell associates are not particularly impressed. Irell doubled the small bonuses of Cravath and S&C last year, too. And […]

Yes, you read that headline correctly. Out of nowhere, Cahill Gordon & Reindel has decided to give out a mid-year bonus. Not Cravath, not S&C, but Cahill Gordon. The same Cahill Gordon that is one of the few firms to have significant layoffs in 2010. This is the firm that could push the market towards […]

Are we breaking the back of the recession? Today, we have news that Hughes Hubbard is making raises that put will put its associates back to pre-salary freeze levels. Here’s the salary information from the firm-wide memo: ANNUAL SALARIES In recognition of those efforts, we will be implementing raises in annual salaries in all offices […]

We’re still catching up on associate bonus news. There have been some memos we’ve missed, including some from last month (technically, last year). If we haven’t reported on your firm’s bonus announcement, please email us. Don’t assume that one of your colleagues will submit the memo; that’s not necessarily the case. Today we belatedly bring […]