Spring is here, and associates at one firm are seeing green — the greenbacks of bonus money, that is. And they are pleased.
Here is one representative tipster, reporting on the bonus news delivered last week at McDermott Will & Emery:
Midlevel associate with high hours. Nearly double Cravath. I’m very happy, and everyone I’ve spoken with is very happy.
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This associate is not an outlier in getting an above-market bonus. From the memo (posted in full on the next page):
Late last week we announced Associate bonuses in all of our U.S. offices. We are pleased that a substantial number of our U.S. Associates have been awarded bonuses that exceed the Cravath scale. In fact, this year 50% of our U.S. Associates will receive bonuses in excess of the Cravath scale including Associates in each class year. The top bonuses in five Associate classes exceed the Cravath scale by at least $60,000.
Very nice. The nature of an individualized bonus system like MWE’s means that there will be some variation, but we have not heard any complaints (and we usually do when a firm doesn’t do right by its associates).
March might feel late for bonus news, but it’s consistent with past practice at McDermott. Last year, for example, the firm also announced in March.
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Will this be the last “2016” bonus announcement? Also, what prior announcements — even from weeks ago — have we missed?
If you know of bonus news that needs coverage, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text us (646-820-8477). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.
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Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: More Money At McDermott
David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at [email protected].