Biglaw, Bonuses

Associate Bonus Watch: Cravath Announces Its 2017 Associate Bonuses!

Lawyers get exciting holiday news!

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UPDATE: Other firms are already following suit! Follow all the action here.

It’s that time of the year again. Once more, associates gather around their computers to fervently press refresh on the Above the Law main page (or subscribe to the ATL Bonus Alert newsletter!) to see if they’re going to be getting some good news or a proverbial lump of coal from the partners.

Bonus season is upon us and as usual, the legal industry’s lord and master Cravath, Swaine & Moore has set the tone for the season by announcing the first round of bonuses that every other top-tier Biglaw firm will dutifully follow… and every firm that doesn’t will be bracing for recruiting season.

Well, let’s see what the folks at Cravath are getting this year:

Class of 2017 — $15,000 (pro-rated)
Class of 2016 — $15,000
Class of 2015 — $25,000
Class of 2014 — $50,000
Class of 2013 — $65,000
Class of 2012 — $80,000
Class of 2011 — $90,000
Class of 2010 — $100,000
Class of 2009 — $100,000

For those keeping score, this is the same bonus scheme we saw in 2016 and 2015 (both from Cravath), and in 2014 (from Davis Polk curb-stomping Simpson’s effort to set the market). Meet the new bonus, same as the old bonus.

This means a Cravath first-year will earn $195,000 and eighth-years will earn $415,000. Not a bad haul in an economy that looks to be slowing. The tale of 2017 in the legal market is the continuing decline in demand for legal services overall. The elite firms can continue raising rates to compensate because there’s still some elasticity for their brand-name services… but just how long can that hold? Technology allows clients to move more in-house, small firms and boutiques are earning more client trust, and when clients reach the end of the rope they’ve given the Am Law 50 (or maybe even 25) to charge higher and higher rates, the elite firms might find themselves in the quagmire that afflicts the rest of the Am Law 200.

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But enough depressing news for today! Let’s worry about all that for your 2018 bonuses. Get out there and celebrate this bonus today. Buy yourself something nice.

What do you think about these bonuses? Feel free to let us know by email, text (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). We might update this story by quoting your comments — anonymously, of course — if they’re insightful or amusing. You can also vote in the reader poll below.

Please help us help you when it comes to bonus news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”). We always keep our sources anonymous — and that includes our sources for bonus stories. There’s no need to send the memo using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. Please be sure to include the memo as proof; we like to post complete bonus memos as a service to our readers. You can take a photo of the memo and attach as a picture if you are worried about metadata in a PDF or Word file. You can also text us if you prefer, at 646-820-8477. Thanks for your help.

My reaction to the Cravath bonus announcement is:

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Check out the memo on the next page…

UPDATE (11/27/17 4:02 p.m.): That was fast! Milbank has already matched.

Earlier: How Well Did Biglaw Perform Financially In The Third Quarter?
Top Firms Build Bigger Gap Over The Field… Like They Do Every Quarter
Top Firms Get Richer In Otherwise Poor Year For The Legal Industry

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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