Biglaw Firm Benefits From Lowered Expectations This Bonus Season

Less-than-market bonuses, but some people are still happy.

Listen, not every firm can afford to pay their associates like the Cravaths of the Biglaw world. That’s okay. As long as the firm is transparent with their associates about their salary/bonus expectations, there’s not even too much that Above the Law can complain about.

But there’s no denying that after years of paying below-market salaries, and offering tiny raises this summer, associates at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner weren’t expecting the firm to break the bank this bonus season. And well, they didn’t. However, rather than lambasting the firm, at least some tipsters were left pleasantly surprised at the size of their (still not-market) bonuses.

Just look at these words from a glass-half-full-kinda associate:

BCLP bonuses came through today, and I am pleased! It’s much higher than I’d been lead to expect…. And, as a little lagniappe, the bonus will come through at the end of the week!

Well then! Congrats on your bonuses no matter how big they may be.

This is the bonus scale — with the hours threshold for each level — at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner this year:

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Senior associates — even those billing the most hours — are looking at a $20,000 – $40,000 deficit compared to their peers at elite Biglaw firms. But I guess that doesn’t seem that bad if you never expected it anyway.

(Read the full bonus memo on the next page.)

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”) 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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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).


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