The January bonus game is in full swing, with the firms that waited until the new year to announce their annual bonus scale finally getting into the groove. Towards that end, sources say that Latham & Watkins let their associates know their bonus scale last week, and as is pretty habitual for the firm, most of the associates are getting bonuses above the market rate.
When Latham announces bonuses they provide not only the “base” bonuses — which line up with the market scale established by Cravath in November — but the median bonuses, which they also announce, tend to be above that standard, and there are even higher bonuses available for exceptional work. One difference between previous years’ bonus scale and this year’s is that the median rate for junior associates merely matches, not beats, the market. But still, the majority of classes are getting above market.
Here’s the Latham scale for your viewing enjoyment:
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Getting more than their competitors has become de rigueur for (most of) Latham’s associates, but it’s still a nice thank you for a hard year of work.
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Kathryn 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).