Biglaw

Biglaw Firm Won't Give Associates Fall Special Bonuses, But Makes Vague Promises About Year-End Bonuses

Associates are torn as to what it all means.

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Another day, another Biglaw firm’s associates are told to wait on COVID appreciation bonuses. Last month it seemed like all the elite in Biglaw would just have to spread their considerable wealth with associates in the fall, but now the tide has turned.

Let’s go through a little special fall bonus history, shall we? Cooley started the COVID appreciation bonus game, and it was exciting when Davis Polk came over the top of the Cooley scale. And firms quickly started piling on this new bonus scale. Weil did their own, seemingly unpopular, hours-based bonus, but, still, it was better than no bonuses at all.

But, sigh, Kirkland — the world’s richest law firm — begged off fall special bonuses, and seemed to be asking the market not to follow the trend. And Cravath seconded that. And that was… pretty much all she wrote. With the exception of Willkie Farr, the only bonus news Biglaw has had is a lot of nothing, as firms are just asking associates to wait for market bonuses.

So it really isn’t a surprise that Cahill announced on Friday that their associates will have to wait until the year-end bonuses to see any financial appreciation for their hard work during this difficult time. But the firm did note that, whenever 2020 bonuses happen, they’ll “reflect prevailing market bonus activity across the New York area (including covid related bonuses).” But what that means is up for debate. One tipster told Above the Law “Cahill is paying COVID bonuses!”

Others…. well, they took a harsher view on the firm’s note:

The firm has repeatedly said this has been our best year ever throughout the year, so it’s kind of hard to understand why they are deciding to delay this, but not super surprising given how unbelievably cheap they are.

The least they could have done is respect us enough to give us an explicit answer as opposed to referring to “prevailing market bonus activity”. Nice seeing a “market leader” in compensation proudly announce they’re a second tier firm.

Hopefully when year-end bonuses roll around, Cahill associates will find the wait was worth it.

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You can read the firm’s full announcement on the next page.

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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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