Biglaw

Cleary Makes A Move In The Fall 2020 Bonus Wars

And associates don't think it was the right move to make.

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Just when we thought that all was lost for the fall bonus wars, with firm after firm refusing to offer additional monetary support to their associates through these tough times because it was apparently a “bad look,” Willkie entered the scene with the mic drop of a Davis Polk match. Would other firms dare to get back on board the bonus train and renew associates’ hopes?

Nah.

Willkie dropped its exciting news at around noon on Friday, and later that afternoon, Cleary stepped in it by announcing that there would be no early bonuses for associates. Here’s the memo that was sent via email:

Here are some of the immediate reactions we received from associates at the firm:

Cleary with the dick punch. Not surprising at this point.

General mid-level and senior consensus is that they’re unhappy but they knew it was coming given the silence. Email sent on a Friday afternoon and is so brief. It doesn’t even acknowledge the challenges of the pandemic or make clear that the firm will take these special bonuses into account for the year-end bonuses. Also LOL @ “we remain committed to paying competitive compensation, including bonuses.” If that was the case, we’d be getting this special bonus.

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Best of luck to all Cleary associates when it comes to getting the firm to ante up come year-end bonus time. Hopefully things will go your way.

As always, we depend on 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.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish.

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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