First Major Biglaw Firm Matches The 2020 Cravath Bonus Scale

It's bonus time at this leading law firm!

Less than an hour after Cravath officially kicked off the 2020 bonus season by matching Baker McKenzie’s year-end bonus scale and sweetening the pot by matching the Davis Polk special bonus scale, another elite law firm has jumped to match the market rate as quickly as possible.

Which firm is the first to match the official 2020 Biglaw bonus scale?

Paul Weiss is first firm to hop on the Cravath bonus bandwagon. Bonuses at the firm will be paid to associates on December 18.

It’s worth mentioning that almost two months ago, Paul Weiss refused to match the Davis Polk fall bonuses because it “would not be appropriate,” seeing as the firm’s clients and others were “experiencing unprecedented economic trauma” because of the pandemic. And yet… here’s the firm, matching those very bonuses now, when coronavirus cases are worsening, all because Cravath did it first.

UPDATE: Yes, we know that in early October, Paul Weiss “pledge[d] to retain [its] position as a market leader in compensation, taking into account any special bonuses paid by [its] peer firms.” We wrote about that here.

Here’s the Paul Weiss bonus scale:

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Congratulations to Paul Weiss associates on the nice bonuses!

(Flip to the next page to see the Paul Weiss bonus memo.)

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). 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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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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