Biglaw

Am Law 100 Firm Jumps Into Spring 2021 Special Bonus War

This is on top of the thousands of dollars of reward bucks the firm announced just two weeks ago.

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Spring is in the air, and a new Biglaw bonus war is upon us. Willkie Farr got the ball rolling last Friday when the firm announced that it would be offering bonuses of up to $40,000 to its associates, half this spring, and half in the fall. Davis Polk one-upped Willkie just yesterday, offering special bonuses of up to $64,000 to both associates and staff, again in two separate payments (with a larger payment in the fall).

And now… we have our first match!

Fenwick & West announced special bonuses today in the range of $12,000 to $64,000, depending on class year, matching the DPW scale (including counsel). Bonuses will be paid to those on track to bill 1,950 creditable hours or more for 2021, measured pro rata as of April 30 and August 31, for May and September payments. Here’s the Fenwick bonus scale (flip to the next page to see the memo):

These special bonuses come in addition to the rest, relaxation, and recreation rewards the firm announced about two weeks ago. Here’s a bit more on that (and the full memo is available on the next page):

Fenwick suggests that these reward monies be used on rest (vacations, hotels, airfare (when safe), car rentals), recreation (bicycles, paddleboards, hot-tubs, gaming systems), and relaxation (spa visits, skin care, new mattresses, luxury bedding). The firm is trying to keep associates from burning out and leadership is “working hard to reduce the pace of work to levels that are sustainable for [employees’] long-term enjoyment of work and life.”

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Congratulations to everyone at the firm on the big-time bonus bucks and health and wellness rewards. You’ve certainly earned it!

Which firm will be next to hop aboard the bonus bandwagon? We’ll be watching.

(Flip to the next page to see the full memos from Fenwick & West.)

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.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), 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. Thanks for all of your help!

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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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