Bonuses are making their way through Biglaw! By and large, the industry had a successful year, and firms are sharing that monetary success with the attorneys who made it all possible. That’s good news for associates who spent the year billing and could use some extra cash to (probably) pay down their student loans.
The latest firm to announce bonuses — of both the annual and special varieties — is Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer. The firm made $961,900,000 in gross revenue last year, making it 46th on the Am Law 100. As expected, the firm will be matching the prevailing market rate on those bonuses.
Associates in good standing will get bonuses according to the following grid:

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Year-End Bonus | Special Bonus | ||
Class of | 2021 | $15,000 | |
Class of | 2020 | $20,000 | $4,000 |
Class of | 2019 | $30,000 | $6,000 |
Class of | 2018 | $57,500 | $11,500 |
Class of | 2017 | $75,000 | $15,000 |
Class of | 2016 | $90,000 | $18,000 |
Class of | 2015 | $105,000 | $21,000 |
Class of | 2014+ | $115,000 | $23,000 |
The firm also said that supplemental year-end bonuses — valued at 20 percent of an associate’s year-end bonus — are available. But (and it’s a big but), only for those who worked 2,600 hours (2,400 of which must be billable).
You can read the full memo on the next page.

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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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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. 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).