Tick, tock, tick, tock. Do you hear that sound, associates? All throughout Biglaw, it’s now bonus o’clock. You can expect your own firm’s bonus announcement to come any time now, but for the moment, the spotlight is on one of the highest-ranked Biglaw firms in the country.
Simpson Thacher & Barlett — a firm that brought in $1,844,627,000 gross revenue in 2020, placed it at No. 14 in the most recent Am Law 100 ranking — announced year-end bonuses a short time ago, and, of course, it’s a match.
| Class Year | Annual Bonus | Special Bonus |
| Class of 2021 | $15,000 (prorated) | N/A |
| 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 |
| Class of 2013 | $115,000 | $23,000 |
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Bonuses will hit associate bank accounts on December 30. Congratulations to everyone at the firm!
(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from Simpson Thacher.)
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 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.