Associate Bonus Watch: Irell Announces Mid-Year Bonuses
Law firm bonus news keeps on coming. The latest windfalls are being paid out by Irell & Manella, which just announced "mid-year bonuses."
Associate Bonus Watch: Hughes Hubbard Makes ‘Special Bonuses,’ As It Would Have Been Stupid To Call Them Spring Bonuses
Earlier this week, Hughes Hubbard & Reed finally got around to issuing spring bonuses. Oh, we can’t call them “spring” bonuses, because Hughes Hubbard is calling them “special” bonuses. But make no mistake, this is a spring bonus HHR has just taken a long time to get around to. Unlike Cahill, which just gave their […]
Paying for Law School in 2025: A Straight-Talk Playbook
Juno has consistently secured the best private loan deals for students at the Top MBA programs since 2018—now they’re bringing that same offer to law students, at no cost. Students can check their personalized offers at juno.us/atl This article is for general information only and is not personal financial advice.
Associate Bonus Watch: Cahill Gives Out ‘Mid-Year’ Bonuses
All right everybody, be cool, no need to break out the Drudge siren. Yes, Cahill Gordon, which previously smashed the year-end associate bonus market back in December, has just announced “mid-year” bonuses. But this announcement is unlikely to start a trend. Remember, because Cahill’s bonuses were already so high, the firm did not announce spring […]
King & Spalding: More DOMA Drama, Plus Salary and Bonus News
Some people, including crisis communications experts, think that King & Spalding should just shut up already about the DOMA debacle. The firm agreed to represent the House of Representatives in defending the controversial Defense of Marriage Act, and then almost immediately turned around and withdrew from the representation. This prompted the departure from the firm […]
In Defense of Kaye Scholer
While performing here at the ATL Cabaret on Wednesday night, the celebrated drag queen of Biglaw, Kaye Scholer, was pelted with rotten fruit — by her own associates. If you haven’t done so already, do check out their rage-filled rants. (If nothing else, they’ll make you feel better about your own firm.) As we’ve stated […]
Growing Discontent at Kaye Scholer
We previously compared the law firm of Kaye Scholer to a drag queen. Kaye Scholer, Kay Scholer — geddit? Well, some associates at Kaye Scholer claim they’ve seen underneath all the make-up — and it’s not pretty. This contestant would not go far in RuPaul’s Drag Race. In terms of responses to our recent discussion […]
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Associate Bonus Watch: DLA Piper’s People Pipe Up — and They’re Not Happy
DLA Piper has released some information about its associate compensation and bonus payouts, and some associates who work for the firm are unhappy. Why? I don’t really know. I don’t know why they thought that working for the largest firm in the world would be a good thing when it came time to pay out […]
Which Firms Are Definitely NOT Paying Spring Bonuses?
It’s April 29. Monarchists have long circled this day as an opportunity to praise the vestigial structures of imperial domination. But this day means a lot to people who earn their fortune through work instead of birth. Today is a huge day for Biglaw associates. For many, today is the day spring bonus payments hit […]
Associate Bonus Watch: Schulte Will Pay Spring Bonuses, But You’ll Need To Jump Through Some Hoops First
The funny thing about spring bonuses is that nobody really planned on them. Firms really thought they were going to be able to get through bonus season paying Cravath’s lowball initial bonuses. Remember when Cravath seemingly set the market, and there was that one partner caught saying “thank God”? That’s what firms were thinking. Well, […]
Associate Salary Watch: Wilson Sonsini Restores Pay to Pre-Freeze Scale
It appears that Larry Sonsini, chairman and name partner of the high-powered Wilson Sonsini law firm, is a very good golfer. Earlier this year, while playing golf to celebrate his 70th birthday, the legendary lawyer scored a hole in one. Sonsini isn’t the only one who’s scoring over at 650 Page Mill Road. His partners […]
Associate Bonus Watch: Akin Gump Jumps on Spring Bonus Bandwagon
It’s definitely a good Friday over at Akin Gump. The firm just announced spring bonuses. Better late than never. We’ve been receiving complaints from financially achin’ Akin associates for weeks. Earlier this month, for example, one Akin Gump lawyer complained about the firm not paying spring bonuses despite robust profits in 2010 (profit per partner […]
Open Thread: Class of 2010 Associate Bonus Bitch-Fest
Personally, I think it’s time for Biglaw associates in the class of 2010 to drink a tall glass of shut the hell up. They got jobs at a time when many of their classmates did not. They received $160K salaries just after there was a significant effort by some firms to push starting salaries down […]
Associate Bonus Watch: Vinson & Elkins Gives Me A Headache Takes Spring Bonuses to Texas
The law firm of Vinson & Elkins, one of Texas’s top shops, once represented Enron. I was reminded of this fact in trying to write up V&E’s bonus news (year-end bonuses and spring bonuses, which the firm just announced). Lawyers at Vinson & Elkins seem to thrive on complexity — in the service of hiding […]
Associate Bonus Watch: Quinn Emanuel Matches Spring Bonuses at 2000 Hours — Then Things Get Crazy Fun
In an earlier round-up on spring bonus stragglers, we talked about Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, and Quinn Emanuel. Latham and Kirkland made spring bonus announcements a short while after our post, and now Quinn Emanuel is following suit. Actually, not “following” — depending on how hard they work, QE associates can beat the […]
Associate Bonus Watch: Mayer Brown Announces Supplemental Bonuses
On Friday, the firm of Mayer Brown announced supplemental bonuses for its U.S.-based associates (a few hours before Quinn Emanuel, which we’ll write up on Monday; we try to limit weekend writing because so few of you are around to read it). Mayer Brown is using the Cravath spring bonus scale (shocker). The bonuses will […]