Associate Bonus Watch 2011

How big were bonuses at Wachtell Lipton over the past few years?

Some associates at Boies Schiller are wondering about missing or smaller April bonus payments. What's going on?

Sullivan & Cromwell has announced spring bonuses. And they're WEAK....

Quinn Emanuel will be paying spring bonuses!

Bonuses have been announced at Jenner & Block. Managing partner Susan Levy provided us with some information.

As we wait for spring bonuses (will they ever come?), let's catch up on regular bonus news. McDermott Will & Emery announced bonuses last week. How were they?

How are things - including, but not limited to, associate bonuses - looking at O'Melveny & Myers?

In terms of firm finances, Paul Hastings had a perfectly decent 2011. Revenue and profits were fairly stable; on the bright side, revenue per lawyer surpassed the $1 million mark for the first time. So how are those revenue-generating worker bees being compensated? Bonuses are out at Paul Hastings. How are PH associates reacting?

Are Cravath associates now getting spring bonuses? What gives?

Baker Botts bonuses are out. How are they looking?

Winston & Strawn has announced its associate bonuses. How are they looking?

Thanks to everyone who responded to our recent request for information about 2011 bonuses at Morgan Lewis & Bockius. Here's our report on bonuses at MLB. How are Morgan Lewis associates feeling about their bonuses? We'll get the ball rolling with some tips that we've received....

Today we offer more evidence that if you are an associate working and living in New York, you are a chump. You are paying a higher cost of living than anywhere else in the country, and you're not getting paid any more for the effort. In fact, if you work at Morrison & Foerster, you might be getting a smaller bonus just because you work in New York....

Congratulations to Bingham McCutchen, which recently earned a spot on Fortune's best companies to work for -- for the eighth year in a row. And congratulations to Bingham's nine new partners. And congratulations to high-billing associates at Bingham. They were rewarded with "extraordinary" bonuses, as set forth in the firm's bonus memo....

The firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has been a leader in instituting a merit-based compensation system. Two aspects of their system make Orrick’s commitment to merit-based seem genuine: 1. Partners put in significant time so that merit evaluations are more than just hours cut-offs. 2. Orrick is transparent about how many people get paid. […]

Yesterday, everyone was talking tech, thanks to Facebook's upcoming IPO. In light of how Silicon Valley is dominating the news cycle, it seems fitting to discuss the recent bonus and salary news from Wilson Sonsini -- one of SV's top firms, and counsel over the years to many startup companies turned tech giants. So what kind of bonuses did WSGR just announce? Let's find out....

I was getting a little worried yesterday about the state of Biglaw bonuses. But a new day brings a new hope. Yesterday, Law360 (subscription req.) reported that Finnegan broke off a huge bonus payment that once again highlights how cheap Cravath and other Biglaw firms following Cravath have been this season. Don’t get me wrong, […]

Yesterday's bad news was that after a trend of firms easily topping the low bonuses set by the former "market leaders" at Cravath, we're now looking at a firm that claims it is top tier, but is paying demonstrably less than the already sad CSM bonus amount. Maybe making a pathetic bonus payment isn't so much of an issue in Washington, D.C.?

Well, spring bonuses are officially late. Last year, Sullivan & Cromwell announced spring bonuses on January 21. Here we are on January 23rd, and we're still waiting. But in other bonus news, the latest firm to make Cravath bonuses look small is Latham & Watkins. Their median bonus is especially more generous than CSM's as people become midlevel or senior associates....

Tomorrow, associates at Goodwin Procter will receive individualized news of their bonuses. You may recall that last month, when ATL’s new director of research, Brian Dalton, compiled a list of Biglaw’s ten most generous firms — i.e., the ten firms that pay the best bonuses, when measured against their profits per partner — Goodwin did […]