Biglaw

Hope For Fall Special Bonuses Is Fading Fast

Surprising? No. Disappointing? Yes.

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The hope that associates will receive fall special bonuses in recognition of their hard work during the pandemic has nearly been extinguished. It is November, the sun is setting earlier and earlier, and Biglaw’s normal bonus schedule is right around the corner. In that way, Cravath’s wait-and-see approach has become a model for large swaths of Biglaw, despite others like Davis Polk, Milbank, and Latham moving forward with special bonuses. But Cravath is still Cravath, and lots of firms have taken their lead on fall bonuses.

So, it really isn’t a surprise that during a recent town hall, Covington & Burling told associates no fall bonuses are on the way. From a tipster at the firm:

During [Monday’s] town hall with the associates, the Management Committee announced that it will not award any fall bonuses to associates, even though firm has very strong 2020 FY financial results.

At least the projected strong 2020 financial results bodes well for year-end bonuses that can bring the associates back up to market compensation.

So, Covington attorneys, how do you feel about the bonuses? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). A fun or insightful response — we’ll keep you anonymous — could find its way into an update to this story.

Please help us help you when it comes to bonus news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text us (646-820-8477). 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, 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.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).

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