Biglaw Bonus Season Can't Stop, Won't Stop
Associates can earn up to a 30 percent premium on their year-end bonuses.
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It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving and Biglaw bonus season has kicked into high gear! The annual tradition lets associates at Biglaw firms know just how big their bonuses will be and this year, in addition to year-end bonuses, the elite of Biglaw have also thrown in special “2020 was awful” bonuses to add to the joy of the season.
Today, Fried Frank announced year-end bonuses, in line with the prevailing market rate. The bonus scale is as follows (you can read the full memo on the next page):
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It’s nice to see that Fried Frank has done right by their associates by (finally) ponying up the money for special bonuses. Back in the fall, Fried Frank was among the Biglaw firms to delay COVID appreciation bonuses. But now all is right with the world as associates will receive market rate special bonuses starting at $7,500 and increasing to $40,000, depending on class year, which are in addition to the year-end bonus numbers.
The year-end bonuses are subject to the firm’s standard criteria (2,000 hours comprised of billable hours, firm matter hours, pro bono hours — including 20 mandatory — and qualifying non-billable hours), but the good news is that the special bonuses are free from any productivity requirements. Also, all associates “are again eligible to receive a premium of 15% or 30% above the year-end bonus amount for their class.” Though the requirements for this extra money aren’t set out in the memo, one imagines extra high billers are those in the front of the line for them.
All bonuses will be paid on December 31st.
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As always, we depend on 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.
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Kathryn 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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