Kirkland & Ellis Delights With Extra Special Bonuses For Some Of The Hardest Workers At The Firm

Kudos to the firm!

onDecember 4, 2020 at 12:12 PMDecember 4, 2020 at 11:37 AM

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: more Biglaw firms should be giving special COVID appreciation bonuses to their staff. It’s been a hard year for everyone, and while we here at Above the Law have been vocal in applauding the associate special bonuses that are sweeping the elite of Biglaw, it’s important to remember Biglaw is not made of lawyers alone. So kudos to the firms going out of their way to appreciate (with cash) their support staff.

The latest firm to dip into their pockets to say thank you to staff is Kirkland & Ellis, the firm that has a stranglehold on the top of the Am Law rankings. They’re offering a special bonus — yes, on top of the usual year-end bonuses — of 5 percent of salaries, plus an additional 1 percent to their retirement accounts. From the memo by John Ballis, K&E’s chair (full memo available on the next page):

As a tangible expression of our appreciation, in addition to our regular merit-based salary increases and year-end bonuses, the share partnership will be providing our administrative staff members with a thank you gift equivalent to 5% of your 2020 base salary in a cash bonus, and an additional 1% of your annual base salary in your retirement account*. These funds will be paid in December, and details will be shared in the coming days from your local leadership.

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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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headshot 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).