Biglaw

Associate Bonus Watch: Biglaw Firm Gives Majority Of Associates Bonuses Bigger Than Cravath Scale

If a firm is going to wait three extra months to announce bonuses, at least they have the courtesy to beat the prevailing market scale.

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December *feels* more like bonus season than March. The end of the year and holiday season puts folks in a retrospective mood, plus there’s so much money rolling out — travel, gifts, parties — it’s nice to get a nice big check rolling in. But just because most Biglaw firms use the end of the calendar year as the marker doesn’t mean we are completely devoid of Biglaw bonus news.

Last week, McDermott Will & Emery began making their individualized bonus announcements. This week, the firm revealed that 51 percent of their associates got bonuses in excess of the Cravath scale — with the top billers exceeding the market rates by $60,000 or more.

If a firm is going to wait three extra months to announce bonuses, at least they have the courtesy to beat the prevailing market scale.

Check out the full email from MWE, below:

The reaction from ATL tipsters seems to be very positive so far:

McDermott announces bonuses today.  Haven’t talked to many people yet, but I am very happy.  2013 grad with high hours and good reviews, more than double Cravath market.

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So, MWE associates, how do these dollars stack up? Were you one of the lucky ones that managed to get an above-market bonus? Feel free to email us with any commentary — a fun or insightful comment could make its way into an update on this story.

Remember — bonus season isn’t over! 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 (646-820-8477), or tweet (@ATLblog). We always keep our sources anonymous — and that includes our sources for bonus stories. There’s no need to send the memo using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. Please be sure to include the memo as proof; we like to post complete bonus memos as a service to our readers. You can take a photo of the memo and attach as a picture if you are worried about metadata in a PDF or Word file. Thanks for your help.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. 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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