Which Biglaw Firm Is Now Offering $105K Clerkship Bonuses?
Clerkship bonuses have remained stagnant through the recession, but it's time for the market to move.
One of the many benefits of having a federal clerkship is the extra bonus you’ll receive if you decide to head to a Biglaw firm post-clerkship. Though the national average for such signing bonuses is about $50,000, back in 2016, Quinn Emanuel started a trend by raising its law clerk signing bonus to $75,000. Several firms followed Quinn’s lead, increasing their own clerkship signing bonuses above the national average, and in some cases, above even Quinn Emanuel’s new market high.
Since then, things have been quiet on the clerkship bonus market — until now.
Quinn Emanuel has once again raised the stakes when it comes to recruiting the type of high quality attorneys who typically clerk for members of the federal judiciary. In a form letter sent to chambers, the firm touts a signing bonus of $105,000 for clerks who join the firm post-clerkship. This is a huge jump from the $75,000 rate the firm introduced just two years earlier, and an absolutely humongous leap from the $50,000 rate many firms that claim to be “peer” are offering their federal clerks.
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Quinn Emanuel recently responded to our inquiry, noting that the letter is accurate, and applies to both Circuit and District Court clerks. In fact, the same information is now listed on the U.S. Compensation and Benefits page of the firm’s website, as well as its Frequently Asked Recruiting Questions page.
That letter that’s going around federal chambers contains the following language:
When you consider options to continue your career after your clerkship, we hope you will give serious thought to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. We are very proud of the large number of law clerks who have come to practice at our firm. We have nearly 200 lawyers who clerked for United States District Courts, Circuit Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. The experience law clerks receive is invaluable to our practice. That is why we make recruitment of law clerks a top priority and the reason why we pay judicial clerks a $105,000 signing bonus. Clerks who have completed two qualifying clerkship[s] receive an additional $20,000 bonus.
You can read more from Quinn Emanuel’s law clerk recruitment letter on the next page.
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Clerkship bonuses have remained stagnant through the recession, but perhaps this move by Quinn Emanuel will be enough to move the market. After all, first-year associates at the vast majority of Biglaw firms are now making salaries of $180,000 — shouldn’t bonuses for elite judicial clerks be raised in turn? Federal clerks hope so.
Will any firms meet or beat Quinn Emanuel? Please feel free to let us know if your firm is paying a clerkship bonus in excess of $50,000 — or QE’s last high of $75,000 — for one clerkship. You can email us or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks!
(Flip to the next page to read the key language from the Quinn Emanuel letter.)
Earlier: Clerkship Bonus Watch: Will $75K Become The New Standard?
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Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
