Major Biglaw Firm Matches The 2022 Baker/Cravath Bonus Scale
It's bonus time at this leading law firm!
Cravath finally offered its seal of approval on the Baker McKenzie bonus scale last night, with some notable dissimilarities — the compensation leader included first-years while excluding eighth-years from its own scale. And so, Cravath has now officially kicked off Biglaw’s bonus season, while curiously offering other firms the option to leave their eldest associates out of the annual cash grab. (But do note, of course, that not being included in the lockstep bonus chart leaves room for sometimes great, sometimes not-so great individualized bonuses.) Now, another elite law firm has jumped to match the market rate as quickly as possible.
Which firm is the first to “match” Cravath’s Biglaw bonus scale?
McDermott Will & Emery — a firm that brought in $1,665,221,000 gross revenue in 2021 — is the first firm to hop on the Cravath bonus bandwagon. This is a blended Baker/Cravath bonus, in that the firm is handing out money to both first- and eighth-years at the firm. Bonuses at the firm will be paid to all associates in good standing on December 29, 2022. There’s just one teeny caveat: to be eligible for a bonus, an associate must have joined the firm prior to August 1, 2022.
Here’s the bonus scale, in case you’ve forgotten what it looks like:
- Class of 2022: $15,000 (pro-rated)
- Class of 2021: $20,000
- Class of 2020: $30,000
- Class of 2019: $57,500
- Class of 2018: $75,000
- Class of 2017: $90,000
- Class of 2016: $105,000
- Class of 2015+: $115,000
It’s worth noting that McDermott Will is paying significantly above these amounts for those who went “above and beyond.” Here’s an excerpt from the firm’s memo (available in full on the next page):
We are always committed to paying at—and above—the Cravath scale for those who meet our reasonable threshold. As you know, we do not use a lockstep model and we choose to use an individual merit-based system endorsed by our Associates’ Committee and Firm leadership. This approach provides for substantial incremental bonuses for those who go above and beyond in terms of hours expectations and performance. In fact, about 65% of our Associates will earn above the Cravath scale.
Congratulations to all MWE associates on the generous bonuses!
(Does this mean that associates’ hopes for another firm to step in and raise the bonus scale higher will be dashed? That’s uncertain, but we’ll be watching.)
Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm announces or matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). 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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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked 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.
