Biglaw Bonus Bankroll: The Associate Compensation Scorecard (Fall 2019)

Biglaw Bonus Bankroll: The Associate Compensation Scorecard (Fall 2019)

Since we broke the news of the market bonus scale for associates at large law firms in the United States — a trend that was started by Milbank on Thursday, November 7, 2019, and finally followed by Cravath on Monday, November 11, 2019 — many firms have quickly fallen in line and matched the scale. It’s still quite early in bonus season, so we’ve yet to hear from firms offering statements on why they’ve failed to match the market, and dozens upon dozens of firms have remained completely silent thus far.

As usual, we are compiling a table of all the firms that have already matched the new bonus scale, the markets where those bonus matches were made, the minimum hours required to receive those bonuses (if available), and the date those bonuses will be paid. Today, we unveil that table for your viewing pleasure. We will be updating this table on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times, as news on bonuses is announced. If you see any information here that is incorrect or needs clarification, let us know.

Help us help you now (and if/when you decide to make a lateral move in the future). Let us know what your firm’s minimum billable hours targets are for bonus eligibility and when your firm will pay those bonuses. You generally must remain at your firm until the payout date to receive them, as stated in most memos, which could make it all the more difficult for you to leave your place of employment.

As a little reminder, we love covering the Biglaw bonus season, but we need your help. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”). We always keep our sources on bonus stories anonymous. 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.

Don’t forget, if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts, please enter your email address in the box below. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Cheers to a happy bonus season, everyone!

Firm	Date Matched	Offices Matched	Minimum Hours	Payout Date
Milbank Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011: $100K	FIRST MOVER November 7, 2019	All U.S. Offices London, UK Office Sao Paulo, Brazil Office All Asia Offices	None	On or before December 31, 2019
Cravath Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012: $100K	November 11, 2019	New York, NY	None	December 20, 2019
Paul Weiss Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 11, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	December 20, 2019
Holwell Shuster Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 12, 2019	New York, NY	None	On or before December 31, 2019
Fried Frank Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011+: $100K	November 12, 2019	All U.S. Offices + London, UK	2000 for market bonus (incl. 300 in pro bono and 125 qualified non-billable hours (e.g., recruiting, diversity, mentoring, training, client development, firm committees)); bonuses 15% or 30% above market at the 2200- and 2450-hour marks	On or before December 31, 2019
Clifford Chance Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011+: $100K	November 12, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	January 15, 2020
Cleary Gottlieb Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011+: $100K	November 12, 2019	All Associates/Int’l Lawyers on U.S. Salary Scale	None	December 13, 2019
Debevoise Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 12, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	“Payable … at year end”
Cadwalader Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 13, 2019	All U.S. Offices	1900 hours for a market bonus; bonuses 120% of market at 2200-hour mark	Last full week of February 2020
Freshfields Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011+: $100K	November 13, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	December 13, 2019
Proskauer Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011: $100K	November 13, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	December 20, 2019
Davis Polk Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 13, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	December 13, 2019
Skadden Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 14, 2019	All U.S. Offices	1800 “productive hours”; additional $10K bonuses available for Class of 2013+ for “extraordinary performance”	December 13, 2019
Ropes & Gray Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2017: $25K Classes of 2016+: Determined individually	November 14, 2019	All U.S. Offices	1900 hours (including pro bono) for market bonus	December 24, 2019
Shearman & Sterling Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 14, 2019	All U.S. Track Associates	None	January 15, 2020
Baker McKenzie Class of 2018: $15K Class of 2011+: $100K	November 14, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None; above-market bonuses for “exceptional performance”	January 31, 2020
Simpson Thacher Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011: $100K	November 15, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	December 30, 2019
Weil Gotshal Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011: $100K Class of 2010+: Case by case basis	November 15, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	January 31, 2020
Sidley Austin Class of 2018: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011+: $100K	November 20, 2019	All U.S. Offices	2000 hours for market bonus (1800 hours must be client chargeable and/or legal services)	Undisclosed
Dechert Class of 2018: $15K Class of 2012+: $100K	November 21, 2019	All U.S. Offices	1950 hours for market bonus (billable, pro bono, firm-as-client work, and up to 25 shadowing hours)	January 23, 2020
Schulte Roth & Zabel Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2010: $100K	November 21, 2019	All U.S. Offices	Base threshold undisclosed; up to $40K extra bonus cash for high billers ($20K extra for 2300 hours, $20K extra for 2500 hours)	January 17, 2020
White & Case Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2012+: $100K	November 22, 2019	All U.S. Offices	None	Undisclosed
Allen & Overy Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011: $100K	November 25, 2019	New York, NY Washington, DC Sao Paolo, Brazil	None	January 15, 2020
Orrick Class of 2019: $15K (pro-rated) Class of 2011: $100K	November 27, 2019	All U.S. Offices	2000 hours (premium bonuses up to 35% above market for “hardest working associates”; up to $15K in vacation money for 2400+ hours)	Undisclosed

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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.

Published at Tue, 03 Dec 2019 16:29:54 +0000