Biglaw associates, were you hoping that another firm would swoop in and offer more bonus money, forcing other firms that have already matched to up the ante?
Sorry, but if you thought that Sullivan & Cromwell would rescue the market from the same bonuses that have been handed out year after year — and perhaps even offer spring bonuses like back in the day — your hopes have officially been dashed. After weeks of waiting, SullCrom’s black bonus box has been smashed open, and the firm is matching standard market bonuses.
Based on the deluge of tips we received, it looks like S&C has done exactly what the rest of the Biglaw market has done, matching the bonus scale set by Milbank last month. Needless to say, associates at the firm are a bit miffed — there’s not even any extra cash being offered for high billers. This seems to be representative of the comments we’ve received from associates at the firm:
We were expecting a match, but really would have gone a long way to give a bump for high billers. We’re basically below market. I billed a crazy number of hours in last 12 months and would easily qualify for extra at other firms.
At least SullCrom is paying out its bonuses on December 18, so associates will have some good cheer deposited into their bank accounts before the holidays.
If you still have something to say about your S&C bonus, feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). All complaints (or praise) will be kept anonymous — and could find its way into an update to this story.
Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm 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.
And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. 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. Thanks for all of your help!
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.