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After Milbank announced their 2019 bonus scale last week, and Cravath matched it, the die has pretty much been cast for the top of the compensation market. Though we’d love to be wrong and see a firm take the leap to become the new compensation leader, that doesn’t seem likely, particularly with Biglaw in defense mode over the coming recession.
Still, there’s a certain cache for the truly elite of Biglaw firms to make their bonus announcements as quickly as possible, once the market rate has been set. So, which firm is the latest to match the Milbank scale on bonuses? Why it’s none other than Paul Weiss, who sent around a memo (available in full on the next page) yesterday announcing the following bonuses:
Class of 2019 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
Class of 2018 – $15,000
Class of 2017 – $25,000
Class of 2016 – $50,000
Class of 2015 – $65,000
Class of 2014 – $80,000
Class of 2013 – $90,000
Class of 2012 and senior – $100,000
There was some grumpiness initially from associates at the market bonus scale being the same as last year’s. However, with multiple elite firms now on board, this scale will likely dominate across Biglaw.
Remember, 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 all 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 your help!
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).