It’s November 20, and Thanksgiving is simply days away, which signifies that Biglaw’s full-blown bonus season is sort of upon us. In truth, bonus season ought to already be right here. As our readers know all too effectively, Milbank was the primary to announce bonuses on November 7, however not a single agency has introduced a match but. How might that be? Almost two full enterprise weeks have handed. It’s all due to the pesky $10K wage enhance throughout all class years that accompanied the compensation chief’s year-end bonus scale. At this level, all eyes are on Cravath to present associates slightly one thing additional to be grateful for this 12 months.
While we impatiently look forward to the subsequent bonus to be introduced, let’s chat about bonuses for a second, lets? This is what Milbank’s bonuses appear like (and so they match final 12 months’s Baker McKenzie/Cravath bonuses):
- Class of 2023 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
- Class of 2022 – $20,000
- Class of 2021 – $30,000
- Class of 2020 – $57,500
- Class of 2019 – $75,000
- Class of 2018 – $90,000
- Class of 2017 – $105,000
- Class of 2016 – $115,000
- Class of 2015 – $115,000
As we famous in our annual bonus survey report, associates weren’t actually anticipating any sort of particular bonus on high of their common bonuses this 12 months, a lot much less a elevate. Maybe some perception into when bonuses are usually introduced will ease associates’ minds as to when bonus — and hopefully elevate! — purpose will lastly start. Here’s an inventory of the dates when year-end market bonuses hit Biglaw since 2006, the very first 12 months Above the Law began publishing bonus information. Take a glance:
Cravath tends to stay to a schedule so far as these items are involved, and the agency likes to announce its bonus information on Mondays (often the final Monday in November). But with one other agency within the race and a wage enhance added to the combo, Cravath could have a timing shock up its sleeve. When will the agency announce a bonus match? Will the agency additionally announce a wage match? Either might occur, maybe even as quickly as later this afternoon.
The neatest thing for associates to do whereas they wait is to simply maintain billing, simply maintain billing, simply maintain billing. In the meantime, we’ll be proper right here together with you, ready on bonuses to be introduced. Tick tock, Cravath….
Remember everybody, we rely in your tricks to keep on high of necessary bonus updates, so when your agency declares or matches, please textual content us (646-820-8477) or e mail us (topic line: “[Firm Name] Bonus/Matches”). Please embody the memo if obtainable. You can take a photograph of the memo and ship it by way of textual content or e mail should you don’t wish to ahead the unique PDF or Word file.
And should you’d like to join ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert record we additionally use for wage bulletins), please scroll down and enter your e mail deal with within the field under this put up. If you beforehand signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t must do something. You’ll obtain an e mail notification inside minutes of every bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks to your assist!
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be happy to e mail her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You can comply with her on Twitter and Threads or join together with her on LinkedIn.
