(Image via Getty)
Cravath officially kicked off the 2021 bonus season yesterday afternoon, finally sweetening the pot by increasing its annual bonus offerings by up to 15% per class year. Now, another elite law firm has jumped to match the market rate as quickly as possible.
Which firm is the first to match the official 2021 Biglaw bonus scale?
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is the first firm to hop on the Cravath bonus bandwagon. The firm is usually the first or second to match year-end bonuses, and 2021 is no different. Bonuses at the firm will be paid to all associates in good standing on December 22.
Here’s the bonus scale, in case you’ve forgotten what it looks like:
- Class of 2021: $15,000 (pro-rated)
- Class of 2020: $20,000
- Class of 2019: $30,000
- Class of 2018: $57,500
- Class of 2017: $75,000
- Class of 2016: $90,000
- Class of 2015: $105,000
- Class of 2014+: $115,000
Congratulations to Cleary associates on the generous bonuses!
(Does this mean that associates’ hopes for another firm to step in and raise the bonus scale even 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 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.
