Cravath Fires the Starting Gun, Milbank Plays Coy, and Everyone Scrambles Like It’s Black Friday
Sonia Hickey
Bonus season – that magical time of year when Biglaw associates pretend to care about “firm culture” while frantically refreshing their inboxes, praying for a six-figure dopamine hit before the holiday eggnog kicks in.
As of November 20, 2025, the games have officially begun, and it’s the usual suspects turning associate compensation into a high-stakes game of follow-the-leader. We looked at what’s happening with biglaw bonus payments so far.
Cravath Drops the Mic (November 18)
The purists at Cravath Swaine & Moore – forever the Dowager Countess of Biglaw pay – finally deigned to announce on Tuesday that they’re kicking off the festivities with a double whammy: standard year-end bonuses plus those cheeky “special” bonuses that match the summer payouts Milbank handed out back in August (when everyone else was too busy pretending transactional work was “picking up” to notice).
The combined scale? Deliciously fat for the class of 2018 and above:
- Year-end: $15k (prorated for first-years) escalating to $115k for the ancient ones (class of 2018+)
- Special: $6k to $25k, exactly mirroring Milbank’s midsummer generosity
- Total for senior associates: Up to $140k
No billable hours requirement at Cravath, because why punish excellence with spreadsheets?
Payouts hit accounts mid-December (NY/DC on the 12th, London gets to wait like the rest of us peasants until the 16th). In other words, Cravath just folded Milbank’s summer surprise into the year-end envelope and called it a day. It’s a classic move – generous, but with that trademark “we invented this game” smugness that comes with the folk who gave us the Cravath Scale.
The Lemmings Leap (November 19-20)
Within hours – because God forbid anyone lets associates think for five minutes that their firm might be cheap – the matches started rolling in faster than expense reports after a client dinner:
- Paul Hastings: First out of the gate to confirm a full Cravath match, including the Milbank specials. Because nothing says “we’re a top firm” like copying homework the second it’s posted.
- Fried Frank: Not just matching – they’re tossing in premium bonuses on top for the true billable-hour warriors. Hit 2,200 hours? Extra $3k–$34.5k. Minimum 1,850 creditable hours for the base package. Fried Frank basically said, “We’ll pay market… but we’ll bribe the grinders a little extra.” Smart – keeps the workhorses happy while the partners pocket the difference.
- McDermott (now McDermott Will & Schulte post-merger): Full match, with about two-thirds of legacy McDermott associates getting supersized merit bumps because, apparently, merging firms means everyone wins the lottery.
- Dechert, Ropes & Gray, Cadwalader: All in, with varying flavors of hours thresholds and premiums for the overachievers (Dechert up to 40% extra if you’re living at your desk).
- Others like Paul Weiss and Latham are no doubt “circling back internally” as we speak.
Milbank: The Dog That Hasn’t Barked Yet
Here’s the juicy bit everyone’s whispering about in the partner dining rooms: Milbank – the self-appointed compensation disruptor who started all this with their August specials – has gone radio silent on year-end bonuses.
Cravath just absorbed their summer move into the standard package, and Milbank… hasn’t responded. Are they content to let Cravath steal the spotlight? Plotting a raise to reclaim the crown? Or just enjoying the schadenfreude of watching associates sweat?
Recruiters are salivating at the possibility of a late Milbank supersize that sparks another round of “me too” memos. But with firm revenues reportedly up 11.7% through Q3 (litigation and infrastructure doing the heavy lifting while M&A naps), no one’s exactly hurting.
The Bottom Line for You, the Weary Associate
If you’re at a top-50 firm, assume Cravath-scale plus Milbank specials (total $21k prorated rookies → $140k elders) unless your firm is feeling particularly stingy or virtuous. A few are dangling premium carrots for 2,200+ hour heroes, so if you’re one of those tragic souls who hasn’t seen daylight since Labor Day, congratulations – your suffering might literally pay off.
Base salaries? Frozen for 2026. No raises on the horizon – this is all bonus smoke and mirrors to keep the lateral market from exploding.
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