The bonus season for associates has seen Big Law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore start the associate bonanza with a bonus pay rate of $115,000 according to a Cravath memo to staff.
The year-end bonuses will be paid next month ranging from $15,000 to $115,000, which continues to lift the game for payments to associates in the tightly competitive, lucrative associate-pay stakes in US law firms.
The announcement from Cravaths is the first by a top firm detailing year-end bonus amounts this year and sets the higher scale that the firm’s competitors will face pressure to match but will nonetheless place pressure upon them to match the pay scale being set by the Big Law firms.
The Wall Street firm will distribute the bonuses on Dec. 17, and associates must “still be at the firm” on that date to be eligible, according to the memo, reported originally by AbovetheLaw.
This is also the first time that Cravaths have increased the size of their bonus payments across all years, which is another benchmark-setting move from the bonus law leader.
