Since New York elite firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore kicked off the US bonus season at the start of December with its decision to hold bonus rates at 2012 levels, firms including Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Sidley Austin, as well as Kaye Scholer, Schulte Roth & Zabel and Ropes & Gray have unveiled how they measure up to the traditional market benchmarker.
Where Cravath’s associates are paid from $10,000 (the class of 2013) up to $60,000 (the class of 2005), Boies, Schiller is unusual in awarding significantly more, with the best-rewarded associates receiving $300,000 compared with a maximum bonus of $250,000 paid in 2012. The average young lawyer at the litigation-driven firm will take home a bonus of $85,000.
