That’s quite a bit above market.
The post Top Firm Handing Out MILLION DOLLAR Bonuses To Some Associates appeared first on Above the Law.
Austin Powers nostalgia requires placing a pinky to your lips whenever one dramatically says “one million dollars.” That’s the gesture that more than a few associates at Boies Schiller are making right now upon learning that their contributions to the firm netted them a seven-figure bonus this year.
With $246,000,000 gross revenue in 2023, placed Boies Schiller at 150 in the Am Law 200, however the small but mighty firm hit that number with only around 150 lawyers. It also doesn’t rely entirely upon billable work, with the firm generating a significant share of revenue from contingency cases that can produce annual revenue windfalls.
And the firm offers associates the opportunity to partake in the reward. Associates can choose to take a match of this year’s market bonuses — with special bonus too — but most eschew the lockstep model in favor of a formula that evaluates associates individually. Unlike most black box models of compensation though, the Boies Schiller formula blows by the competition:
- The prevailing market bonus scale ranges from $21,000 (for class of 2024, prorated) to $140,000 (for class of 2017 and above). These figures include the “special bonuses” that many firms are awarding.
- This year, more than 95% of associates received a bonus that was at least as high as, and in most cases higher than, what that associate would have earned under the market system. Those that did not, invested material time in one or more contingency cases that have not yet paid out.
- Numerous associates—including some very junior associates—received bonuses far in excess of the very top of the market, including several who received bonuses of $300,000 or more. To put that in perspective: many second- and third-year associates at BSF received bonuses that were substantially more than what an eighth-year associate would have received on the market system.
- Multiple associates received bonuses of $1,000,000 or more.
- Yes, you read that right. They earned it, and the Firm is happy to pay it.
The key nugget from the second item is that the 5 percent of associates who didn’t make the market standard are waiting on contingency payouts. It’s the nature of the bonus memo season blitz that we only get these insights into total compensation in December and don’t get the opportunity to follow up and see where everyone ends up when defendants finally pay up. But it’s a decent wager that they’ll not only end up at the market level but well above it.
Bonuses will be distributed this week.
Congratulations to all.
(Memo reproduced on the next page…)
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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
