{"id":131868,"date":"2025-08-22T16:44:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T00:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/22\/the-waiting-game-associates-left-hanging-yet-again-on-special-bonuses\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T16:44:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T00:44:16","slug":"the-waiting-game-associates-left-hanging-yet-again-on-special-bonuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/08\/22\/the-waiting-game-associates-left-hanging-yet-again-on-special-bonuses\/","title":{"rendered":"The Waiting Game: Associates Left Hanging (Yet Again) On Special Bonuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is August 22. It\u2019s been two full business weeks since Milbank announced that it would be handing out special bonuses<\/a> to associates ($6,000 to $25,000, based on class year). Other midsize and boutique firms have already stepped in to award summer bonuses to their associates \u2014 firms like\u00a0Vartabedian Hester & Haynes<\/a>\u00a0($5,000);\u00a0Otterbourg<\/a>\u00a0($15,000); Bell Nunnally<\/a> (up to $15,000); and\u00a0Hueston Hennigan<\/a>\u00a0($10,000 to $30,000, based on hours) \u2014 but we\u2019ve heard nothing but crickets from Milbank\u2019s Biglaw brethren. Biglaw has more or less ignored the firm\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Biglaw firms have played this waiting game before when it comes to bonuses, but this is getting to be a bit much. This is looking like what happened last summer, when Milbank announced a special summer bonus<\/a>, and the market didn\u2019t react until Cravath finally decided to match<\/a> when announcing its year-end bonuses. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly a spoiler alert to say what\u2019s bound to happen next. We all know that the biggest and most profitable Biglaw firms are going to match these bonuses because no one wants to be caught flat-footed when it comes to compensation. Why not announce those matches now, instead of making associates wait to hear the good news? Stop delaying the inevitable.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got one week left before Labor Day is here. If your firm announces summer bonuses, please let us know ASAP, so we can spread the news and hopefully make the market do something.<\/p>\n

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of this stuff. So when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477<\/a>) or\u00a0email us<\/a>\u00a0(subject line: \u201c[Firm Name] Summer Bonuses\u201d). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don\u2019t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019d like to sign up for ATL\u2019s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we\u2019ll 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\u2019t need to do anything. You\u2019ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post The Waiting Game: Associates Left Hanging (Yet Again) On Special Bonuses<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today is August 22. It\u2019s been two full business weeks since Milbank announced that it would be handing out special bonuses<\/a> to associates ($6,000 to $25,000, based on class year). Other midsize and boutique firms have already stepped in to award summer bonuses to their associates \u2014 firms like\u00a0Vartabedian Hester & Haynes<\/a>\u00a0($5,000);\u00a0Otterbourg<\/a>\u00a0($15,000); Bell Nunnally<\/a> (up to $15,000); and\u00a0Hueston Hennigan<\/a>\u00a0($10,000 to $30,000, based on hours) \u2014 but we\u2019ve heard nothing but crickets from Milbank\u2019s Biglaw brethren. Biglaw has more or less ignored the firm\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Biglaw firms have played this waiting game before when it comes to bonuses, but this is getting to be a bit much. This is looking like what happened last summer, when Milbank announced a special summer bonus<\/a>, and the market didn\u2019t react until Cravath finally decided to match<\/a> when announcing its year-end bonuses. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly a spoiler alert to say what\u2019s bound to happen next. We all know that the biggest and most profitable Biglaw firms are going to match these bonuses because no one wants to be caught flat-footed when it comes to compensation. Why not announce those matches now, instead of making associates wait to hear the good news? Stop delaying the inevitable.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got one week left before Labor Day is here. If your firm announces summer bonuses, please let us know ASAP, so we can spread the news and hopefully make the market do something.<\/p>\n

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of this stuff. So when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477<\/a>) or\u00a0email us<\/a>\u00a0(subject line: \u201c[Firm Name] Summer Bonuses\u201d). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don\u2019t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019d like to sign up for ATL\u2019s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we\u2019ll 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\u2019t need to do anything. You\u2019ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Staci
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>,\u00a0or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post The Waiting Game: Associates Left Hanging (Yet Again) On Special Bonuses<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is August 22. It\u2019s been two full business weeks since Milbank announced that it would be handing out special bonuses to associates ($6,000 to $25,000, based on class year). Other midsize and boutique firms have already stepped in to award summer bonuses to their associates \u2014 firms like\u00a0Vartabedian Hester & Haynes\u00a0($5,000);\u00a0Otterbourg\u00a0($15,000); Bell Nunnally (up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":131869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Staci-Zaretsky-VEe4AA.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}