{"id":132486,"date":"2025-09-03T13:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T21:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/03\/milbank-moves-on-summer-bonuses-while-biglaw-firms-stall-on-matching\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T13:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T21:00:13","slug":"milbank-moves-on-summer-bonuses-while-biglaw-firms-stall-on-matching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/09\/03\/milbank-moves-on-summer-bonuses-while-biglaw-firms-stall-on-matching\/","title":{"rendered":"Milbank Moves On Summer Bonuses While Biglaw Firms Stall On Matching"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is September 3. Labor Day has come and gone. It\u2019s been nearly a full month 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). Business is booming, but Biglaw has more or less ignored the firm\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Why? What\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n

If Biglaw firms are planning to match these bonuses by year\u2019s end, why not just notify your attorneys now? You don\u2019t need to wait for Cravath\u2019s blessing. We all know that Cravath is going to match, just as well as we all know that no firm wants to be left behind in the ultra-competitive associate compensation race. We\u2019ve said it once, and we\u2019re more than happy to say it again: stop delaying the inevitable. All you need to do is let your hardworking associates and counsel know that your firm will match these bonuses \u2014 and whatever other bonuses that may later come along \u2014 sooner rather than later. <\/p>\n

The first day of Fall is September 22. Biglaw firms have just a few more weeks to announce their summer bonuses. If your firm announces, 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 Milbank Moves On Summer Bonuses While Biglaw Firms Stall On Matching<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today is September 3. Labor Day has come and gone. It\u2019s been nearly a full month 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). Business is booming, but Biglaw has more or less ignored the firm\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

Why? What\u2019s going on?<\/p>\n

If Biglaw firms are planning to match these bonuses by year\u2019s end, why not just notify your attorneys now? You don\u2019t need to wait for Cravath\u2019s blessing. We all know that Cravath is going to match, just as well as we all know that no firm wants to be left behind in the ultra-competitive associate compensation race. We\u2019ve said it once, and we\u2019re more than happy to say it again: stop delaying the inevitable. All you need to do is let your hardworking associates and counsel know that your firm will match these bonuses \u2014 and whatever other bonuses that may later come along \u2014 sooner rather than later. <\/p>\n

The first day of Fall is September 22. Biglaw firms have just a few more weeks to announce their summer bonuses. If your firm announces, 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 Milbank Moves On Summer Bonuses While Biglaw Firms Stall On Matching<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is September 3. Labor Day has come and gone. It\u2019s been nearly a full month 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132487,"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-132486","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\/09\/Staci-Zaretsky-TiAoLf.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132486","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=132486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}