It’s increasingly clear that if you’re looking for the biggest bonuses in the legal industry, you’d best start looking at elite boutiques. These small but mighty firms are throwing around bonuses that shake up everything you think you know about the top of the market.
Yesterday, Selendy Gay Elsberg announced their base bonuses for associates, and for the fifth year in a row, the firm is exceeding the prevailing market scale for Biglaw bonuses. Here’s the scale at the firm:
|
Class Year |
SGE Year-End Base Bonus |
|
2015+ |
$126,500 |
|
2016 |
$115,500 |
|
2017 |
$99,000 |
|
2018 |
$82,500 |
|
2019 |
$63,250 |
|
2020 |
$33,000 |
|
2021 |
$22,000 |
|
2022 |
$16,500 |
Yup, that’s 10% higher than the Biglaw numbers across the board. Plus, some associates will get even more, “based on a holistic assessment of performance and commitment to the firm.”
Bonuses will be paid on December 23rd. You can read the full memo on the next page.
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
