With Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s announcement that its associates will get fatter year-end bonuses in 2012 than they did in 2011, the firm cut through some of the gloom that has clouded the financial outlook for large law firms of late.

The question now is whether Cravath’s peers will mimic it in doling out extra compensation as they have in the past — or pull back in light of the modest revenue growth most industry experts are expecting this year.