Sullivan & Cromwell and Weil, Gotshal & Manges joined the stampede Thursday to announce associate year-end bonuses.
According to our reporting, Sullivan’s scale is identical to the one set November 26 by Cravath, Swaine & Moore, traditionally among the first firms to announce. S&C will be giving out the bonus a few days before Christmas, as in past years. (The bonus comes on top of supplemental spring bonuses the firm issued earlier this year ranging from $2,500 to $7,500, depending on seniority, our reporting confirmed.)
Weil’s plan, as reported on legal blog Above The Law and confirmed by The Am Law Daily, is also identical, although the firm memo that was emailed to associates does not mention a bonus for its newest “stub year” associates. The firm confirmed that it will be paying prorated bonuses to those associates as well, as it has in the past.
The firms follow seven other top New Yorkbased rivals that have issued their own bonus announcements this past week and four who announced theirs last week. All but oneBoies Schiller & Flexnerhave matched Cravath. Boies Schiller’s scale, however, is far richer and is based on performance rather than seniority.
In memos emailed to associates and almost instantly leaked to the press, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton announced November 29 that it would award bonuses virtually identical to the new Cravath scaleinformation confirmed by The Am Law Daily. The following day, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and Debevoise & Plimpton both made similar announcements, according to memos first published on Above The Law. (Cadwalader confirmed the announcement with The Am Law Daily on Thursday.)
