The associate bonus frenzy continues.

Sullivan & Cromwell, which has followed the market in recent years, stepped up its game this season and matched the scale of outlier Davis Polk & Wardwell in a memo to associates Wednesday. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which had followed Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s lead by announcing year-end payouts on Nov. 21, upped bonuses for associates on Thursday for the classes of 2008 through 2011.