2006 Bonuses Hold Steady at Milbank, Cadwalader and Cravath

2006 Bonuses Hold Steady at Milbank, Cadwalader and Cravath

Anthony Lin
New York Law Journal
12-13-2006

Bonus season for New York associates opened Friday night when Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy announced it would pay bonuses ranging from $30,000 for first-years to $65,000 for senior associates.

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft on Monday announced the same range.

Meanwhile, Cravath, Swaine & Moore announced Monday a bonus ranging from $30,000 for first-years to $60,000 for senior associates.

The bonuses, the same as the firms paid in 2005, cap a year in which almost all major New York firms raised base salaries by $20,000 across the board, with first-years receiving $145,000.

New York firms have generally matched each other in total associate compensation, so other firms are likely to announce similar bonuses in the days to come. If so, total compensation for a first-year associate at a large New York firm will stand at $175,000. It will mark the first time firms have paid a higher first-year salary than in 2000, when the dot-com boom meant first-years received a $125,000 salary and a $40,000 bonus. But senior associate pay is still down from six years ago, when $100,000 bonuses were paid.

Milbank, Cravath and Cadwalader generally pay bonuses to all of their associates without regard to hours billed, but several firms peg bonuses to billable requirements, meaning only a handful will actually receive a full bonus.

Milbank is unusual this year in being first to pay a bonus, a move usually made by Cravath or Sullivan & Cromwell. Milbank Chairman Mel Immergut said the firm had wanted to time the announcement with its annual holiday party, which was held Friday night and during which administrative staff bonuses were also announced.