Bonus
news
is
being
announced
left
and
right,
and
Biglaw
firms
are
busy
stuffing
their
associates’
bank
accounts
like
the
Thanksgiving
turkeys
they’ll
be
gobbling
down
next
week.
The
latest
bonus
news
comes
from
a
brand
new
megafirm
that
last
night
issued
its
first
round
of
bonuses
under
its
new
name.
McDermott
Will
&
Schulte
—
formed
from
the
August
2025
union
of
McDermott
Will
&
Emery
and
Schulte
Roth
&
Zabel
—
has
adopted
the
Cravath
bonus
scale,
as
well
as
the
Milbank
special
bonus
scale.
Here’s
what
that
looks
like
at
the
firm:
On
top
of
these
bonuses,
MWS
will
be
continuing
one
of
MWE’s
traditions
of
offering
bonuses
that
go
above
and
beyond
the
market
scale.
As
chairman
Ira
Coleman
notes
in
the
firm’s
announcement,
“We
remain
committed
to
being
top
of
market
in
all
that
we
do
and
are
pleased
to
note
that,
consistent
with
prior
years,
about
two-thirds
of
legacy
MWE
Associates
will
earn
above
the
Cravath
scale.”
We
suppose
legacy
SRZ
associates
—
who
were
formerly
able
to
cash
in
on
step-up
bonuses
for
their
extraordinary
contributions
—
will
be
able
to
get
in
on
that
action
next
year.
Bonuses
for
legacy
MWE
associates
will
be
paid
out
on
December
26,
2025,
while
bonuses
for
legacy
SRZ
associates
will
be
paid
out
on
January
16,
2026.
Congratulations
to
everyone
at
McDermott
Will
&
Schulte!
Remember
everyone,
we
depend
on
your
tips
to
stay
on
top
of
compensation
updates,
so
when
your
firm
announces
or
matches,
please
text
us
(646-820-8477)
or email
us (subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Bonus/Matches”).
Please
include
the
memo
if
available.
You
can
take
a
photo
of
the
memo
and
send
it
via
text
or
email
if
you
don’t
want
to
forward
the
original
PDF
or
Word
file.
And
if
you’d
like
to
sign
up
for
ATL’s
Bonus
Alerts
(which
is
the
alert
list
we
also
use
for
salary
announcements),
please
scroll
down
and
enter
your
email
address
in
the
box
below
this
post.
If
you
previously
signed
up
for
the
bonus
alerts,
you
don’t
need
to
do
anything.
You’ll
receive
an
email
notification
within
minutes
of
each
bonus
announcement
that
we
publish.
Thanks
for
your
help!
Staci
Zaretsky is
the
managing
editor
of
Above
the
Law,
where
she’s
worked
since
2011.
She’d
love
to
hear
from
you,
so
please
feel
free
to
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
comments,
or
critiques.
You
can
follow
her
on Bluesky, X/Twitter,
and Threads, or
connect
with
her
on LinkedIn.