Category: News Feeds

Whoever
said
bigger
is
better
did
not
know
about
elite
boutique
law
firms.
While
Biglaw
might
be
the
standard
bearer
for
associate
compensation,
time
and
again
we
see
small
but
mighty
firms
blowing
that
standard
out
of
the
water.

The
latest
firm
to
do
just
that
is

Groombridge,
Wu,
Baughman
&
Stone LLP.
The
firm,

founded
just
three
years
ago,
is
a
patent
litigation
shop
with
impressive
credentials.
The
firm
is
super
successful,
and
its
sharing
that
success
with
its
associates.

The
bonus
scale
at
Groombridge
is
as
follows:

Even
if
you
add
in
the
special
bonuses
making
the
rounds
in
Biglaw,
the
bonuses
at
Groombridge
are
bigger.
Congrats
to
associates
at
the
firm
on
their
impressive
bonuses.

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.

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].

I
wish
I
could
write
something
positive
given
the
time
of
year.
I
really
do.
Normally
I’m
downright
cheerful
around
the
holiday
season.
This
is
often
apparent
in
my
writing;

I
can
prove
it.

Sorry,
though.
For
2025,
I
just
can’t.
We
have
a
president
who
is
a
worse
Christmas
villain
than
Ebenezer
Scrooge,
the
Grinch,
and
those
thieving
German
terrorists
from
the
original
“Die
Hard”
all
rolled
into
one.
So
I
suppose
I
am
going
to
have
to
point
out
exactly
how
un-Christmassy
Donald
Trump
really
is.

Well,
we
have
to
start
somewhere,
so
if
you’re
the
type
who
thinks
we
need
to
keep
the
“Christ”
in
“Christmas,”
first,
reevaluate
your
entire
existence.
Second,
look
at
literally
anything
Jesus
Christ
said
in
the
Bible
and

tie
yourself
into
knots
trying
to
align
that
with
anything
whatsoever
that
Trump
has
said
or
done
as
president.
Or,
ya
know,
read
the
nativity
story
about
how
Jesus
was
a
migrant
himself.
He
didn’t
wind
up
spending
his
first
night
in
that
manger
for
funsies.

You
don’t
even
have
to
go
into
the
New
Testament
though
to
find
out
that
God
is
not
down
with
being
dicks
to
people
from
other
places.

One
of
many
examples,
from
Leviticus
19:34:
“You
shall
treat
the
stranger
who
sojourns
with
you
as
the
native
among
you,
and
you
shall
love
him
as
yourself.”
Boy,
that’s
very
unambiguous!

It’s
official:
Trump’s
horrible,

dehumanizing,
untargeted
immigration
crackdown
is
not
very
Christmassy.

Well,
we
all
know
that
generosity
is
a
big
part
of
the
Christmas
spirit.
After
all,
that’s
how
Scrooge
finally
turned
it
around
after
a
lifetime
of
being
a
cheap,
miserly
bastard.

Oh,
shit,
the
DOGE
cuts
to
USAID

have
already
killed
600,000
people
as
a
result
of
preventable
infectious
diseases
and
malnutrition,
two-thirds
of
them
children,
with

millions
more
deaths
on
the
horizon
unless
funding
is
restored.

Trumpers
might
say
(even
though
it’s
not
very
Christmassy)
there
was
no
choice
but
to
cut
USAID.
Yet
this
funding
was
only
costing
an
average
U.S.
taxpayer
around
17
cents
per
day.
And
cutting
it
has
done
absolutely
nothing
to
reign
in
government
spending.
Actually,
the
national
debt

continues
to
hit
record
highs
and
has
increased
faster
under
Trump
than
at
almost
any
other
time
in
American
history.

OK,
gilding
his
own
surroundings
at
taxpayer
expense,

taking
bribes
from
foreign
Islamic
fundamentalist
regimes,
overseeing
the
investiture
of

Elon
Musk
as
the
richest
person
ever,
shamelessly
hawking
Bibles
with
his
signature
in
them
as
though
he
was
the
author,
selling

pardons,
his
stupid-looking
hats,
and

worst
of
all
influence
through
cryptocurrency
for
personal
gain
…
is
it
Opposite
Christmas
this
year
or
what?

Symbolism
is
the
least
important
thing
about
Trump’s
approach
to
Christmas
when
people
are
dying
and
suffering
and
the
integrity
of
the
United
States
is
being
auctioned
off
to
the
highest
bidder.
Still,
symbolism
matters.
His
supporters
applaud
because
he
sometimes
says
he
supports
Christians
and
throws
a
few
Christmas
trees
up
at
the
White
House
after

illegally
demolishing
the
entire
wing
where
most
of
the
Christmas
decorations
used
to
go.

But
Trump’s
reaction
to
the
murders
of
beloved
filmmaker
Rob
Reiner
(who
directed
“The
Princess
Bride”)
and
his
wife,
Michele
Singer Reiner,
the
week
before
Christmas
pretty
much
says
it
all.
Trump
blasted
the
departed
Rob
Reiner,
and

blamed
him
for
causing
his
own
brutal
murder,
which
Trump
basically
said
he
brought
on
himself
through
his
criticism
of
this
administration.

Compared
to
this,
an
Ebenezer
Scrooge
administration
would
be
a
Christmas
miracle.
With
Trump,
we
are
so
far
past
the
Scrooge
level
of
humbug,
I
don’t
think
the
ghost
of
Herman
Cain
dragging
the
chain
of
Godfather’s
Pizza
boxes
that
he
forged
in
life
could
turn
this
around
with
the
help
of
three
time-traveling
Christmas
spirits.

I
guess
try
to
find
some
Christmas
cheer
where
you
can.
Have
a
candy
cane.
Drink
a
hot
toddy.
Find
some
comfort
in
the
ones
you
love,
if
they
haven’t
been
unjustly
deported
yet.

Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD (affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].

Here
we
go
again:
Yet
another
boutique
law
firm
is
stepping
up
to
the
plate
to
offer
its
associates
Biglaw
bonus
money.

The
latest
boutique
to
meet
the
market
in
terms
of
matching
the
Cravath/Milbank

year-end
and

special
bonus
scale
is
Glenn
Agre
Bergman
&
Fuentes.
The
litigation
firm
was
founded
in
2021,
and
it’s
offering
Biglaw
bonus
compensation
to
its
hardworking
attorneys
for
the
fifth
year
in
a
row.
Here’s
what
the
bonus
and
salary
scale
looks
like
at
Glenn
Agre:

The
firm
isn’t
just
matching
Biglaw’s
market
rates
—
associates
will
be
eligible
to
receive
a
“premium”
above
these
base
bonuses
if
they’ve
shown
“extraordinary
dedication
and/or
performance”
this
year.

Congratulations
to
everyone
at
Glenn
Agre!
Bonuses
will
be
paid
out
on
December
19.

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.

If
you
want
2025
in
a
nutshell,
it
doesn’t
get
much
better
than
a
blundering
Secretary
of
Defense
bragging
that
the
Pentagon
bought
an
expensive,
bespoke
AI
bot
and
it
immediately

started
calling
out
the
Trump
administration
for
committing
war
crimes.
As
the
legal
industry
ventures
into
a
hallucinatory
AI
frontier,
it’s
worth
remembering
that
sometimes
the
bots
outperform
the
human
lawyers.
At
the
Supreme
Court,
Justice
Sotomayor
tries
to
convince
her
colleagues
not
to
blow
up
the
federal
government
over
a
theory
concocted
in
the
1970s.
Sadly,

she’s
fighting
the
wrong
fight.
And
in
a
world
of
mergers
—
especially
cross-border
mergers
—
we
have
a
reminder
that

sometimes
it
doesn’t
work
out.

Traditions
matter
at
law
firms,
and
few
are
more
important
than
paying
your
associates
a
hell
of
a
lot
of
money
come
bonus
season.
When
it
comes
to
that
tradition,
Irell
&
Manella
has

delivered
in
the

past.
This
year
is
no
different!
This
year’s
bonuses
are
several
steps
above
some
of
their
competition.

Here’s
the
scale:

To
everyone
at
Irell
&
Manella,
enjoy
the
money!
And
you
won’t
have
to
wait
long
either
—
the
money
will
be
distributed
on

Friday.
Looking
forward
to
the
weekend
indeed.

We
like
hearing
about
bonuses
almost
as
much
as
you
enjoy
spending
them.
As
soon
as
your
firm’s
memo
comes
out,
please email
it
to
us
(subject
line:
“[Firm
Name]
Bonus”)
or
text
us
(646-820-8477).
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
Salary
&
Bonus
Alerts,
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.

Chris
Williams
became
a
social
media
manager
and
assistant
editor
for
Above
the
Law
in
June
2021.
Prior
to
joining
the
staff,
he
moonlighted
as
a
minor
Memelord™
in
the
Facebook
group Law
School
Memes
for
Edgy
T14s
.
 He
endured
Missouri
long
enough
to
graduate
from
Washington
University
in
St.
Louis
School
of
Law.
He
is
a
former
boatbuilder
who
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.

Once
upon
a
time,
the
U.S.
News
&
World
Report
law
school
rankings
served
a
purpose.
Not
a
particularly
noble
purpose,
mind
you,
but
a
functional
one.
Instead
of
nurturing
its
reputation
as
a
magazine
chronicling
“U.S.
News”
or
giving
a
“World
Report,”
it
would
churn
out
annual
school
rankings.
The
line
between
the
99th
and
100th
best
Drama
degree
programs
was
a
mostly
vacuous
distinction,
but
it
gave
prospective
students

something
to
guide
genuinely
life-altering
decisions
other
than
brochures
put
together
by
school
marketers.
In
a
significant
if
imperfect
way,
USNWR
democratized
insider
knowledge
by
distilling
institutional
gravity
into
a
crude
but
legible
hierarchy.

For
all
the
nonsense
fueling
the
law
school
rankings,
U.S.
News
provided
useful,
broad
guidance.
As
a
marker
of
prestige
and
future
portability
of
a
degree,
was
Yale
really
better
than
Harvard?
Maybe,
maybe
not.
But
the
“HYS”
schools
—
in
whatever
order
—
were
roughly
better
for
prospective
students
than
the
“CCN”
schools,
which
were
in
turn
roughly
better
than
the
rest
of
the
top
14,
which
we
all
decided
would
be
better
than
the
next
tier.

We
won’t
know
precisely
how
USNWR
ranks
the
schools
until
the
Spring,
but
Professor
Derek
Muller
has
released
his

updated
projections
for
the
2026-2027
U.S.
News
law
school
rankings,
and
we’ve
entered
the
full
clown-car
phase
of
this
exercise.

Yale
and
Harvard
are
tied…
with
Duke.
At
5.

Nothing
against
our
friends
at
UVA,
but
if
you’re
going
there
over
Yale
you’ve
messed
up.

There
are
ranking
philosophies
that
rightly
put
UVA
higher.
For
instance

the
Above
the
Law
rankings,
which
are
designed
for
the
express
purpose
of
putting
the
thumb
on
the
scale
of
best
outcomes
for
the
price.
But
that’s
not
what
USNWR
has
ever
stood
for
and
not
what
anyone
picking
up
that
list
expects
it
to
reflect.
USNWR
markets
its
list
to
prospective
students
as
a
barometer
of
prestige
and
—
if
these
rankings
bear
out
—
this
ain’t
it.

Muller
used
publicly
disclosed
information,
which
gave
him
roughly
75
percent
of
the
data
used
in
USNWR’s
current
—
as
of
last
year,
anyway
—
methodology,
He
notes
that
the
latest
USNWR
methodology
increases
compression
and
volatility
so
the
final
results
could
swing
a
bit
from
his
projections,
but
if
the
final
results
come
out
wildly
different,
it
will
seem
like
the
publication
intervened
to
tweak
the
system
and
at
that
point…
what
good
are
rankings
anyway?

The
boycott
—
and
the
changes
made
to
deal
with
it
—
really
screwed
all
this
up.
Yale
decided
in
a
huff
to

stop
cooperating
with
USNWR
on
its
rankings,
bringing
a
number
of
schools
along
for
the
ride.
Schools
couched
the
boycott
as
a
matter
of
respecting
public
interest
work
and
standing
up
for
financial
aid,
which
sounds
great

until
you
scratched
the
surface.
But
most
of
all,
cutting
off
access
to
critical
data
prevented
U.S.
News
from
doing
the
one
thing
U.S.
News
did
well:

democratizing
insider
knowledge.

The
schools
wanted
out
of
the
rankings
game.
U.S.
News
adapted
in
ways
that
made
the
rankings
less
meaningful.
Prospective
students
now
have
to
do
more
independent
research
to
understand
what
different
schools
actually
offer.
Perhaps
that’s
the
outcome
the
boycotting
deans
wanted
all
along.
Or
perhaps
they
just
didn’t
think
this
through.

Let’s
go
with
the
latter.

Rankings
never
captured
the
whole
picture.
Do
you
want
to
live
in
New
Haven
or
Palo
Alto?
Does
the
school
have
strong
clinics
in
your
area
of
interest?
Can
you
afford
it?
These
are
better
questions
than
“but
which
one
is
technically
ahead
of
the
other
this
year?”
That
said,
the

complete
breakdown
of
U.S.
News
as
a
useful
signal
for
top
schools
creates
real
problems.
A
first-generation
college
student
researching
law
schools
benefits
from
an
external
source
validating
which
schools
open
which
doors.
With
Yale
projected
at
#5,
that
student
might
reasonably
wonder
if
Yale’s
placement
power
has
actually
declined
(it
hasn’t)
or
if
they’re
looking
at
garbage
out
(they
are).

This
couldn’t
come
at
a
worse
time
for
students.
U.S.
News
deserved
the
criticism
it
took
over
the
years
for
overprivileging
inputs
like
undergrad
GPAs
and
LSAT
scores
over
outputs,
but
right
now
those
inputs
carry
more
importance
than
ever.
Now
that
Biglaw
has

accelerated
its
recruiting
process
to
extend
summer
associate
offers
before
students
have
even
received
their
first
semester
grades,
whole
careers
are
getting
decided
on
vibes.
If
employers
are
making
hiring
decisions
with
no
regard
to
the
actual

learning
the
law
part,
it
means
they’re
making
hiring
decisions
based
on
the
school’s
admissions.

It
is
a
very
stupid
way
to
hire
lawyers,
but
it’s
the
way
we’re
doing
it.
And
a
reliable
ranking
of
perceived
prestige
would
come
in
handy
right
about
now.

Because
those
elite
Biglaw
recruiters
are
not
thinking
“let’s
lower
our
hiring
target
for
Harvard.”

Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or

Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a

Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.

There’s
a
reason
we’ve
been
referring
to
the
2025
bonus
season
as
the
year
of
the
boutique
firm.
While
Biglaw
firms
are
scrambling
to
match
Cravath’s year-end
bonuses and
Milbank’s

special
bonuses,
boutique
firms
are
ready
to

really
share
the
wealth
when
it
comes
to
compensation.
The
latest
boutique
to
announce
bonuses
for
associates
is
no
different
—
they’re
rewarding
their
attorneys
handsomely
with
top
bonuses
that
exceed
the
market
scale.

Selendy
Gay
recently
announced
that
it
would
be
blowing
away
the
market
bonus
scale
for
the
eighth
year
in
a
row.
“This
year’s
scale
reflects
the
exceptional
work
our
associates
deliver
every
day,”
said
Kelley
Cornish,
the
firm’s
managing
partner.
“These
bonuses
underscore
our
deep
appreciation
for
their
talent,
dedication,
and
unwavering
commitment
to
our
clients
and
to
one
another.”

This
is
what
base
bonuses,
plus
special
bonuses,
look
like
at
the
elite
boutique:

Selendy’s
bonuses
are
already
15%
higher
than
the
Biglaw
numbers
across
the
board
—
but
some
associates
will
wind
up
receiving
bonuses
up
to more
than
50%
higher than
the
prevailing
market
rate,
based
on
performance,
hours,
and
firm
citizenship.

Congratulations
to
all
Selendy
Gay
associates
on
their
amazing
bonuses!

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.

Law
firm
litigators
are
facing
a
pivotal
moment.
Caseloads
are
growing
in
complexity
and
volume
while
client
expectations
are
shifting.

Between
July
and
August
of
2025,
Ari
Kaplan
Advisors
interviewed
partners
and
attorneys
at
large
law
firms
across
the
United
States.

The
objective
of
the
research
was
to
understand
how
litigators
and
trial
lawyers
are
leveraging
technology
to
stay
ahead
in
a
rapidly
evolving
legal
environment.
It
focused
on
market
trends,
case
strategy
approaches,
the
impact
of
case
management
software,
and
AI
use
cases.

In

The
Emergence
of
Case
Strategy
Technology
as
a
Competitive
Advantage
in
an
Evolving
Litigation
Landscape,
our
friends
at
Opus
2
share
the
findings
of
this
research. 

Download
it
to
explore:

• How
  you
  can
  overcome
  challenges
  in
  developing
  a
  successful
  case
  strategy
• How
  AI
  is
  quickly
  changing
  case
  strategy
  development
• The
  emergence
  of
  case
  strategy
  technology
  as
  a
  catalyst
  for
  transformation 
• Other
  litigation
  and
  market
  trends

Get
the
report
here!

Biglaw
bonus
season
is
in
full
swing
and
the
top
firms
are
shelling
out
big
bucks
to
show
associates
just
how
much
they
appreciate
them.
The
market
standard
includes
both
year-end
and
special
bonuses,
and
one
major
Biglaw
firm
is
putting
their
own
spin
on
the
bonuses
that
are
lockstep
elsewhere,
making
the
full
bonuses
just
that
much
harder
to
take
home.

Arnold
&
Porter,
a
firm
that
made
$1,193,720,000
in
gross
revenue
in
2024,
making
it
51
on
the
Am
Law
100,
announced
their
bonus
scale.
And
it
comes
with
an
explicit
hours
caveat.

Let’s
wish
plentiful
billables
to
all
the
A&P
associates.

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.

Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter

@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon

@[email protected].