When we think about what those high-paid New York associates earn, we often focus on the annual salary. For lawyers at a place like Cravath, the bonus is also a significant component of compensation. Or it has been. Based on this post over at ATL, it appears that the effective first year salary of a Cravath associate has plunged from 2006 to 2010. The base salary, both years, was $160,000. But first year associates apparently earned a total of $205,000 in 2007 (the first full year of a 2006 law grad) - while they'll get roughly $167,500, including bonus, this year - somewhere around a 17% dip. The decrease is entirely in bonus, since base has remained constant.
Nobody is shedding tears for folks who nab these coveted jobs, but these numbers show that firms that apparently avoided lawyer layoffs while maintaining salaries find other ways to maintain partner compensation. Of course, many folks point out that this is the whole purpose of calling a portion of wage "bonus" - it floats based on the market. But I assure you that when those 2006 grads tallied their 2007 income, they weren't bothering to parse in this fashion. Times have changed indeed.
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