Firm Setting Benchmark For BigLaw Announces Year-End Bonuses

Cravath, Swaine & Moore, the BigLaw firm that others often look to for a lead on how much associate bonuses should be, has announced that their associates will receive the same amount this year as they did in 2012, with first-year lawyers pocketing $10,000. But that was a sharp uptick from 2011, when first-year associates got no bonus at all. Base salaries at Cravath are between $160,000 and $265,000 depending upon seniority.