The Law Firm Giving A $25K Signing Bonus

Susman Godfrey has decided to offer new lawyers a $25,000 signing bonus – and that comes on top of the clerkship bonuses that give $80,000 to new associates who clerked for federal judges and the $100,000 given to associates who clerked for two federal judges. The firm also “leads the market on bonuses paid to Supreme Court law clerks,” a press release claims. The firm only hires lawyers who have clerked for federal judges, so new associates could join the firm with as much as $125,000 already in hand. “This must reflect that there is a tight competition in the market for the best students coming out of law schools,” Adam Weiss, a principal with the Lateral Lawyer Group, told ABA Journal. “Is this a blip or does it augur a change?”