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Supplemental Bonuses

By Anthony Lin
October 29, 2007

New York's Sullivan & Cromwell LLP plans to pay counsels and senior associates (fifth-year level and up) bonuses tied to the firm's financial performance. According to a mid-September internal memo, the new bonuses will be paid in addition to those lawyers' base salaries and normal year-end bonuses.

The memo stated that the 2007 pool was currently anticipated to be around $2.5 million but that the final amount would be determined in February 2008 based on factors including the firm's financial results and its overall activity level.

Formula and Retention Objective

Though it retained discretion, the firm said it expected most associates at the same level to receive the same bonus. A Sullivan & Cromwell partner who asked to remain unnamed said that the supplemental bonuses would probably range from around $15,000 for fifth-years to around $30,000 for eighth-years.

With the supplemental bonus, the most senior associates at Sullivan & Cromwell can expect to earn total compensation of around $400,000, based on the current top base salary of $310,000 and last year's $60,000 year-end bonus.

The partner said the new bonus plan had been one of the ideas put forward by a group of partners and associates tasked with trying to 'change the architecture' of associate compensation as well as addressing quality-of-life issues.

With a plan targeting senior associates, the partner said the firm hoped to hold on to more of its most experienced associates, who he said made an inordinate contribution to the firm. He said the firm hoped to keep the new bonus explicitly tied to firm financial results. The current year-end bonus began life as a 'boom year bonus' but has since become an entrenched part of associate pay packages.


Anthony Lin writes for the New York Law Journal, an affiliate of this newsletter.

New York's Sullivan & Cromwell LLP plans to pay counsels and senior associates (fifth-year level and up) bonuses tied to the firm's financial performance. According to a mid-September internal memo, the new bonuses will be paid in addition to those lawyers' base salaries and normal year-end bonuses.

The memo stated that the 2007 pool was currently anticipated to be around $2.5 million but that the final amount would be determined in February 2008 based on factors including the firm's financial results and its overall activity level.

Formula and Retention Objective

Though it retained discretion, the firm said it expected most associates at the same level to receive the same bonus. A Sullivan & Cromwell partner who asked to remain unnamed said that the supplemental bonuses would probably range from around $15,000 for fifth-years to around $30,000 for eighth-years.

With the supplemental bonus, the most senior associates at Sullivan & Cromwell can expect to earn total compensation of around $400,000, based on the current top base salary of $310,000 and last year's $60,000 year-end bonus.

The partner said the new bonus plan had been one of the ideas put forward by a group of partners and associates tasked with trying to 'change the architecture' of associate compensation as well as addressing quality-of-life issues.

With a plan targeting senior associates, the partner said the firm hoped to hold on to more of its most experienced associates, who he said made an inordinate contribution to the firm. He said the firm hoped to keep the new bonus explicitly tied to firm financial results. The current year-end bonus began life as a 'boom year bonus' but has since become an entrenched part of associate pay packages.


Anthony Lin writes for the New York Law Journal, an affiliate of this newsletter.

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