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'Staying Bonuses' Can Help Keep Associates, But More than Cash Is Needed

By Andrew Maloney
May 01, 2021

With their younger lawyers facing all-consuming deal work and longer hours, big firms are throwing extra cash to associates to motivate them to stick around.

The special bonuses are working, to an extent, said legal market observers and recruiters. While bonuses have kept some associates from moving to midsize firm competitors or outside Big Law entirely, large firms must also be more creative and holistic in the long run to retain top associates when the barriers between home and work life are eroding, law firm leaders and others said.

The demand for associate talent has reached a fever pitch, amid long working hours for deal work related to special-purpose acquisition company transactions, initial public offerings and other types of mergers and acquisitions. The battle for associate talent has become so intense that, besides offering five- or six-figure signing bonuses, some firms are even making counteroffer bonuses to motivate their top associates to stay if they have an offer to move, said Alisa Levin, a New York-based recruiter at Greene-Levin-Snyder.

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