Biglaw Firm Adjusts Bonus Policy To Hand Out Big Bucks -- But Only To Its Biggest Billers
Want more bonus money at this firm? Better get to work!
Biglaw firms are celebrating spring by showing associates additional greenery — in cash, that is.
Which is the latest firm to put more money on the table for associates? That would be McGuireWoods, a firm that brought in $1,020,023,000 gross revenue in 2023, putting it at No. 52 in the latest Am Law 100.
Sources tell us that McGuireWoods recently issued a new bonus policy that’s “better” than in prior years. While the policy doesn’t kick in until next year, it looks like the firm is making sure that associates’ savings accounts will be pretty flush with bonus bucks… if they’re able to bill their behinds off.
These are the new McGuireWoods bonuses that are on the table:
Note that standard market bonuses range from $15,000 to $115,000 for first-year through seventh-year associates. The McGuireWoods bonus scale for 1950 hours doesn’t come close to meeting market, while its bonus scale for 2050 hours inches toward meeting market for first- through third-years (and actually comes over the top by $10K for third-years), but then dramatically slopes away. The real way to get a big bonus at the firm is to bill, bill, bill — MGW’s 2150-hour scale comes in over market for all class years.
Congratulations to all McGuireWoods associates who are able to meet the hours minimum required to get big bonuses at the firm next year!
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
