Biglaw bonus season is in full swing, with corporations stepping in left and proper to match Cravath’s year-end bonuses and Milbank’s particular bonuses, however issues are about to get even hotter, as a result of one of many boutiques is right here to play. This agency went excessive in a significant manner — together with on their greater and higher particular bonuses.
Yesterday afternoon, D.C.-based litigation boutique Wilkinson Stekloff introduced year-end bonuses which might be 150% of market bonuses. On high of these bonuses, let’s not overlook that the agency introduced their very own set of particular bonuses again in April — starting from $25,000 to $60,000 — earlier than Milbank’s particular summer season bonuses have been even in play. That is what the agency’s extremely beneficiant bonus scale appears to be like like:
| Class Yr | Yr-Finish Bonus | Spring Bonus | Whole Bonus |
| 2025 | $22,500 | N/A | $22,500 |
| 2024 | $30,000 | $25,000 | $55,000 |
| 2023 | $45,000 | $30,000 | $75,000 |
| 2022 | $86,250 | $35,000 | $121,250 |
| 2021 | $112,500 | $40,000 | $152,500 |
| 2020 | $135,000 | $45,000 | $180,000 |
| 2019 | $157,500 | $50,000 | $207,500 |
| 2018 | $172,500 | $55,000 | $227,500 |
| 2017+ | $172,500 | $60,000 | $232,500 |
Associates at Wilkinson shall be incomes $1,500 to $87,500+ greater than these at Biglaw corporations in the marketplace bonus scale. Now THESE are big-time bonuses!
“As we method the agency’s 10th yr anniversary in January, the agency continues to develop and evolve whereas staying true to its founding ideas of offering distinctive shopper service in excessive stakes litigation and growing the subsequent era of trial legal professionals,” Brian Stekloff, the agency’s founding accomplice, shared in a message to all of his colleagues on the agency. “We’re deeply pleased with the outcomes you ship, together with in lots of impactful professional bono issues.”
Associates will obtain their bonuses on December 15. Counsel bonuses shall be communicated individually.
Congratulations to everybody at Wilkinson Stekloff!
Bear in mind everybody, we rely in your tricks to keep on high of compensation updates, so when your agency pronounces or matches, please textual content us (646-820-8477) or electronic mail us (topic line: “[Firm Name] Bonus/Matches”). Please embrace the memo if obtainable. You may take a photograph of the memo and ship it through textual content or electronic mail should you don’t need to ahead the unique PDF or Phrase file.
And should you’d like to enroll in ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert record we additionally use for wage bulletins), please scroll down and enter your electronic mail tackle within the field under this put up. When you beforehand signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t must do something. You’ll obtain an electronic mail notification inside minutes of every bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks to your assist!
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Legislation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be happy to electronic mail her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You may observe her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join along with her on LinkedIn.
