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Hey everyone,

I'm trying to get a better sense of total associate compensation, which bonuses obviously play a part. Assuming a starting salary of either $120,000 or $160,000 (depending on region and what not), what size bonus can an associate expect? I realize that bonuses are designed to allow for flexibility and as such can vary significantly from year-to-year. I've heard talk of annual bonuses ranging anywhere from 10% of salary ($12k - $16k) all the way up to 100% of an associate's salary. Are both of these figures possible? Are either of them unreasonable? Any thoughts or actual experience would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Bonuses in standard markets are uniform every year and were about $10,000 for first years this year (so you'd get that full bonus after being at the firm for like 15 months, stub year bonus is either 0 or prorated). They've been lower and they've been as high as $30,000++ recently, BUT you can rely on them being uniform across firms and markets because ???? and collusion and lawyers wrote the anti-trust laws?

Bonuses outside of major markets (i.e. your $120,000 hypothetical starting salary place) are probably $0.

There are like, less than 5 firms that pay (a little or a lot) more in bonuses each year: Wachtell, Kirkland, Quinn, and Boies. Susman too, but they're barely "big" by firm standards.