The Big Law Bonus Scale Has Not Moved Since 2021

Article updated October 13, 2026. The 2026 year-end bonus scale is due in November and this page will be updated the day it is announced.

 

An associate’s 2026 bonus will most likely be decided by a memo written at a firm they do not work for. In each of the last five years Cravath or Milbank has circulated it in November, Above the Law has published it the same day, and the firms that align with the Cravath scale have sent near-identical memos of their own within ten days. That memo has said the same thing since 2021. First-years receive $15,000 and eighth-years $115,000, with a special bonus of $6,000 to $25,000 on top in each of the last two years.

What the memo settles beyond the number is who receives it. The hours threshold, the payment date and the words “in good standing” are in the same paragraph as the grid, and in our experience they decide more individual outcomes than the grid does. For anyone weighing a move in the fourth quarter, those three lines are the ones to read first.
This page carries the scale as it stands, the dates to expect the 2026 figure, and where lateral moves most often go wrong at year end. It will carry the new figures the day they are announced.

 

What the Big Law bonus scale pays

The year-end grid has paid first-years $15,000 and eighth-years $115,000 since November 2021, and in each of the last two years a special bonus of $6,000 to $25,000 has been paid on top at the Cravath-aligned firms. The columns below are what an associate at one of those firms received for 2025, before any premium for hours.

Big Law year-end and special bonus scale, 2025

Class year	Year-end bonus	Special bonus	Total
First-year	$15,000, prorated	$6,000	$21,000
Second-year	$20,000	$6,000	$26,000
Third-year	$30,000	$10,000	$40,000
Fourth-year	$57,500	$15,000	$72,500
Fifth-year	$75,000	$20,000	$95,000
Sixth-year	$90,000	$25,000	$115,000
Seventh-year	$105,000	$25,000	$130,000
Eighth-year and above	$115,000	$25,000	$140,000

Source: Cravath and Milbank 2025 bonus memos as reported by the ABA Journal.

Note: The year-end grid has not changed since 2021. The special bonus is a separate Milbank payment that Cravath-aligned firms have matched each November since 2024. It is not part of the scale, so the total applies only at firms that paid both. The 2026 year-end grid is due in November and the table will be updated when it is announced.

 

How each bonus season has played out since 2021

The grid is now in a different category from base salary. Over the same five years the first-year base has risen from $205,000 to $235,000 in three separate moves, while the money paid at year end has gone up only through the special bonus. Each November has followed the same sequence, with one firm announcing and the market matching, and the timeline below shows where the special bonus entered it.

Big Law bonus announcements by year, 2021 to 2026

2021	Cravath announced on November 22 and raised the top of the year-end grid from $100,000 to $115,000, the last time the grid changed. Firms had paid special bonuses of $12,000 to $64,000 in the spring, and Davis Polk added a further 20% in December, which Cravath matched the next day.
2022	Baker McKenzie announced first and Cravath matched in November. The grid stayed at $15,000 to $115,000. No special bonus.
2023	Milbank announced first on November 7, paying the same grid with no billable hours requirement, and raised base salaries by $10,000 from January 2024 in the same memo. No special bonus.
2024	Milbank paid its associates a summer bonus of $6,000 to $25,000, and no other firm followed. On November 11 it announced the same year-end grid as 2023, and within a week more than thirty firms matched the grid and paid the summer bonus as well, as a special bonus alongside their year-end payments.
2025	Milbank paid a summer bonus of $6,000 to $25,000 in August, as it had the year before. The year-end round opened on November 18, when Cravath announced the same grid plus a matching special bonus. Milbank confirmed its own year-end grid on November 24, and the rest of the market matched over the following week.
2026	Milbank paid the summer bonus a third time, by August 31. This time a firm matched before year end, with Cahill matching the same special bonus in September, paid on October 15. The year-end grid is due in November.

Source: Cravath and Milbank bonus memos as reported by Above the Law, Bloomberg Law and the ABA Journal. Figures correct as of October 13, 2026.

 

Who actually receives the year-end bonus

The memo that sets the grid also sets the conditions for receiving it. Those conditions are where firms differ. An associate can be in the right class year at a matching firm, with the full year worked, and still be paid nothing in December, of a condition written into the same memo.

The hours threshold

Almost every matching firm ties the bonus to a minimum number of hours, which for most is 2,000 or just under. The memo will say whether that means billable hours or “creditable” hours, a term that includes pro bono and approved non-billable time up to a cap. That one word decides a great many bonuses.

An associate with 1,900 client hours plus 150 of pro bono is over the line at a firm that credits pro bono, but under it at a firm that does not, with no way to make up the difference by December. Where the memo does not say which it means, asking before the year closes at least leaves time to act on the answer.

Partial bonuses and premiums

The threshold is not always all or nothing. Some firms pay a partial bonus to associates in good standing who finish below it, while many pay above the grid to associates well over it. Dechert paid up to 40% above the year-end figure at 2,200 to 2,400 hours last year, which is typical of the premiums among the matching firms.

Two sixth-years at firms that both matched Cravath can therefore finish the year $36,000 apart, with nothing in either firm’s announcement to show it. An associate who bills heavily should know what their firm pays above the line before weighing an offer from one that pays the grid only.

The payment date

Firms pay the bonus only to associates still employed on the payment date, and that date can vary significantly. Cravath paid on December 12 last year and Milbank on December 31. Dechert paid before the end of January, and some firms have paid as late as February. That gap decides whether a resignation costs the bonus.

An associate who gives notice on December 15 has already been paid at Cravath. At a firm that pays later than that, the same notice forfeits the whole year. The date is usually in the same sentence as the grid, and if this year’s memo is not out, the previous year’s memo is the best available guide.

Good standing

Every firm also conditions the bonus on the associate being in good standing, which is decided case by case. Cravath’s wording is that payment depends on suitable performance at the associate’s level, with a note that virtually all associates receive it in full. Most matching memos use the two words alone. The clause exists for associates who have had a poor review or who are on a formal improvement plan, yet the memo does not say how it will be applied to them. Associates who had a difficult review earlier in the year may find it worth raising with their practice group leader before the memo is issued.

Partial years are prorated

First-year bonuses are prorated at every scale firm because the class that starts in September has worked a quarter of the year by December. The same rule applies to anyone who joined mid-year, so a fourth-year who moved in June collects roughly half of $57,500 at the new firm, with nothing from the firm they left. The proration itself is straightforward. Some firms also set a date after which a joiner receives nothing for that year, which is where a lateral can lose money.

 

When are Big Law bonuses announced and paid in 2026?

If the last five years hold, the 2026 grid will not be known until November. The rest of the package is already in place, and the dates are predictable enough to plan a move around before the memo arrives. Firms that pay above the scale, including the litigation boutiques, announce on their own timetable and are not covered here.

What is already set for 2026

The special bonus is set. Milbank paid $6,000 to $25,000 for a third summer by August 31, and Cahill matched it in September, the first firm to do so before year end. Base salary is set too, after the Milbank-led raise in June took first-years to $235,000 from July 1. That leaves the grid, which has not moved since 2021 and has now outlasted three base salary raises. 
We do not know whether it moves this year, and nothing in the summer memos says either way. An associate planning around it can work to last year’s numbers until the memo says otherwise.

The dates to watch

Bonus season has run to the same calendar for five years, so a fourth-quarter move can be planned before the memo is out. The table sets out what has happened each month since 2021, alongside what it means for an associate deciding when to give notice.

Month	What has happened each year	What it means for a move
October	No memo yet. Hours for the year are close to final.	Check last year’s memo for the payment date and for any earlier eligibility date, since a few firms fix one. Hiring firms planning for next year may still agree a January start.
November	Cravath or Milbank issues the first memo between November 7 and 22. Matching firms follow within about ten days.	The figure is known by Thanksgiving. This year’s memo confirms the firm’s own payment date.
December	Cravath pays mid-month, December 12 in 2025. Milbank paid on December 31.	Notice given before the firm’s payment date forfeits the year. At a firm that pays in January, December notice costs the whole bonus.
January	Many matching firms pay, Dechert among them.	A January start collects a December-paid bonus at the current firm and begins a clean hours count at the new one.
February	The last matching firms pay.	Where the current firm pays this late, the request is a start date after it, or a make-whole written into the offer.

Source: Cravath, Milbank and Dechert bonus memos 2021 to 2025 as reported by Above the Law.

 

What a lateral move could mean for your bonus

Two memos decide a lateral’s bonus for the year. The current firm’s settles whether it is collected at all, which comes down to its payment date. The new firm’s settles what the first partial year is worth, on terms the associate has usually not seen when the offer arrives. The wider question of when in a Big Law career to move is covered in our guide to timing a lateral move.

Firms generally prorate a mid-year joiner’s bonus by months worked, so an October starter at a firm that prorates is in line for a quarter of the class figure. Some firms draw a line instead. Dechert prorates for associates who joined between December 1 and July 1, then pays nothing to anyone who joined later unless it was agreed at the offer stage. The hours threshold moves with the start date in the same way, so an October 1 joiner at a 2,000-hour firm that annualizes needs around 500 creditable hours by year end. A fourth-year in that position is working for roughly $14,000 of a $57,500 bonus, before anything the hiring firm has agreed to add.

Where the move cannot wait for the current firm’s payment date, the bonus being forfeited can be raised with the hiring firm as a signing payment. Some hiring firms build it into the offer from the start, while others agree it case by case, so the figure varies. Whatever is agreed is worth having in the offer letter, together with the firm’s cut-off date and how the first year’s hours will be counted. Those are the terms we work through with an associate before notice goes in.

 

Your bonus in context

The grid tells an associate what the market pays. It does not tell them whether their own firm’s conditions put them ahead of the market or behind it, or what a move would do to this year’s figure. Those are the questions our private practice team works through with associates considering a move, alongside the wider one of whether Big Law is still worth it for them.

Registering confidentially with Larson Maddox gives our team visibility of your profile, so we can help you assess relevant opportunities when the right move could advance your compensation, platform or long-term trajectory. If you would rather start by seeing what is open, our live private practice roles cover the US market.

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Larson Maddox is a specialist legal and regulatory recruitment consultancy. Our private practice team places associates across the US legal market, drawing on live mandate activity and market data to give lawyers an accurate picture of how their compensation and trajectory compare with what the broader market is offering.