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Four numbers from the past year of associate-bonus coverage: $140,000, $172,500, $226,250 and $232,000. The first is roughly where the standard scale tops out at most large firms. The other three are ceilings that Katten, Elsberg Baker & Maruri, and Pallas Partners have each reportedly put on offer, and all of them are "up to" figures, a phrase that often does a good bit of overlooked work. The money is (sometimes) real, but where it is, it is much narrower than the headlines suggest.
Most of These Aren't Signing Bonuses
The biggest numbers above are performance and retention bonuses for associates already on the payroll. The New York Post frames them as a way to stop mid-level lawyers from quitting or being poached, and Elsberg's own statement describes its payout as a reward for a year of strong work, a "substantially above-market bonus" rather than something offered on hiring.
Bonuses above scale tend to require considerable above-scale billable hours. According to the same reporting, firms paying above scale tie their largest payouts to workloads that top 2,500 billable hours a year, about 48 a week, which works out to 65 to 70 hours on the job once unbilled time is counted. Pallas Partners wrote the idea into its structure, with "step-up" bonuses that kick in as billed hours climb. In December 2025, most major U.S. firms were still following the Cravath scale, where bonuses for top-performing associates typically peaked around $140,000. Expect any reward above that scale to have demands that are *also* above that scale.
Why Anyone Is Paying This Much
Mid-level associate attrition is running around 18% to 22%, a little above pre-pandemic levels (per the Post), and firms are shedding experienced mid-levels at a pace hiring can't match. At the same time, revenue at major firms rose more than 11% in the first nine months of 2025, while compensation costs climbed nearly 10%. Pay growth is, for now, keeping close pace with revenue growth. JDJournal adds more data, reporting that direct spending on lawyer compensation rose 8.2% across 2025, alongside a 9.7% increase in technology spending.
The Exception
The clearest case of actual signing money is mid- and senior-level attorneys specializing in private equity secondaries. JDJournal reports that firms including Clifford Chance, Kirkland & Ellis, and Simpson Thacher are offering retention and signing bonuses above $100,000 to mid- and senior-level lawyers in the field, with Clifford Chance said to have offered more than $75,000 to hold on to associates after losing key partners.
Estimates of 2025 secondaries deal volume run from $220 billion (William Blair) to $240 billion (Ropes & Gray). Either number would set a record, and the work calls for people who already understand fund mechanics, tight timelines, and liquidity structures. Accordingly, firms are going after lawyers who picked up secondaries experience early in their careers. Note, however, that this blip in the data is concentrated in a hyper-specific specialty, "not a market-wide compensation reset."
Reading an Offer Accordingly
When you're looking at a number, ask three things. Which kind of money is it: signing, retention, or performance? What hours is it attached to? And does the premium belong to the firm's whole associate class, or to a particular practice group? The answers sort most offers into one of three buckets: the standard scale, a boutique trade of hours for dollars, or a specialty premium.
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