Biglaw firms keep rolling out bonuses as the year draws to a close, and associates couldn’t be happier about it — especially when there’s extra bonus money to be had.
The latest firm to meet the market in terms of matching Milbank’s generous year-end and special bonuses is Winston & Strawn, a firm that brought in $1,190,728,000 gross revenue in 2023, putting it at No. 44 on the Am Law 100. Here’s what the bonus and salary scale looks like at the firm:
As usual, associates must meet their minimum hours threshold — and we believe that’s 2000 hours — for bonus eligibility, and when it comes to Winston’s special bonuses, they will be awarded with the following guidance:
• Associates who meet or exceed their hours targets: 100% of special bonus
• Associates who meet 75% or more of their hours targets: 75% of special bonus
• Associates who are between 50% and 74% of their hours targets: 50% of special bonus
• Associates who are under 50% of their hours targets: no special bonus
If you’ve met your hours qualifications at the firm, there’s some great news waiting for you. Associates who have “substantially” exceeded their productivity goals will receive additional bonuses, on top of their year-end and special bonuses. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Congratulations to everyone at Winston & Strawn! Associates are sure to have a happy New Year when bonus money hits their accounts at the end of January 2025.
(Flip to the next page to read the firm’s bonus memo in full.)
Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of compensation updates, so when your firm announces or matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus/Matches”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.
And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we also use for salary announcements), please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish. Thanks for your help!
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 Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
