Top 50 Biglaw Firm Announces New Compensation Scheme, With Extra Cash For The Highest Billers

// Biglaw money is all around us! It’s the most wonderful time of the year in Biglaw, and that means raises and year-end bonuses are making the rounds.

We’ve now confirmed that Arnold & Porter — a firm that brought in $1,038,782,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it at No. 49 in the most recent Am Law 100 — has chosen to use the Cravath scale for its compensation increases, meaning these are the salaries associates at the firm will see, as of January 1, 2024:

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• Class of 2023 – $225,000
• Class of 2022 – $235,000
• Class of 2021 – $260,000
• Class of 2020 – $310,000
• Class of 2019 – $365,000
• Class of 2018 – $390,000
• Class of 2017 – $420,000
• Class of 2016+ – $435,000

Arnold & Porter is also matching the Cravath bonus scale, and this is what year-end bonuses will look like at the firm, to be paid on January 31, 2024:

• Class of 2023 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
• Class of 2022 – $20,000
• Class of 2021 – $30,000
• Class of 2020 – $57,500
• Class of 2019 – $75,000
• Class of 2018 – $90,000
• Class of 2017 – $105,000
• Class of 2016+ – $115,000

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On top of these bonus numbers, associates who billed 2,400-2499 hours will receive an additional 10% increase in their class-year bonus; associates who billed 2,500-2,599 hours will receive an additional 15% increase in their class-year bonus; and associates who billed 2,600+ hours will receive an additional 20% increase in their class-year bonus. That’s a nice stack of cash for the firm’s hardest workers. 

Congratulations to everyone at Arnold & Porter!

(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from the firm.)

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!

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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 Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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2023 Associate Salary Increase, Arnold & Porter, Associate Bonus Watch 2023, Biglaw, Bonus News Alerts, Bonuses, Money