Ho, ho, ho! Hope everyone who celebrates had a Merry Christmas. Last week, just before Christmas Eve, one successful boutique law firm made sure that associates would have a very happy holiday indeed by paying out a Biglaw bonus match. Which firm could it be?

Say hello to the Houston litigation boutique of Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. — more commonly known as “AZA,” for obvious reasons. Here’s what the firm’s recently released 2021 bonus scale looks like:

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Did we say “bonus match”? We suppose it is, at least in theory. As it turns out, AZA’s Davis Polk-inspired special bonus is only a match for the firm’s biggest billers. As noted in the firm’s bonus memo (available on the next page):

This year we included a one-time special bonus for associates who billed over 2,400 hours. We chose 2,400 hours as the threshold because it rewards associates who worked beyond the minimum requirements for a bonus.

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Knowing how busy law firms were in 2021, we’re hopeful that associates had tons of work to do to earn those special bonuses. Congrats to everyone at AZA!

(Flip to the next page to read the full memo from Ahmad Zavitsanos Anaipakos Alavi & Mensing.)

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*** Wondering if the grass is greener on the in-house side? Click here for a look inside the black box of corporate counsel pay in our 2021 In-House Compensation Report. ***

Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] 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 Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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Ahmad Zavitsanos Anaipakos Alavi & Mensing, Associate Bonus Watch 2021, Bonuses, Boutique Law Firms, Money