Top 25 Biglaw Firm Doles Out Market-Beating Bonus Bucks To Associates Who Love To Bill

Whoa, that's a lot of money.

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Some elite Biglaw firms are known for offering market-beating bonuses for their high billers. Year after year, they prove that they’re willing to pay for the most committed legal talent by adding tens of thousands of dollars to their bonus payouts.

One of those firms is Quinn Emanuel.

The litigation powerhouse — which came in 25th place in the most recent Am Law 100 rankings, with $1.25 billion in revenue in 2019 — just announced its special bonus matrix, and while they’re matching the generous Davis Polk scale, there are some hefty rewards in store for heavy billers based on the 12 months looking back from March 31 and September 30. Here’s the bonus scale at the firm:

Associates who billed 1900 hours will receive a bonus equal to half the market rate; those who billed 2000 hours will receive a bonus equal to 3/4 the market rate; those who billed 2100 hours will receive a market bonus; and those who billed 2200 hours or more will receive a bonus equal to 125% of the market bonus. Big billers start raking in more cash at 2400 hours. Depending on class year, those who billed 2200 hours or more will receive from $3,000 to $16,000 more than market.

This is the second of special bonuses Quinn has doled out this year, and it comes in addition to the firm’s recent payment of its associate profit-sharing bonuses. On average, those bonuses were about $38,000 for 2020.

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Congratulations to everyone at Quinn Emanuel on all this cold, hard cash!

(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Quinn Emanuel.)

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Staci ZaretskyStaci 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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