Large law firms began announcing 2025 year-end bonuses on November 18. What’s driving profits for law firms this year? What’s happening to attorney compensation outside of the lockstep formula? And what do 2025 law firm bonuses say about the economy going into 2026? Dollar amounts and related coverage are below the fold.
Cravath, Swaine & Moore, among other firms, announced associate bonsues that mirrored 2024. Kathryn Rubino, Cravath Starts Biglaw’s Bonus Season with Year-End and Special Bonuses!, Above the Law (Nov. 18, 2025):
| Class | Year-End Bonus | Special Bonus |
| 2025 | $15,000 (prorated) | $6,000 (prorated) |
| 2024 | $20,000 | $6,000 |
| 2023 | $30,000 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | $57,500 | $15,000 |
| 2021 | $75,000 | $20,000 |
| 2020 | $90,000 | $25,000 |
| 2019 | $105,000 | $25,000 |
| 2018 | $115,000 | $25,000 |
Tatyana Monnay, Milbank Stays Quiet as Big Law Bonus Season Revs Up, Bloomberg Law (Nov. 19, 2025):
Wall Street’s Cravath Swaine & Moore on Tuesday said it would pay associates a pair of bonuses ranging up to $140,000, based on seniority. A handful of firms—Fried Frank, Paul Hastings, McDermott Will & Schulte, Dechert LLP, Ropes & Gray, and Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft [as well as Baker Botts]—have since followed.
Notably quiet so far is Milbank, which has established a reputation as a first-mover on associate compensation in recent years. . . .
“If any firm is going to raise Cravath, it’s going to be a firm like Milbank or a firm with a top-of-market M&A practice,” [David] Nicol said. [Nicol is head of the U.S. practice for recruiting firm Marsden.]
Roy Storm, Richest Firms Stockpile Litigators as Demand Surges, Bloomberg Law (October 28, 2025):
Four firms—Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Weiss, Davis Polk, and Paul Hastings—grew their litigation headcount by at least 22% since the beginning of last year. Those firms also are among the country’s 12 most profitable, climbing the ranks largely on the strength of their corporate and transactional practices. . . .
The numbers build on industry reports showing litigation, not M&A or other deals work, as the most powerful source of demand growth for firms since at least 2023. They show that even some firms focused on dominating the deals arena have received a message: Ignore litigation departments at your own peril. . . .
The courtroom practice is mostly immune to the types of spikes and valleys that transactions practices experience. It can be just as profitable as deals work when managed correctly, firm leaders said.
Tatyana Monnay, Goodwin Procter Collects Record $2.7 Billion on M&A, Litigation, Bloomberg Law (Oct. 20, 2025):
Goodwin is among the law firms seeking a stronger foothold in shareholder activism work that surged in the middle of this year . . . .
The Boston-founded firm made strategic hires throughout the year, including the poaching of partner Leonard Wood from Sidley Austin to lead its shareholder activism and takeover defense practice group last month.
Eric Killelea, Baker Botts Partner Pay Shift Drives Record Hiring Spree, Bloomberg Law (Nov. 17, 2025):
About half of the record-high 32 partners that Baker Botts has hired this year are nonequity partners, according to a spokesperson. That means they get 50% or more of their compensation from salaries, rather than profit shares. . . .
More than 60% of Baker Botts’ 250 partners are nonequity, as of the end of last year. That’s higher than the rates at the other largest Texas-founded firms and nearing the level at Kirkland & Ellis, the megafirm that pioneered the multi-tier partnership. Eighty-nine of the country’s 100 largest law firms now have nonequity tiers.
Roy Storm, How Big Law Partner Pay Outran Associate Salaries in a Flash, Bloomberg Law (Apr. 24, 2025):
First-year associate pay rose 48% from 2012 to 2024 in the industry’s prevailing Cravath pay scale, while compensation for seventh-year associates jumped by 78% during the same time.
Here is the partner pay comparison: 141%. That’s how much profits per equity partner have grown at the 50 largest firms by revenue since 2012, according to data from The American Lawyer. . . .
The next time the industry has to batten down the hatches and conserve cash in a recession, there is plenty of room for profits to take a dip relative to associate pay. That is a concept some firms were willing to accept in the lead-up to the pandemic, when they promised that equity partners would take a hit to keep associates employed.
The challenge for law firm leaders if there’s another recession will be to socialize that idea among their partners—who are only used to seeing pay go one direction: up.
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