Has Big Law Associate Bonus Season Already Started?

Traditionally every year, the elite Wall Street law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore is the first in the legal industry to come out with its associate bonus schedule and other firms use it as a market-leading benchmark.

But recently, the order has gotten a bit mixed up.

On Friday, Above the Law reported that Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton — a California-based law firm with more than 700 lawyers — had gone ahead and rolled out its own associate bonus plan, before any word of Cravath’s bonuses were released.

Just last year, it was Simpson Thacher & Bartlett that theoretically cut the ...