At Top Law Firms, a Class Conflict During Bonus Season

It’s bonus season in America, and at the nation’s biggest and most prestigious law firms, associates—attorneys who do not hold equity in the firms they work for—will be receiving yearend checks greater than the full salaries of many of their contemporaries. Cravath, Swaine & Moore, which sets the market for many top New York firms, announced in late November that its bonuses will range from $10,000 for the most junior associates to $60,000 for those closest to the partner level.

That’s still a far cry from the levels before the financial meltdown: In 2007, senior associates got $110,000 on top of their annual salaries. But no one’s making as much as they used to, and the bonuses are way up from 2011, when the top payout was $37,000. So this lucky group should be out celebrating at some stodgy lawyer bar. Right?