Boies Schiller Tops Rival Bonuses as Some Surpass $1 Million (1)

Boies Schiller Flexner is topping rivals with year-end associate bonuses—some exceeding $1 million—as a firm leader said lawyers deserve a return for their work.

More than 95% of associates will get awards that match or exceed what they would earn under the scale of $21,000 to $140,000 set by Milbank and Cravath Swaine & Moore, Boies Schiller managing partners said in a memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

“We wanted to ensure that our lawyers who were working incredibly hard for our clients were getting an incremental return,” managing partner and chairman-elect Matthew Schwartz said in an interview, “as opposed to passing some arbitrary hours threshold.”

Boies Schiller is adding its twist on year-end awards after many elite firms have already announced plans to match the market scale. The market bonuses mean the most junior among associates are taking home $21,000 and the most senior are collecting $140,000.

Boies Schiller is in a position to give higher bonuses after turning around its financial trajectory. After revenues fell to $220 million in 2022 from $405 million in 2019, the all-litigation firm took in $246 million in 2023, according to data from the American Lawyer.

The firm takes an individual approach in formulating associate bonus amounts, weighing client business origination, hours worked, and payouts from contingency matters, Schwartz said. “Multiple” associates have done well enough under the calculation to take home seven-figure bonuses, he said.

When Boies Schiller gave associates the option between the formula and the market in 2021, the split was roughly 50-50, Schwartz said. Since then, the vast majority of associates have opted for the more individualized formula approach, he said.

Schwartz said the firm no longer allows incoming associate classes to opt for the market bonus scale. The presence of market-set bonuses for current associates will phase out upon their promotion to the firm’s partnership, he said.

“From my perspective, it’s a great thing we’re able to provide those bonuses because it means those associates are able to receive much more of a bonus for the value they provide,” said Schwartz, who was elected by partners in 2023 to succeed founder and longtime leader David Boies as chairman on Jan. 1. “It’s a matter of aligning interests.”

Boies Schiller’s memo on Tuesday outlined two mechanisms to help the firm recruit and retain associates.

The firm is encouraging associates to help on the lateral recruiting front with a $25,000 referral bonus. Associates would earn the extra cash if they and the lateral associate they recruit both stay for six months.

Firm leaders are also earmarking signing bonuses of $150,000 for lawyers who join Boies Schiller from a federal district or appellate clerkship and $175,000 for those with multiple clerkships in their background, Tuesday’s memo states. Schwartz said up until now, the firm offered $110,000 for associates joining from clerkships.

“Law clerks have the best experience in the court room, observing the best litigation and some bad litigation, and getting mentored by a judge,” Schwartz said. “We want to be the destination of choice for the top talent.”