Pallas Partners Rolls Out Bonuses, Extra Cash for Top Billers

Transatlantic litigation boutique Pallas Partners is giving associates and counsel bonuses that top the market rate for the firm’s top billers.

Pallas is paying a pair of bonuses that range up to $140,000, matching the seniority-based scale used by Wall Street’s Cravath, Swaine & Moore and other Big Law firms. It’s adding up to $92,000 in extra bonus money to associates who bill at least 2,000 hours this year, according to a memo viewed by Bloomberg Law.

“The point of these bonuses is to recognize the enormous contributions that our associates have made this year, but equally to motivate them for another long stretch of incredibly hard work into next year,” said Duane Loft, who runs the firm’s New York office.

Elite litigation shops, whose associate rosters are a fraction of those at the largest firms, typically blow past the scales set by the industry’s biggest players in recent years. Pallas, which has 21 associates and counsel across offices in New York and London, last year gave junior lawyers as much as $230,000 in incentives.

Some larger firms require associates to hit hours targets in order to be eligible for bonuses and offer additional bonuses to lawyers their busiest billers.

The hours incentives for lawyers at Pallas range based on seniority and how many hours they bill over the year. The most-senior associates and counsel who bill at least 2,500 hours are eligible for $92,000.

London litigator Natasha Harrison launched Pallas Partners in 2022 with a group of lawyers from her previous firm, Boies Schiller. Its past client list includes Credit Suisse bondholders and private equity titan Blackstone. Pallas is planning for at least eight trials next year. Pallas London and Pallas New York are separate entities under the Pallas brand, according to the firm.

The firm’s bonus announcement follows similar moves by other litigation-focused boutiques. Wilkinson Stekloff issued bonuses ranging from $22,500 to $172,500 and Dunn Isaacson Rhee said it would hand out extra payments of up to $175,000.