Font Size: 
Clifford Chance Joins the N.Y. Bonus Wars
Legal Week
November 08, 2007
Clifford Chance has come out as the first U.K. firm to hand out a one-off bonus of up to $50,000 (£24,000) to U.S. associates, as the New York pay war gathers steam.
Craig Medwick, Clifford Chance's regional managing partner for the Americas, told the firm's New York-based associates Wednesday they would receive a special bonus ranging from $10,000 for first-years to $50,000 for senior associates.
The bonus will be paid out in January along with the standard year-end bonuses, which will see newly qualified associates pocket up to $30,000 with senior associates in line for as much as $65,000.
The move comes after Cravath Swaine & Moore announced last month that it would pay a special bonus to its associates.
Manhattan rivals, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Shearman & Sterling, have since followed Cravath's lead.
In January, Simpson Thacher kicked off a salary war when it raised its associate base salaries 10 percent to a new benchmark of $160,000 -- a move followed quickly by rivals.
At Clifford Chance, however, the news follows the Magic Circle firm axing a six-lawyer structured finance team from its New York office earlier this week, as law firms continue to feel the repercussions of the subprime mortgage crisis.
