The Brief:
Australian law firm bonuses typically sit around 10–15%.
US firms are paying associates well over $200k at the top end.
In Australia, bonuses are still relatively slim. In many firms they sit as low as 5%, and even at the top end average around 10–15% of base salary.
According to the College of Law, the average corporate lawyer earns just $19,765 as a bonus. Nice to have, sure. Life-changing? Not quite.
Now compare that to the US.
Across Big Law, year-end bonuses routinely hit six figures. Senior associates are pulling in $115k on the standard Cravath scale. Cravath itself told associates that “virtually all” would receive full bonuses this year, with no billable-hour thresholds attached.
Year | Bonus (US$) | Bonus (A$) |
|---|---|---|
1st Year | $20,000 | $29,714 |
2nd Year | $30,000 | $44,572 |
3rd Year | $57,500 | $84,423 |
4th Year | $75,000 | $111,429 |
5th Year | $90,000 | $133,747 |
6th Year | $105,000 | $156,038 |
7th Year | $115,000 | $170,925 |
8th Year | $115,000 | $170,925 |
At Dechert, associates who clocked 2,200 “extraordinary bonus hours” were eligible for an extra 30% on top of their year-end bonus. Hit 2,400 hours, and the uplift jumps to 40%.
And there are some outliers sit well above the Cravath scale. Here’s what some US firms are paying at the very top end.
Firm | Bonus (US$) | Bonus (A$) |
|---|---|---|
Paul Weiss | $140,000 | $208,041 |
Davis Pold Wardell | $140,000 | $208,041 |
Katten Muchin Rosenman | $172,500 | $256,336 |
Elsberg, Baker & Maruri | $226,250 | $336,209 |
Pallas Partners | $232,000 | $344,753 |
But here’s the catch.
Firms paying above the scale are also demanding more in return. The biggest bonuses are often linked to workloads north of 2,500 billable hours a year. That’s about 48 billable hours a week, which in practice means 65 to 70 hours on the job once unbilled time is included.
So yes, US associates are pulling monster cheques. But they’re earning every dollar.