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&lt;p&gt;In the New York Times Dealbook, Andrew Ross Sorkin takes a look at the recent, Cravath-initiated wave of &amp;#8220;special bonuses.&amp;#8221;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Sorkin feigns puzzlement&amp;#8212; &amp;#8220;this herd mentality seems absolutely irrational, economically speaking&amp;#8221;&amp;#8212;until concluding the whole thing is purely a function of status anxiety:&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;#8220;Within their risk-averse, insular world, it&amp;#8217;s a way of saying, &amp;#8216;We&amp;#8217;re in the top tier.&amp;#8217; But it doesn&amp;#8217;t necessarily make good business sense.&amp;#8221;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Whatever the other merits or flaws in Sorkin&amp;#8217;s reasoning (see here for discussion), he definitely errs when he asserts that the bonuses have &amp;#8220;very little to do with recruiting,&amp;#8221; because &amp;#8220;[b]onuses are for people who already have jobs.&amp;#8221;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This statement underestimates how competitive and obsessive the legal recruiting market has become.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Without a doubt, 2Ls bound for BigLaw jobs (not to mention their envious classmates) are keeping score in all facets of the compensation game.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Apart from recruiting, there a retention angle.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt; Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy highlights an interesting point about bonuses and associate retention which popped in his comments section:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;#8220;I believe bonuses don&#39;t so much encourage associates to bill 2,300 hours instead of &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; 2,000 hours, as they encourage the associates who bill 2,300 hours to stick around.&amp;#8221;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full comment (&amp;amp; post) here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;-posted by brian&lt;/p&gt;

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