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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-decoration: underline;&quot;&gt;This Week&amp;rsquo;s Law Firm Bonus News&lt;/span&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull;&lt;strong&gt; Clifford Chance&lt;/strong&gt;: Clifford Chance announced yesterday that it will pay spring bonuses on the Cravath scale.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull;&lt;strong&gt; McDermott Will &amp;amp; Emery&lt;/strong&gt;: McDermott Will &amp;amp; Emery announced bonuses this week. The firm&amp;rsquo;s bonuses are merit-based, and the firm did not release a bonus memo. But one source told &lt;em&gt;Above the Law&lt;/em&gt; that &amp;ldquo;McDermott essentially matched market for average billers and beat market for above average billers.&amp;rdquo; In addition, the firm &amp;ldquo;combined year-end and spring bonuses, and are paying out on March 16.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull;&lt;strong&gt;Fish &amp;amp; Richardson&lt;/strong&gt;: Fish &amp;amp; Richardson announced 2010 bonuses this week. The IP giant&amp;rsquo;s bonuses are merit-based, and the firm&amp;rsquo;s memo provides great detail on its bonus awards. According to the firm in its bonus memo (featured on Above the Law),&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;padding-left: 60px;&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Viewed individually and on the whole, our bonuses compare very favorably with those awarded by other firms in the market, even including the &amp;ldquo;spring bonuses&amp;rdquo; being paid by some firms. Our merit-based associate bonus system is designed to reward attorneys for their unique contribution to the firm&amp;rsquo;s success. As you know, that means not all associates in each class receive a bonus and that associates in the same class may receive varying bonus amounts. Each associate&amp;rsquo;s bonus is determined individually, taking into account value provided to our clients, quality of work, firm-building contributions, overall dedication and hard work.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Below are the average bonuses for Fish &amp;amp; Richardson associates (according to the firm, &quot;the &#39;A1&#39; class does not include those associates who had just started with the firm in the fall,&quot; so presumably &amp;ldquo;A1&amp;rdquo; refers to the class of 2009 and so forth).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;A1: $33,583&lt;br&gt; A2: $34,944&lt;br&gt; A3: $42,759&lt;br&gt; A4: $47,794&lt;br&gt; A5: $45,563&lt;br&gt; A6: $63,841&lt;br&gt; A7: $64,333&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When compared to Cravath&#39;s 2010 bonus scale and spring bonus scale, Fish &amp;amp; Richardson&#39;s numbers look pretty generous.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Above the Law post on Clifford Chance&amp;rsquo;s spring bonuses&lt;br&gt; Above the Law post on McDermott&amp;rsquo;s bonuses&lt;br&gt; Above the Law post  on Fish &amp;amp; Richardson&amp;rsquo;s bonuses&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt; Cravath One-Ups Sullivan with Higher Spring Bonuses for Mid-Level &amp;amp; Senior Associates &lt;br&gt; Two BigLaw Firms are Showing the Bonus Money: Sullivan and Latham Pay Up&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FOLLOW VAULT LAW ON TWITTER! @VaultLaw&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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