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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

BELATED BONUS BONANZA? - And so it begins… maybe? After ceding the first-mover position to Baker McKenzie this Big Law bonus season, Cravath, Swaine & Moore rolled out its 2022 year-end bonus scale in an email to associates yesterday. As Law.com's Dan Roe reports, the email contains a bonus scale that mirrors Cravath's 2021 scale, which kicked off last year's bonus season the third week of November. Once again, first-years earn a pro-rated $15,000, second-years get $20,000, and the scale increases up to $105,000 for seventh-years. However, eighth-year associates—the class of 2015—are conspicuously absent on Cravath's 2022 bonus scale. A firm representative declined to comment on the contents of the Tuesday email. The scale also matches that of Baker McKenzie, although that firm included eighth-years' $115,000 bonuses in its scale. Meanwhile, as Law.com's Bruce Love reports, Boies Schiller Flexner also got in on the action yesterday, revealing a bonus scale that will see some senior associates earning as much as $165,000 if they bill more than 2,600 hours. Still, it's otherwise been quiet on the bonus front. As we noted in this space earlier this week, many firms just may not have the appetite for big year-end payouts this year.

A FREE SPEECH SPEECH - Judge James Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is slated to talk about the state of free speech on college campuses at Yale Law School today. Why yes, that is the same Yale the judge said he was boycotting when it comes to hiring clerks. Ho will be joined by 11th Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch, the first federal judge to publicly announce her participation in Ho's boycott. The two Trump appointees have said their boycott is in response to Yale's "cancel culture" and recent student protests against certain speakers. Several judges have spoken out against the boycott, with some critics saying it will only hurt conservative students attending the law school. Today's event is titled, "Is Free Speech Dead on Campus?"

ON THE RADAR  - Grant & Eisenhofer and Gardy & Notis filed a stockholder derivative action Tuesday in Delaware Court of Chancery on behalf of Jason Nusbaum and nominal defendant TuSimple Holdings Inc., a self-driving freight trucking developer. The suit pursues claims against certain current and former members of the company's board of directors for allegedly failing to prevent the company's former CEO, Xiaodi Hou, from misappropriating trade secrets and other assets for the benefit of competitor, Hydron Inc. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendants. The case is 2022-1095, Jason Nusbaum v. Xiaodi Hou, et al. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar. 

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