Coming Off Work on MeToo Cases, Wigdor Gives Robust Associate Bonuses
Wigdor's planned bonus scale offers its associates a nice chunk of change heading into the end of 2018, a year in which the employment firm has garnered significant attention for its work on bias and harassment cases.
December 10, 2018 at 03:21 PM
3 minute read
Wigdor LLP, a prominent New York plaintiffs-side employment firm that took on several high-profile cases in the wake of #MeToo, plans to reward its associates in 2018 with year-end bonuses ranging between $70,000 and $160,000.
The firm's range for bonuses far surpasses the market level that Cravath, Swaine & Moore set for large defense firms. In November, Cravath announced it would pay its associates year-end bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $100,000— a scale that was then matched by several other top-end firms, including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
For Wigdor, a 13-lawyer firm with five partners, the 2018 bonuses reflect a higher amount than the firm has given in years past. Previously, its bonuses have gone up to about $100,000.
“My partners and I thought it was appropriate to share in the firm's incredibly successful year,” Douglas Wigdor said in an email. “We have a dedicated and talented group that enables us to litigate against the most powerful and largest law firms and companies around the world.”
Wigdor's bonuses also exceed the amounts announced by boutique firms started recently by expatriates of Am Law 100 firms, such as Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz and Kaplan Hecker & Fink, both helmed by former Paul Weiss partners. Kaplan Hecker offered bonuses of $25,000 to $130,000 to their associates, while Wilkinson Walsh offered 150 percent of the Cravath scale, a range of $22,500 to $150,000.
The new bonuses still do not match the traditional outlier—Susman Godfrey—which on Monday announced associate bonuses ranging from $110,000 to $225,000. The Texas-based firm is known for far surpassing a variety of industry standards.
Selendy & Gay, which started less than a year ago with a group that split off from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, also went with 150 percent of the Cravath scale. But that firm also added a special, one-time bonus as a recognition for associates coming on board during the firm's first year.
Wigdor's bonus scale comes after a busy stretch for the employment firm, which in May secured a $10 million settlement on behalf of current and former employees at 21st Century Fox who alleged race and gender discrimination at Fox News.
The firm has also garnered recent attention for other prominent sex discrimination cases, including one in which it represents Lauren Bonner, an associate director at Point72 Asset Management LP, the investment firm founded by hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen. Bonner, who's been vocal about gender pay inequality even outside of the lawsuit, alleges that Point72 and its leaders have paid women less than male counterparts and have fostered a “boy's club” environment at the investment firm.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllSquire Patton Boggs Associate Among Those Killed in String of Methanol Poisonings
1 minute readMore Big Law Firms Rush to Match Associate Bonuses, While Some Offer Potential for Even More
Holland & Knight, Akin, Crowell, Barnes and Day Pitney Add to DC Practices
3 minute read'There Is No Time to Waste': Matt Gaetz Withdraws From AG Nomination
3 minute readTrending Stories
- 1AI: An Enhancement, Not a Replacement for Attorneys
- 2Fowler White Burnett Opens Jacksonville Office Focused on Transportation Practice
- 3Auditor Finds 'Significant Deficiency' in FTC Accounting to Tune of $7M
- 4'A Mockery' of Deposition Rules: Walgreens Wins Sanctions Dispute Over Corporate Witness Allegedly Unfamiliar With Company
- 5Call for Nominations: TLI's Pennsylvania Legal Awards 2025
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250