According to New York Lawyer, "Sullivan & Cromwell has announced higher year-end bonuses for associates this year than in 2003. The firm will pay from $20,000 for first-year associates to $30,000 for senior associates, compared with last year's $17,500 to $27,500. Sullivan & Cromwell associates this year also got October bonuses of $10,000 to $20,000. Last year, no such bonus was paid. The two bonuses will push total compensation to $155,000 for first-year associates, the highest level since 2000, when the booming dot-com economy boosted associate bonuses to $400,000 for first-years and $1,000,000 for senior associates."

Okay, I added zeroes to the last two numbers. But the rest of it is totally from the article. Wow. That's a lot of money. Maybe I should see if my firm offer is still open.

$155,000 is still just $17/hour if you work 168 hours a week though.

And with Blackberries, aren't you sort of?

Incidentally, just in case anyone missed these over the holiday weekend:
After-Thanksgiving Sales at the Law School Bookstore
Inside the Actors' Studio Parody
and, over at The [non]Billable Hour, the 5 things I would change about legal education (long, and not that funny, but (I think) kind of interesting). Check it out, along with the other 4 contributions from other law students, if you haven't yet.