Associate bonuses reach $360,000 at trial firm Susman Godfrey

Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. litigation firm Susman Godfrey said Monday it will award seniority-based year-end bonuses to its associates worth between $140,000 and $360,000, far exceeding bonuses doled out by many of its larger competitors.

The bonuses are about double the amounts Susman Godfrey handed out last year, and more than triple what other U.S. law firms have committed to giving out this year. The Houston-founded firm in 2022 gave out bonuses between $85,000 and $160,000 based on seniority.

This year's law firm bonus season kicked off last month when Milbank announced bonuses ranging from $15,000 to $115,000, which has been matched by Cravath, Swaine & Moore and other large U.S. law firms.

Susman Godfrey also said it would increase associate salaries in line with Cravath and others. Associates at the firm will now make between $225,000 and $435,000, depending on their seniority.

The firm is "in a truly extraordinary moment in the 40-plus year history of the firm, with our highest-ever revenue and a record number of cases tried over the last year and a half," Susman Godfrey managing partners Vineet Bhatia and Kalpana Srinivasan said in a statement.

Susman Godfrey earlier this year secured a $787.5 million settlement for Dominion Voting Systems, which sued Fox News for defamation over its reports that the company's voting machines were involved in a conspiracy to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

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