![Sonnenschein to Slash Associate Pay [Update]](https://test.jdjournal.com/wp-content/webp-express/webp-images/uploads/2008/12/sonnenschein_160x120.jpg.webp "Sonnenschein to Slash Associate Pay [Update]")
First year salaries, previously a Biglaw standard $160,000, will be reduced to $145,000.
Sonnenschein seeks to make associate salaries performance-based, and will create an associate-partner committee to work out the details. This year, the firm will have a merit-based bonus program; bonuses will be paid in January 2010.
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP is an international law firm with 700 lawyers and other professionals in the United States and Europe. Founded in Chicago in 1906, it has 14 offices in the US and Europe.
UPDATE
Online sources have obtained further details about the salary reductions for Sonnenschein associates — the longer a lawyer has been with the firm, the more their pay will be cut.
If an associate started in 2004 or earlier, the pay cut is 15%. Those who started in 2005/6 take a 14% cut. And the 2008 class is taking a 10% cut.
