After issuing another round of paychecks at 2008 salary levels, Sidley Austin today announced its 2010 compensation plan.  Salaries have been thawed and associates will be getting a double bump in salary, putting them back to where they would have been if they had never been frozen in the first place.  Unlike some of the firms Sidley considers peers, however, associates will not be getting a “make whole” bonus.  Kirkland & Ellis along with Latham & Watkins paid their associates a bonus equal to the amount the salary thaw cost them last year.

Still, there’s plenty to be happy about with today’s announcement.  It puts Sidley back among those leading the market for salaries and may put pressure on firms that thawed salaries but didn’t move evenyone up two levels, or firms that cut salaries before thawing them.