The $1.1 million bonuses were given to chief financial officer Joel Sanders and executive director Steve DiCarmine in two payments, reports The Lawyer newspaper in London. The pay-outs came on top of the duo’s twice-monthly bonuses of $25,000.

Owning the crisis

The first bonus payment – $500,000 on 13 January – came two weeks before a conference call involving the firm’s global partnership, in which chairman Steve Davis told the partners to ‘own’ the firm’s financial crises. The larger bonus – $600,000 on 29 February – came just a week before the firm announced a 5 per cent cut of lawyers globally.

Lawsuit

The two are currently targeted in a lawsuit brought by former Dewey intellectual property partner Henry Bunsow, who claims the firm’s senior management misled others over the financial situation.
Mr Sanders and Mr DiCarmine were unavailable for comment. Mr Davis, who chaired the firm at the time of the largest bonus payments, declined to comment.