Lawyers at Susman Godfrey have had an extraordinary year — the “second-most successful year in the firm’s history,” according to Susman Godfrey leaders.
During 2025, Susman Godfrey attorneys achieved a $1.5 billion copyright infringement settlement against Anthropic over its AI scraping of content. They defeated the Trump administration’s executive orders that targeted the Houston litigation powerhouse.
On Tuesday, firm leaders announced record high year-end bonuses for its associates and elected six new lawyers to its equity partnership, including one in Houston.
Susman Godfrey first-year associates will receive median bonuses of $120,000 — that compares to the market average of $21,000 for most rookie corporate lawyers.
The firm’s most senior associates will be paid median bonuses of $280,000 — double the $140,000 offered eighth-year associates by corporate law firms.
Susman Godfrey co-managing partner Vineet Bhatia of Houston said all 287 firm employees will receive sizable year-end bonuses.
“2025 was materially better than 2024, which was previously our second best year ever,” Bhatia said. “The Anthropic settlement sets us up tremendously well going into 2026 and our work on AI infringement is only just starting.”
The firm also announced Tuesday that it has elected three new equity partners in its New York office, one new partner in each Houston, Los Angeles and Seattle. The new Texas partner is Ryan Weiss.
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