Sidley Austin is offering its incoming associates an optional deferral plan.
The “Pro Bono Assistance Program” offers a $75,000 stipend to associates who defer to January 2011, and do public interest work in the meantime.
The New York office is offering the plan to up to 20 new grads.
In March, the firm cut nine lawyers and 140 staff.
Sidley Austin LLP , formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth-largest US-based corporate law firm with over 1,800 lawyers, annual revenues of more than one billion dollars, and offices in 16 cities worldwide.