It "pays" to be a Supreme Court clerk

So reports this article:

"The intense annual competition to lure elite Supreme Court law clerks to top law firms is reaching record heights this year, with some firms offering jaw-dropping hiring bonuses of $150,000 or more.

"These bonuses, added to base salaries in the third-year associate range, make it likely that some of the Court's 35 law clerks this term will be paid upward of $300,000 the first year they leave their justice's chambers. By contrast, Chief Justice William Rehnquist is paid $203,000 a year, and associate justices make $194,300."

This development is symptomatic of the acceleration of the "star system" economic culture in the United States; even fifteen years ago, the norm at top firms would have been to offer a bonus of, perhaps, 10K for each year of clerking, with no distinction between the Supreme Court and any other federal clerkship.