2020 Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

No, that means no fall bonuses but they'll consider the fall bonus amounts when setting their bonuses.

[Anonymous User]

The email doesn't contain a commitment to true us up, it's just an anodyne statement that they'll take them "into account." What garbage. These cheapskates have been talking for months about how the firm is having a banner year (for instance, the funds group is apparently on track to have a billion dollars of revenue on its own), but they can't share it with associates.

For reference, here's the full thing:

We are aware that certain firms have announced fall bonuses. As you know, the Firm has always been a market compensation leader and we intend to be so again this year. However, rather than paying a fall bonus, in determining our December bonuses we will, as we always have, take into account the hard work and extraordinary contributions of our associates, as well as the fall bonuses paid by any other firm, to ensure we remain a compensation leader.

We recognize the significant commitment you have each demonstrated during this exceptionally challenging time and we sincerely appreciate your contribution to the Firm’s continued success.

[Anonymous User]

The email means nothing. Kirkland already is above market on year end bonuses. A 3rd year with good hours could get 1.3x (65k) here year-end. 3rd years at DPW are going to get 70k (20+50). It remains to be seen whether Kirkland will go to 85k+ for this hypothetical 3rd year, or if they’ll come in at like 75k and still beat DPW but by a narrower margin. This email gives them cover to do either.

Among the KE associates I am talking to right now, morale has taken a bit of a dip following this email.

[Auxilio]

Kirkland just announced no fall bonuses. Makes me feel much better about my 300 hour months...

Not really. The email says:

“ However, rather than paying a fall bonus, in determining our December bonuses we will, as we always have, take into account the hard work and extraordinary contributions of our associates, as well as the fall bonuses paid by any other firm, to ensure we remain a compensation leader”

To me that says that they are just going to wait until Jan 1 to pay, not that they will not pay them.

The big thing for me is that folding it into year end bonuses means that I, and I assume a huge number of others with this slow year, who don't hit targets won't get it.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland just announced no fall bonuses. Makes me feel much better about my 300 hour months...

Not really. The email says:

“ However, rather than paying a fall bonus, in determining our December bonuses we will, as we always have, take into account the hard work and extraordinary contributions of our associates, as well as the fall bonuses paid by any other firm, to ensure we remain a compensation leader”

To me that says that they are just going to wait until Jan 1 to pay, not that they will not pay them.

Fair. But takes away the instant gratification of an early reward for what has been a crazy year for many many Kirkland lawyers. And it gives Kirkland the chance to "take into account" these bonuses but not to the same degree as if they matched right now. It's only a couple months, and probably ends up working out right given Kirkland track record, but surprising that Kirkland would take such a definitive position this quickly in the process.

[Anonymous User]

It seems like Kirkland is trying to make a play where they can both delay their comp spend until January and can also make splashier end-of-year bonus headlines by reporting inflated headline bonus numbers due to aggregating Fall Bonus + End of Year Bonus amounts.

[Anonymous User]

It seems like Kirkland is trying to make a play where they can both delay their comp spend until January and can also make splashier end-of-year bonus headlines by reporting inflated headline bonus numbers due to aggregating Fall Bonus + End of Year Bonus amounts.

As a mid-level at Kirkland, more likely scenario is the firm is just trying to avoid paying out bonuses and instead give narrow multiples to claim that it somehow “shattered the market.” Today’s email was some shameful shit.

[Anonymous User]

The email means nothing. Kirkland already is above market on year end bonuses. A 3rd year with good hours could get 1.3x (65k) here year-end. 3rd years at DPW are going to get 70k (20+50). It remains to be seen whether Kirkland will go to 85k+ for this hypothetical 3rd year, or if they’ll come in at like 75k and still beat DPW but by a narrower margin. This email gives them cover to do either.

Among the KE associates I am talking to right now, morale has taken a bit of a dip following this email.

I'm a senior associate at K&E. I think that what they're going to do here is roll it into the year-end bonus, then use it as an opportunity to scrimp. So where in years past the average bonus was 1.25x (I snuck a pic of the powerpoint last year and I'm pretty sure that's what the average was, but I can't find it now), now they'll be able to lower it to 1.15x but make it look ok because they're aggregating it with the year-end bonus. And of course people with below-class ratings are going to get the shaft and they won't compute them into the statistics about what's "average". This is a complete money grab, but exactly what I'd expect from the partnership here.

[Anonymous User]

To be honest, despite having at worst a flat year in terms of revenue, I honestly expected that market bonuses would be lower this year and that Kirkland was going to gleefully pay 1.15x market and pocket the rest -- this is less speculation and more from ambiguous statements made by partners in town halls.

I honestly bet this was just a rage response by the partners -- think they were all planning on a big windfall this year lol and they are probably pissed at Milbank/DPW/Cooley.

[Anonymous User]

If you forward the email on your phone, you can see that they were tweaking the "and we intend to be so again this year" phrasing. It seems like these guys were on a Zoom call together trying to figure out how to polish this turd without making any true commitments.

Morale is down.

[Anonymous User]

If you forward the email on your phone, you can see that they were tweaking the "and we intend to be so again this year" phrasing. Like, these guys were definitely on a Zoom call together trying to figure out how to polish this turd without making any true commitments.

Morale is down.

I forwarded the email to myself on my phone, and that phrase (plus another) was in a different color font. Innnnnnnteresting.

[Scallion]

If you forward the email on your phone, you can see that they were tweaking the "and we intend to be so again this year" phrasing. It seems like these guys were on a Zoom call together trying to figure out how to polish this turd without making any true commitments.

Morale is down.

Is it normal for the text of an email to vary, e.g. to show earlier drafts, when forwarded by phone? Can anyone explain why this happens? What if you begin to forward an email to check for this, but don't actually hit send? Do you still see differences? Or is this limited to Kirkland/whatever email server/system Kirkland uses?

[Anonymous User]

If you forward the email on your phone, you can see that they were tweaking the "and we intend to be so again this year" phrasing. It seems like these guys were on a Zoom call together trying to figure out how to polish this turd without making any true commitments.

Morale is down.

Is it normal for the text of an email to vary, e.g. to show earlier drafts, when forwarded by phone? Can anyone explain why this happens? What if you begin to forward an email to check for this, but don't actually hit send? Do you still see differences? Or is this limited to Kirkland/whatever email server/system Kirkland uses?

For our email, if you copy/paste something and don’t fix the formatting, it shows up as a different color when you forward, just a weird quirk.