Kirkland Bonuses? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Incredibly disappointed the firm is paying market bonuses to everyone who billed under 2000. I wonder though how many people there are who billed under 2000, and why someone is billing under 2000 when so many are 2500+. Is this a way of pushing people to take some of the load off of high billers?

I’m disappointed they’re only getting market. K&E has no hours requirement. We should be giving everyone above market bonuses regardless of hours. The people who are consistently billing something crazy like 1600-1800 aren’t here for too long anyway. If you bill 1800-2000 you’re pulling your weight and should definitely get a K&E above market bonus and if you’re billing more than 2K the multiplier should be even higher. Above market used to be the floor for everyone.

nah.

[Anonymous User]

Incredibly disappointed the firm is paying market bonuses to everyone who billed under 2000. I wonder though how many people there are who billed under 2000, and why someone is billing under 2000 when so many are 2500+. Is this a way of pushing people to take some of the load off of high billers?

People are billing under 2000 because they're smart enough to turn down work and not give away another 50 workdays worth of work for nominal amounts.

This times a million. Take 2 associates the same class year but one gets market at 1800 and one gets 1.3x at 2600. Let’s say that overachiever makes an additional $30,000 because of their efforts. That’s 800 extra hours at $37.50 per billed hour - not taking into account the nonbillable hours that go along with the 800.

Taking it further, if these two are 5th years, the firm is basically making $962.50 per extra hour on the second associate. So the firm makes a cool $770,000 off the associate, the second associate gains $30,000 for 800 hours and the first associate can sleep an extra 800 hours. Which one is more valuable to an associate at the end of the day?

[Anonymous User]

Did anyone get their 5pm ET promised announcement yet or am I the only one wondering what flavors I’m going to get in my year long membership to the jelly of the month club?

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone actually seen their bonus memo yet? I’d hold off on the complaining until you see what it actually is

[thisismytlsuername]

Did anyone get their 5pm ET promised announcement yet or am I the only one wondering what flavors I’m going to get in my year long membership to the jelly of the month club?

They're up on the DMS if you search for them.

[Anonymous User]

Meh. Why should someone billing less than 2k get an above-market bonus? It's not a magic money machine, the reason Kirkland historically gave above-market bonuses is that Kirkland folks historically tended to work higher than market hours. Totally understand that historically wasn't a limiter to the bonuses that actually go around, but Kirkland has gotten so huge, why should it as a firm overpay for people billing under 2k? And again, they're still paying market for less than 2k--just not above market.

Has anyone gotten memos yet?

[Anonymous User]

Incredibly disappointed the firm is paying market bonuses to everyone who billed under 2000. I wonder though how many people there are who billed under 2000, and why someone is billing under 2000 when so many are 2500+. Is this a way of pushing people to take some of the load off of high billers?

People are billing under 2000 because they're smart enough to turn down work and not give away another 50 workdays worth of work for nominal amounts.

This times a million. Take 2 associates the same class year but one gets market at 1800 and one gets 1.3x at 2600. Let’s say that overachiever makes an additional $30,000 because of their efforts. That’s 800 extra hours at $37.50 per billed hour - not taking into account the nonbillable hours that go along with the 800.

Taking it further, if these two are 5th years, the firm is basically making $962.50 per extra hour on the second associate. So the firm makes a cool $770,000 off the associate, the second associate gains $30,000 for 800 hours and the first associate can sleep an extra 800 hours. Which one is more valuable to an associate at the end of the day?

Except that the second associate billing 2600 is getting way more than just 1.3x.

[Anonymous User]

Did anyone get their 5pm ET promised announcement yet or am I the only one wondering what flavors I’m going to get in my year long membership to the jelly of the month club?

Plot twist - K&E bought the names of everyone in this thread and put them on the no bonus list.

[Anonymous User]

Incredibly disappointed the firm is paying market bonuses to everyone who billed under 2000. I wonder though how many people there are who billed under 2000, and why someone is billing under 2000 when so many are 2500+. Is this a way of pushing people to take some of the load off of high billers?

I’m disappointed they’re only getting market. K&E has no hours requirement. We should be giving everyone above market bonuses regardless of hours. The people who are consistently billing something crazy like 1600-1800 aren’t here for too long anyway. If you bill 1800-2000 you’re pulling your weight and should definitely get a K&E above market bonus and if you’re billing more than 2K the multiplier should be even higher. Above market used to be the floor for everyone.

nah.

I bet the firm is counting on high billers having this attitude - f*** the guys who billed 1900. And they don’t much care if the guys who billed 1900 leave anyway.

I realize that “f*** em” is relative considering they still get a market bonus, but as everyone knows, KE used to be above market for everyone with a class rating regardless of hours and that’s a pretty meaningful change especially if the market cools off and some practice groups don’t have 2000 hours per associate to go around.

[Anonymous User]

I’ve been on secondment so didn’t hit 2000 hours. Checked memo on DMS and confirmed market with no multiplier. Feel pretty irritated that I’m taking a financial hit for helping out an important client. Very disappointing.

[Anonymous User]

Incredibly disappointed the firm is paying market bonuses to everyone who billed under 2000. I wonder though how many people there are who billed under 2000, and why someone is billing under 2000 when so many are 2500+. Is this a way of pushing people to take some of the load off of high billers?

People are billing under 2000 because they're smart enough to turn down work and not give away another 50 workdays worth of work for nominal amounts.

This times a million. Take 2 associates the same class year but one gets market at 1800 and one gets 1.3x at 2600. Let’s say that overachiever makes an additional $30,000 because of their efforts. That’s 800 extra hours at $37.50 per billed hour - not taking into account the nonbillable hours that go along with the 800.

Taking it further, if these two are 5th years, the firm is basically making $962.50 per extra hour on the second associate. So the firm makes a cool $770,000 off the associate, the second associate gains $30,000 for 800 hours and the first associate can sleep an extra 800 hours. Which one is more valuable to an associate at the end of the day?

Except that the second associate billing 2600 is getting way more than just 1.3x.

Ok - even if they get 1.6x that’s still only $75/hour. If you take base pay and divide by 2000, your base pay per hour is way higher. Incremental hours at K&E above 2000 are not actually valued the same as the hours up to 2000. You’d have to be getting at least 3x market for it to be valued the same.

I personally value my time at more than $75 an hour. I’d rather sleep an extra hour than only get an extra $75.

[Anonymous User]

I’ve been on secondment so didn’t hit 2000 hours. Checked memo on DMS and confirmed market with no multiplier. Feel pretty irritated that I’m taking a financial hit for helping out an important client. Very disappointing.

That’s rough, sorry =\ Did the memo say if it’s being paid out 12/30 or 12/31?

[Anonymous User]

How are there still no emails? Ballis said 5 PM ET, right?

[Anonymous User]

Did anyone get their 5pm ET promised announcement yet or am I the only one wondering what flavors I’m going to get in my year long membership to the jelly of the month club?

They're up on the DMS if you search for them.

What do you search?

[Anonymous User]

It takes forever for the system to email everyone at the same time. They really shouldn't have told people a time because it always takes forever. But, apparently they are on the dms if you search.

[Anonymous User]

How are there still no emails? Ballis said 5 PM ET, right?

I'm sure they're going out on a rolling basis--I received mine at 730p ct last year.

[Anonymous User]

Deleting until more people get the email

[Anonymous User]

Substantially less than expected. Above class and high hours. Well below the predictions earlier ITT.

[Anonymous User]

It takes forever for the system to email everyone at the same time. They really shouldn't have told people a time because it always takes forever. But, apparently they are on the dms if you search.

you dont need to wait for the email, they've been on the DMS since 4pm CT.
go to dms
click "search documents"
then select "all databases" from the top drop down menu
then type your full name in the "filename" line.

[Anonymous User]

Deleted.

[Anonymous User]

Substantially less than expected, very high hours.

[Anonymous User]

Substantially less than expected. Above class and high hours. Well below the predictions earlier ITT.

I’ll share in more detail later when more people have seen theirs, but completely agree. Very surprised - in a bad way - about what I’m getting. The partnership lived through the era of massive bonuses when they were associates and are now pulling up the ladder behind them, I think.

[Anonymous User]

Mid-level. Hours well above 2000. Shit bonus. Was one of the few not looking to leave before but absolutely looking now.

[Anonymous User]

Substantially less than expected. Above class and high hours. Well below the predictions earlier ITT.

I’ll share in more detail later when more people have seen theirs, but completely agree. Very surprised - in a bad way - about what I’m getting. The partnership lived through the era of massive bonuses when they were associates and are now pulling up the ladder behind them, I think.

Same, I was promised a lot and not impressed. Multiples under 1.5 for high hours don’t blow any one’s socks off after the year we just had. I know other firms that will pay as much or more these days

[Anonymous User]

Meh. Why should someone billing less than 2k get an above-market bonus? It's not a magic money machine, the reason Kirkland historically gave above-market bonuses is that Kirkland folks historically tended to work higher than market hours. Totally understand that historically wasn't a limiter to the bonuses that actually go around, but Kirkland has gotten so huge, why should it as a firm overpay for people billing under 2k? And again, they're still paying market for less than 2k--just not above market.

Has anyone gotten memos yet?

Firm committee in the house! Please tell us more about how prestigious it is to work at K&E.

Maybe this argument would work if they hadn't just stiffed all the people who killed themselves working over the past year. Puzzling decision by the firm.