2021 End of Year Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

This feels like around the minimum amounts where a lot of associates would actually be happy to receive them and there might actually be a morale boost particularly at the 3rd-5th level.

As a 4th year that’s seen multiple associates depart for six figure signing bonuses, while I know that i can never pull equal with them without also leaving, I have to say that I’ll be pretty sad to receive less than six figures at EOY. Inflation is nuts, partners a rich, everyone is quitting, double the scale.

DOUBLE. THE. SCALE.

[Anonymous User]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

This feels like around the minimum amounts where a lot of associates would actually be happy to receive them and there might actually be a morale boost particularly at the 3rd-5th level.

As a 4th year that’s seen multiple associates depart for six figure signing bonuses, while I know that i can never pull equal with them without also leaving, I have to say that I’ll be pretty sad to receive less than six figures at EOY. Inflation is nuts, partners a rich, everyone is quitting, double the scale.

DOUBLE. THE. SCALE.

TITCR

[Wanderingdrock]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

This feels like around the minimum amounts where a lot of associates would actually be happy to receive them and there might actually be a morale boost particularly at the 3rd-5th level.

As a 4th year that’s seen multiple associates depart for six figure signing bonuses, while I know that i can never pull equal with them without also leaving, I have to say that I’ll be pretty sad to receive less than six figures at EOY. Inflation is nuts, partners a rich, everyone is quitting, double the scale.

DOUBLE. THE. SCALE.

TITCR

Nobody post anything - or, for that matter, bill - until our demands are met.

EDIT: Actually, please keep posting. This is lawyer porn.

[Anonymous User]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

Would this be on top of a baked in "special bonus?" Because otherwise some of those figures are less than what people were getting EoY 2020 and there's no way that's going to fly with people quitting in droves. E.g., Cravath c/o 2013 last year was getting 140k EoY (100k base + 40k special). Going to be hard to look some burnt out senior associate in the eye this year and say "thanks for the record profits and sorry about your mental health, but here's a little less than what you got last Christmas." Sauce: https://abovethelaw.com/2020/11/cravath-bonuses/

Not the anon poster you're quoting, but yes, I would assume the poster meant these numbers to be separate from special bonuses, because they referred to EOY. You seem to be confused about some terms - "base," from "base compensation," refers to salary. EOY = "end of year," referring to the bonus Biglaw associates traditionally collect at the end of the year. And "special" refers to those other, mid-year bonuses. You seem to be using "EOY" to mean some agglomeration of all the bonuses received throughout the year, and that isn't what it means.

Presumptuous to assume someone else is confused about basic terminology, when they have not stated as much. Unless you count Q4 as mid-year, special bonuses do not refer exclusively to mid-year bonuses. Firms have announced special bonuses during Q4.

You seem to be confused about some terms I just used. "Q4" means the last quarter of the year. The "year" means January 1 through December 31, not a subjective fiscal year that uses other dates. So "Q4" means the last three months of a given year: October, November, and December. The Q stands for quarter, but does not mean a United States coin worth twenty-five cents.

It wasn't an assumption. They used the terms incorrectly. And yes, Q4 bonuses that are not EOY are mid-year, being before the end of the year. But you go off, my friend.

Moar rampant EOY and/or special bonus (but, given the title of the thread, mostly EOY) speculation, please?

No it was def. presumptuous and also hilariously condescending while also being uninformed, so a nice TLS triple cross. A decent number of firms in the V25 opted to roll all comp. into a single EoY bonus rather than playing the stupid game of giving "special" bonuses a month before the EoY bonus, including the one I'm at. Most attorneys will think of the comp. that rolls in over this quarter as their EoY compensation, hence why it's so important to benchmark to that concept--it also prevents law firms from playing divide and conquer games to confuse associates / the market about whether they're in fact matching overall comp. or not. HTFH, friend!

[Anonymous User]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

This is way too compressed at the top and also over-rewards mid-levels. 4th years aren't going to be getting 100k. 7th years will walk if they find out 4th years are getting 100k and they're only getting 130k. Don't think this is that realistic.

[Anonymous User]

My firm has been nonstop bragging in internal meetings how much money we're making. They better trickle down some of that.

[Anonymous User]

My firm has been nonstop bragging in internal meetings how much money we're making. They better trickle down some of that.

Narrator: They didn't.

[Anonymous User]

My firm has been nonstop bragging in internal meetings how much money we're making. They better trickle down some of that.

Narrator: They didn't.

Hey at least it feels like it's raining

[Poldy]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

This is way too compressed at the top and also over-rewards mid-levels. 4th years aren't going to be getting 100k. 7th years will walk if they find out 4th years are getting 100k and they're only getting 130k. Don't think this is that realistic.

Billing rates and responsibilities have also compressed, so this scale makes sense to me.

[Anonymous User]

Given the crazy profits, retention motive, and 7+ years of stagnant EOY bonuses, I think we're going to see a big jump in the scale. Something like:

25k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
80k (from 50k)
100k (from 65k)
115k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
130k (from 100k)

This feels like around the minimum amounts where a lot of associates would actually be happy to receive them and there might actually be a morale boost particularly at the 3rd-5th level.

As a 4th year that’s seen multiple associates depart for six figure signing bonuses, while I know that i can never pull equal with them without also leaving, I have to say that I’ll be pretty sad to receive less than six figures at EOY. Inflation is nuts, partners a rich, everyone is quitting, double the scale.

DOUBLE. THE. SCALE.

TITCR

Nobody post anything - or, for that matter, bill - until our demands are met.

EDIT: Actually, please keep posting. This is lawyer porn.

To the partner lurkers on this thread, the lesson to be learned here is that the longer you make us wait on an announcement, the wilder our rampant speculation becomes, and the less satisfied we will be with whatever pittance increase you're currently discussing in compensation committee meetings.

[Anonymous User]

Just so we are clear, Mintz (source: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=311341) has already offered for payment in February $20k for 1st/2nd years and $40k for 3rd+ years. This was specifically stated as in addition to COVID bonuses and full year end bonuses. So if $1.9mm PEP Mintz remains the market leader, the new scale is:

35k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
90k (from 50k)
105k (from 65k)
120k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
140k (from 100k)

Also Mintz is clearly a market leader in basically every category in my next vault survey.

[Anonymous User]

In all seriousness, every year I rank all firms in the Vault survey as the least prestigious, except (a) firms that made the first move, (b) firms that came over the top, and (c) a random smattering of firms like Orrick that have nice vacation policies, just so Vault doesn’t algorithmically remove my survey.

Cravath, if you want your number 1 ranking back, you know what to do: double the scale.

[Anonymous User]

Just so we are clear, Mintz (source: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=311341) has already offered for payment in February $20k for 1st/2nd years and $40k for 3rd+ years. This was specifically stated as in addition to COVID bonuses and full year end bonuses. So if $1.9mm PEP Mintz remains the market leader, the new scale is:

35k (from 15k)
45k (from 25k)
90k (from 50k)
105k (from 65k)
120k (from 80k)
130k (from 90k)
140k (from 100k)

Also Mintz is clearly a market leader in basically every category in my next vault survey.

Sort of. Mintz's retention bonuses this year were only $20k as reported (FINALLY) in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=311341&sid=c1e3ed4 ... fdf811d9de, so this is more of a true-up that tops market for most juniors, and falls behind for seniors. Regardless, I bet Mintz skips out on whatever special bonuses are offered this year, so Mintz associates will probably fall behind despite thinking their firm is a comp leader.

Retention Bonuses (Mintz / difference)
$12k ($40k / +$28k)
$16k ($40k / +$24k)
$32k ($60k / +$28k)
$44k ($60k / +$16k)
$52k ($60k / +$8k)
$59k ($60k / -$1k)
$64k ($60k / -$4k)

Did Mintz match the 2020 special bonuses?

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

Agreed - lowering the billing minimum for bonus eligibility does nothing for high billers and people who have been crushed this year and last. Bonuses are the way to acknowledge the crazy hours associates have dealt with (and the profit firms have made off the insane workload). The only thing I would consider as a potential justification for not paying massive bonuses is a hard cap on hours for associates. It would have to have some form of teeth too otherwise partners would ignore the cap - once you hit the cap you are either on vacation for the rest of the year or your compensation is automatically increased (maybe as % of your salary for every hour you go over 1900-2100, whatever the cap is). Since there's no way firms will ever do that . . . double. the. scale.

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

I also would welcome hard caps on hours, and if we get same bonus and hard cap - okay. But, that's not realistic. How are we going to do a hardcap? Deals don't end when you reach your cap. What if the majority of the group reaches the cap in September, as we did this year? Is no one going to service any clients for the 4th quarter.

The only thing they can do for disgruntled associates (literally all 3rd-6th year associates is give us more money). If I don't get an elevated bonus, without a question, I get my EOY bonus at my current firm and then I go out and collect signing bonus. Why would I financially waste away here, when I can go across the street, pick up a big check, get some much needed vacay time in between jobs, and do the same exact shit?

My partnership prospects might be worse coming in as a lateral and having to rebuild all connections, but this job has become so untenable that if partner means doing this for another 20-25 years, absolutely not.

I wake up every morning at 6am to 10-15 emails and work from 7am to midnight plus hours on weekend. I've been at that pace since March. I truly cannot handle it anymore, and I'm a generally low stress and quick working associate who's never been this bothered in previous years. It's not just the volume either. Our deals are so thinly stretched, I can't get juniors, and the juniors I can get are untrained stubs trained and I don't have time to train them. The partners are too thinly spread as well to pitch in. So I'm doing work from year 1-5. It's 17 hours a day of stress.

Paying me a boatload won't fix any of the issues above, but at the very least it will make me feel appreciated. Paying me the same scale as last year would be extremely insulting.

[Anonymous User]

I would be pissed if my V20 firm did this. Associate are already hitting higher hours, so hiring more people does not compensate us for that. Besides, there are not enough competent associates to staff up anyways. Raise the eoy or watch even more people leave. Pretty simple binary imho.

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

I also would welcome hard caps on hours, and if we get same bonus and hard cap - okay. But, that's not realistic. How are we going to do a hardcap? Deals don't end when you reach your cap. What if the majority of the group reaches the cap in September, as we did this year? Is no one going to service any clients for the 4th quarter.

The only thing they can do for disgruntled associates (literally all 3rd-6th year associates is give us more money). If I don't get an elevated bonus, without a question, I get my EOY bonus at my current firm and then I go out and collect signing bonus. Why would I financially waste away here, when I can go across the street, pick up a big check, get some much needed vacay time in between jobs, and do the same exact shit?

My partnership prospects might be worse coming in as a lateral and having to rebuild all connections, but this job has become so untenable that if partner means doing this for another 20-25 years, absolutely not.

I wake up every morning at 6am to 10-15 emails and work from 7am to midnight plus hours on weekend. I've been at that pace since March. I truly cannot handle it anymore, and I'm a generally low stress and quick working associate who's never been this bothered in previous years. It's not just the volume either. Our deals are so thinly stretched, I can't get juniors, and the juniors I can get are untrained stubs trained and I don't have time to train them. The partners are too thinly spread as well to pitch in. So I'm doing work from year 1-5. It's 17 hours a day of stress.

Paying me a boatload won't fix any of the issues above, but at the very least it will make me feel appreciated. Paying me the same scale as last year would be extremely insulting.

I'm not saying it's practical, but having more reasonable hours would make staying in biglaw the most attractive option. Sure, more money is always good but at some point, more money doesn't meaningfully improve my life.

[TigerIsBack]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

I also would welcome hard caps on hours, and if we get same bonus and hard cap - okay. But, that's not realistic. How are we going to do a hardcap? Deals don't end when you reach your cap. What if the majority of the group reaches the cap in September, as we did this year? Is no one going to service any clients for the 4th quarter.

The only thing they can do for disgruntled associates (literally all 3rd-6th year associates is give us more money). If I don't get an elevated bonus, without a question, I get my EOY bonus at my current firm and then I go out and collect signing bonus. Why would I financially waste away here, when I can go across the street, pick up a big check, get some much needed vacay time in between jobs, and do the same exact shit?

My partnership prospects might be worse coming in as a lateral and having to rebuild all connections, but this job has become so untenable that if partner means doing this for another 20-25 years, absolutely not.

I wake up every morning at 6am to 10-15 emails and work from 7am to midnight plus hours on weekend. I've been at that pace since March. I truly cannot handle it anymore, and I'm a generally low stress and quick working associate who's never been this bothered in previous years. It's not just the volume either. Our deals are so thinly stretched, I can't get juniors, and the juniors I can get are untrained stubs trained and I don't have time to train them. The partners are too thinly spread as well to pitch in. So I'm doing work from year 1-5. It's 17 hours a day of stress.

Paying me a boatload won't fix any of the issues above, but at the very least it will make me feel appreciated. Paying me the same scale as last year would be extremely insulting.

Probably difficult from an accounting perspective (maybe, i have no idea?), but you could stagger the "start dates" for each associate. So 25% of associates start their billable year on 1/1, another 25% on 4/1, etc. so you always make sure every quarter you have a class of associates that are just starting their year and trying to get hours up.

It also allows firms to spread bonuses out over the course of the year, but becomes harder to figure out what's market if you're in a 25% bucket where your "year" ends 6 months after the normal bonus season.

[Anonymous User]

I also would welcome hard caps on hours, and if we get same bonus and hard cap - okay. But, that's not realistic. How are we going to do a hardcap? Deals don't end when you reach your cap. What if the majority of the group reaches the cap in September, as we did this year? Is no one going to service any clients for the 4th quarter.

The only thing they can do for disgruntled associates (literally all 3rd-6th year associates is give us more money). If I don't get an elevated bonus, without a question, I get my EOY bonus at my current firm and then I go out and collect signing bonus. Why would I financially waste away here, when I can go across the street, pick up a big check, get some much needed vacay time in between jobs, and do the same exact shit?

My partnership prospects might be worse coming in as a lateral and having to rebuild all connections, but this job has become so untenable that if partner means doing this for another 20-25 years, absolutely not.

I wake up every morning at 6am to 10-15 emails and work from 7am to midnight plus hours on weekend. I've been at that pace since March. I truly cannot handle it anymore, and I'm a generally low stress and quick working associate who's never been this bothered in previous years. It's not just the volume either. Our deals are so thinly stretched, I can't get juniors, and the juniors I can get are untrained stubs trained and I don't have time to train them. The partners are too thinly spread as well to pitch in. So I'm doing work from year 1-5. It's 17 hours a day of stress.

Paying me a boatload won't fix any of the issues above, but at the very least it will make me feel appreciated. Paying me the same scale as last year would be extremely insulting.

The clear problem with this system is that it is feedback loop that will only get worse. Associates are so crushed they start reasonably asking for more money or they'll walk. Firms increase money incrementally to retain current associates and remain attractive/peer-equivalent for law school recruiting. But firms calculate that if they increase base and bonuses, associates need to continue billing high hours and teams need to be "leanly staffed." Higher base and bonuses also feed into year over year increases in billing rates, which annoys clients, so partners justify budgets by showing how few associates will be working on it. This continues to feed into more crushing workloads, which associates respond to in turn by exiting or demanding more money. The more associates exit, the more crushing the workload is on remaining associates. And so on and on.

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

I also would welcome hard caps on hours, and if we get same bonus and hard cap - okay. But, that's not realistic. How are we going to do a hardcap? Deals don't end when you reach your cap. What if the majority of the group reaches the cap in September, as we did this year? Is no one going to service any clients for the 4th quarter.

The only thing they can do for disgruntled associates (literally all 3rd-6th year associates is give us more money). If I don't get an elevated bonus, without a question, I get my EOY bonus at my current firm and then I go out and collect signing bonus. Why would I financially waste away here, when I can go across the street, pick up a big check, get some much needed vacay time in between jobs, and do the same exact shit?

My partnership prospects might be worse coming in as a lateral and having to rebuild all connections, but this job has become so untenable that if partner means doing this for another 20-25 years, absolutely not.

I wake up every morning at 6am to 10-15 emails and work from 7am to midnight plus hours on weekend. I've been at that pace since March. I truly cannot handle it anymore, and I'm a generally low stress and quick working associate who's never been this bothered in previous years. It's not just the volume either. Our deals are so thinly stretched, I can't get juniors, and the juniors I can get are untrained stubs trained and I don't have time to train them. The partners are too thinly spread as well to pitch in. So I'm doing work from year 1-5. It's 17 hours a day of stress.

Paying me a boatload won't fix any of the issues above, but at the very least it will make me feel appreciated. Paying me the same scale as last year would be extremely insulting.

This is very on point. I'm also a transactional midlevel, looking like I'll be at ~3k hours for the year (and already about that for TTM). The last six months have felt surreal. I'm holding up pretty well and thankfully I generally enjoy what I do, but as the quoted poster suggests, if this is how it will be long term, then it's absolutely not worth it (and for the record, I doubt most current partners had to deal with similar circumstances as associates). Presumably the pace will normalize when the market cools, but there's no clear light at the end of the tunnel.

I've had friends in litigation speculate whether EOY bonuses will increase or whether there will be additional special bonuses announced. Frankly this makes me feel like they really don't get what's happening on the corporate side. To the quoted post, there's no realistic amount of money that will balance the scales, but it's effectively inconceivable that more money isn't thrown our way (in whatever form that takes).

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

I would take a pay cut (let alone static pay) to stay at 1800, with real tracking of my pace to make sure I would end up 1750-1850 at year end, building in four weeks of vacation (real leave the phone behind vacation). And if I’m over pace at some point tracked weekly, I get responsibility removed from my plate. There is no setting like this but if it existed I would take a meaningful pay cut to get it.

[Anonymous User]

Hey fellow kids, how would you feel if your firm announced no change to bonus scale but made a bunch of representations like drastically reducing minimum hours for bonus (e.g. 1800) and said they were massively expanding associate ranks to avoid overburdening associates with too many matters?

I'm only slightly kidding. Incremental increases in cash are simply not going to fix the root fundamental flaw in the model, i.e. crushing workloads. But more money just kicks the can down the road which is by design.

Also the more money they feel they need to give out, the more justified they feel about crushing workloads. I.e., what are you complaining about, we increased bonuses?

I'd much rather be capped out at 1800 hours than get a bigger bonus.

I also would welcome hard caps on hours, and if we get same bonus and hard cap - okay. But, that's not realistic. How are we going to do a hardcap? Deals don't end when you reach your cap. What if the majority of the group reaches the cap in September, as we did this year? Is no one going to service any clients for the 4th quarter.

The only thing they can do for disgruntled associates (literally all 3rd-6th year associates is give us more money). If I don't get an elevated bonus, without a question, I get my EOY bonus at my current firm and then I go out and collect signing bonus. Why would I financially waste away here, when I can go across the street, pick up a big check, get some much needed vacay time in between jobs, and do the same exact shit?

My partnership prospects might be worse coming in as a lateral and having to rebuild all connections, but this job has become so untenable that if partner means doing this for another 20-25 years, absolutely not.

I wake up every morning at 6am to 10-15 emails and work from 7am to midnight plus hours on weekend. I've been at that pace since March. I truly cannot handle it anymore, and I'm a generally low stress and quick working associate who's never been this bothered in previous years. It's not just the volume either. Our deals are so thinly stretched, I can't get juniors, and the juniors I can get are untrained stubs trained and I don't have time to train them. The partners are too thinly spread as well to pitch in. So I'm doing work from year 1-5. It's 17 hours a day of stress.

Paying me a boatload won't fix any of the issues above, but at the very least it will make me feel appreciated. Paying me the same scale as last year would be extremely insulting.

This is very on point. I'm also a transactional midlevel, looking like I'll be at ~3k hours for the year (and already about that for TTM). The last six months have felt surreal. I'm holding up pretty well and thankfully I generally enjoy what I do, but as the quoted poster suggests, if this is how it will be long term, then it's absolutely not worth it (and for the record, I doubt most current partners had to deal with similar circumstances as associates). Presumably the pace will normalize when the market cools, but there's no clear light at the end of the tunnel.

I've had friends in litigation speculate whether EOY bonuses will increase or whether there will be additional special bonuses announced. Frankly this makes me feel like they really don't get what's happening on the corporate side. To the quoted post, there's no realistic amount of money that will balance the scales, but it's effectively inconceivable that more money isn't thrown our way (in whatever form that takes).

I'm an M&A fourth year and I was just saying how I can't remember what happened when in life since about March, because it's just been deals on top of deals and my entire sense of time is warped. The retention bonuses actually did make a difference to me as I mulled going in-house, and a substantially higher annual bonus would also be hard to ignore. But we're so thinly stretched, if any other midlevels or seniors lateral/quit/go in-house, I might as well quit on the spot before they reallocate all the deals mid-stream.

[glitched]

Firms are dying for associates right now. How would an hours cap even work? It will only happen if the partners turn down work, which they will not do.

They need to raise bonuses this year, and will need to give special bonuses to their top performers. Announcing Spring bonuses would also be smart as well.