2020 End of Year Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Got our reviews at DLA, which traditionally also includes our bonus info. Said they haven't yet decided yet essentially and will follow up with us all.

In light of this MoFo news, if DLA doesn't pay or try to pull some cutesie bullshit by making the COVID bonuses contingent on some extra conditions (e.g., 2100 hrs, rating of 4/5 despite being told that 3/5 was EXCEPTIONAL and having partners who didn't know the implications of putting a 3 instead of a 4) then I will be so fucking demoralized by all of it.

(DLA anon). Not sure MoFo will be the straw for DLA - really after the Baker match that’s when DLAs put up or shut up moment came and so far they’ve chosen the latter.

In terms of timing, last year they released written reviews almost a week before bonus information. So just having our reviews with no bonus info is not new. Also last year they announced bonuses the Thursday two weeks before payout - which this year would be tomorrow.

I guess we’ll see. I think if they decide to match they would make a big deal out of it, such as a firm wide memo, to combat their bad press on this issue. So...I’m not hopeful.

[Anonymous User]

Got our reviews at DLA, which traditionally also includes our bonus info. Said they haven't yet decided yet essentially and will follow up with us all.

In light of this MoFo news, if DLA doesn't pay or try to pull some cutesie bullshit by making the COVID bonuses contingent on some extra conditions (e.g., 2100 hrs, rating of 4/5 despite being told that 3/5 was EXCEPTIONAL and having partners who didn't know the implications of putting a 3 instead of a 4) then I will be so fucking demoralized by all of it.

(DLA anon). Not sure MoFo will be the straw for DLA - really after the Baker match that’s when DLAs put up or shut up moment came and so far they’ve chosen the latter.

In terms of timing, last year they released written reviews almost a week before bonus information. So just having our reviews with no bonus info is not new. Also last year they announced bonuses the Thursday two weeks before payout - which this year would be tomorrow.

I guess we’ll see. I think if they decide to match they would make a big deal out of it, such as a firm wide memo, to combat their bad press on this issue. So...I’m not hopeful.

Did Dentons decide to pay?

[Anonymous User]

MoFo deferred their incoming class to Feb 1, which is at least 3 weeks later than all the other firms. I was not surprised when they announced an above-market special bonus. Sucks to be in the incoming class at MoFo tho.

[Sackboy]

MoFo deferred their incoming class to Feb 1, which is at least 3 weeks later than all the other firms. I was not surprised when they announced an above-market special bonus. Sucks to be in the incoming class at MoFo tho.

Wow, that's like 3.5 months of missed pay compared to firms that just pushed to mid-October. Big oof. $55,400 gross missed out on.

[Anonymous User]

MoFo deferred their incoming class to Feb 1, which is at least 3 weeks later than all the other firms. I was not surprised when they announced an above-market special bonus. Sucks to be in the incoming class at MoFo tho.

Wow, that's like 3.5 months of missed pay compared to firms that just pushed to mid-October. Big oof. $55,400 gross missed out on.

That's fairly substantial for a new grad.

[Anonymous User]

MoFo deferred their incoming class to Feb 1, which is at least 3 weeks later than all the other firms. I was not surprised when they announced an above-market special bonus. Sucks to be in the incoming class at MoFo tho.

Wow, that's like 3.5 months of missed pay compared to firms that just pushed to mid-October. Big oof. $55,400 gross missed out on.

stub year tax rate also makes it basically 1.5x the worth of year 1 salary

[Anonymous User]

MoFo deferred their incoming class to Feb 1, which is at least 3 weeks later than all the other firms. I was not surprised when they announced an above-market special bonus. Sucks to be in the incoming class at MoFo tho.

anon bc MoFo but at least some groups/offices got first years starting earlier. Wish it were my group though.

[Anonymous User]

Arnold & Porter anon here. Bonus situation at the firm is almost comical.

The firm announced bonus amounts today — of course no supplemental bonus (a topic the firm has never addressed).

But I was disappointed to see the firm strictly enforce its timekeeping policy. If associates’ time score (measured by days entries are made after billed), falls below 3 for more than 1 month during the year, the firm docks 5% of your bonus. I missed only two months (one was 3.2, and the other was March when covid broke out) and accordingly lost 5% (despite 2200+ hours)

I know this is a firm policy, but it feels like a slap in the face to be under market AND docked more money on top of that. This has sealed the deal that I’m out ASAP. And when I leave, I’m giving managing partners a blunt assessment re: firm’s lack of transparency and telling them that I hope the few thousand dollars you docked me on my bonus was worth the cost of all the lost partner time hiring and getting the new hire up to speed.

[nahumya]

New grads will be misled by a&p's vault ranking.

[Anonymous User]

Sheppard Mullin is going to pay the DPW bonus. Looks like the typical bonus scale other firms used.

[Definitely Not North]

Sheppard Mullin is going to pay the DPW bonus. Looks like the typical bonus scale other firms used.

You mean the special/fall/COVID bonus?

[Anonymous User]

still waiting for any news at allat my firm. Meanwhile getting fucking crushed 200+ hours in january already. Demoralizing to say the least.

[Anonymous User]

Sheppard Mullin is going to pay the DPW bonus. Looks like the typical bonus scale other firms used.

DLA anon here. It's fucking bullshit if they don't pay at this point. How can they call themselves a top tier firm and have the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of firms in the V100 pay special bonuses, including Sheppard who reversed their stance.

[Anonymous User]

Did the grumpy DLA anons in this thread miss the associate call in December where firm leadership told us specifically that they were paying out full bonuses? We still don’t know exactly what the range will be but were told they would be announced by Jan 29th and would not be less than last year.

[Anonymous User]

Did the grumpy DLA anons in this thread miss the associate call in December where firm leadership told us specifically that they were paying out full bonuses? We still don’t know exactly what the range will be but were told they would be announced by Jan 29th and would not be less than last year.

They said they WERE NOT paying COVID bonuses on the premise that they didn't lay anyone off and wanted to be financially prudent. All the meanwhile, I KNOW FOR A FACT they did lay people off and that they were touting what a successful year it had been (FOR THE PARTNERS).

[Anonymous User]

Did the grumpy DLA anons in this thread miss the associate call in December where firm leadership told us specifically that they were paying out full bonuses? We still don’t know exactly what the range will be but were told they would be announced by Jan 29th and would not be less than last year.

No we didn’t miss that. Did you miss the email where they vaguely walked that back saying they plan to pay more than previously communicated (but still not giving any definitive amount)?

That was also before firms like Baker and Shepherd matched - creating more weight for DLA to do so.

So, still, even after the pre-Christmas unambiguous communication of no special bonus, things are back to ambiguous.

And they are purposefully delaying bonus information to delay the bad news and probably try to delay people brushing up their resumes.

[Anonymous User]

Did the grumpy DLA anons in this thread miss the associate call in December where firm leadership told us specifically that they were paying out full bonuses? We still don’t know exactly what the range will be but were told they would be announced by Jan 29th and would not be less than last year.

No we didn’t miss that. Did you miss the email where they vaguely walked that back saying they plan to pay more than previously communicated (but still not giving any definitive amount)?

That was also before firms like Baker and Shepherd matched - creating more weight for DLA to do so.

So, still, even after the pre-Christmas unambiguous communication of no special bonus, things are back to ambiguous.

And they are purposefully delaying bonus information to delay the bad news and probably try to delay people brushing up their resumes.

What your thoughts about that email re: the Baltimore OMP saying telephonically that no COVID bonuses will be paid and then walking back on that? Did he reveal the firm's hand early on or was that a genuine mistake?

Idk and our reviews this year are accompanied by someone on the "Associate Compensation Committee," which maybe I'm just reading tea leaves here, suggests to me they want someone there to "counsel" the associates on why they paid us all less than WHAT IS MARKET.

[Anonymous User]

Did the grumpy DLA anons in this thread miss the associate call in December where firm leadership told us specifically that they were paying out full bonuses? We still don’t know exactly what the range will be but were told they would be announced by Jan 29th and would not be less than last year.

No we didn’t miss that. Did you miss the email where they vaguely walked that back saying they plan to pay more than previously communicated (but still not giving any definitive amount)?

That was also before firms like Baker and Shepherd matched - creating more weight for DLA to do so.

So, still, even after the pre-Christmas unambiguous communication of no special bonus, things are back to ambiguous.

And they are purposefully delaying bonus information to delay the bad news and probably try to delay people brushing up their resumes.

What your thoughts about that email re: the Baltimore OMP saying telephonically that no COVID bonuses will be paid and then walking back on that? Did he reveal the firm's hand early on or was that a genuine mistake?

Idk and our reviews this year are accompanied by someone on the "Associate Compensation Committee," which maybe I'm just reading tea leaves here, suggests to me they want someone there to "counsel" the associates on why they paid us all less than WHAT IS MARKET.

(Same DLA anon quoted) My thought on that is that they’re going to NOT pay market, the OMP let it slip, but they might pay a significantly reduced additional bonus just to say “see, we paid more than the 2019 bonuses.”

I think they’re giving partners plausible deniability because I talked to a partner about this and she said she didn’t know what bonuses would be, but strongly suggested they were not market, but that she technically had no idea. (Although she is not an OMP, and I think an OMP should know.)

Also, our OMP told us the firm is purposefully delaying bonus announcements until reviews are done. She made it sound like that was some logical decision that should have been made years ago and had nothing to do with this special bonus nonsense - which is total BS, obviously it’s more rational to release comp info before reviews so that it can be meaningfully discussed. Our OMP has been BSing us a lot lately....

Anyway, If that’s a strict rule, I guess that means we won’t know until next week because some offices still have reviews next week.

[Anonymous User]

Did the grumpy DLA anons in this thread miss the associate call in December where firm leadership told us specifically that they were paying out full bonuses? We still don’t know exactly what the range will be but were told they would be announced by Jan 29th and would not be less than last year.

No we didn’t miss that. Did you miss the email where they vaguely walked that back saying they plan to pay more than previously communicated (but still not giving any definitive amount)?

That was also before firms like Baker and Shepherd matched - creating more weight for DLA to do so.

So, still, even after the pre-Christmas unambiguous communication of no special bonus, things are back to ambiguous.

And they are purposefully delaying bonus information to delay the bad news and probably try to delay people brushing up their resumes.

What your thoughts about that email re: the Baltimore OMP saying telephonically that no COVID bonuses will be paid and then walking back on that? Did he reveal the firm's hand early on or was that a genuine mistake?

Idk and our reviews this year are accompanied by someone on the "Associate Compensation Committee," which maybe I'm just reading tea leaves here, suggests to me they want someone there to "counsel" the associates on why they paid us all less than WHAT IS MARKET.

(Same DLA anon quoted) My thought on that is that they’re going to NOT pay market, the OMP let it slip, but they might pay a significantly reduced additional bonus just to say “see, we paid more than the 2019 bonuses.”

I think they’re giving partners plausible deniability because I talked to a partner about this and she said she didn’t know what bonuses would be, but strongly suggested they were not market, but that she technically had no idea. (Although she is not an OMP, and I think an OMP should know.)

Also, our OMP told us the firm is purposefully delaying bonus announcements until reviews are done. She made it sound like that was some logical decision that should have been made years ago and had nothing to do with this special bonus nonsense - which is total BS, obviously it’s more rational to release comp info before reviews so that it can be meaningfully discussed. Our OMP has been BSing us a lot lately....

Anyway, If that’s a strict rule, I guess that means we won’t know until next week because some offices still have reviews next week.

Fuck. What you're saying makes a lot of sense... welp, I guess I'm out then. See ya later DLA.

[Anonymous User]

WilmerHale announced its 2020 bonuses today. That's on schedule for the firm, which pays bonuses in January.

As usual, there are market bonuses based on hours/performance (e.g., market for 2000-2200 hours, below-market for under 2000 hours, above-market increases at 2200 hours and then at other hour benchmarks). The firm will also pay market COVID bonuses for attorneys who billed 1900 hours (for attorneys under 1900 hours, the firm is paying 50% of the market COVID bonus).

[Anonymous User]

Yep, same. The real question is: does DLA even care? Wasn’t it already on the firms-to-avoid list if you can get an offer anywhere else? Maybe they’re just owning up to their mediocrity...

[Anonymous User]

WilmerHale announced its 2020 bonuses today. That's on schedule for the firm, which pays bonuses in January.

As usual, there are market bonuses based on hours/performance (e.g., market for 2000-2200 hours, below-market for under 2000 hours, above-market increases at 2200 hours and then at other hour benchmarks). The firm will also pay market COVID bonuses for attorneys who billed 1900 hours (for attorneys under 1900 hours, the firm is paying 50% of the market COVID bonus).

Looks like below market is way below market - a midlevel who missed 2k but hit 19 gets 10% of the market bonus. Below 1900, no bonus. So, if you are below the threshold, you would end up making substantially more at sheppard mullin.

[Anonymous User]

DLA associates are not getting the COVID bonuses. Don't ask me how I know.

[Anonymous User]

WilmerHale announced its 2020 bonuses today. That's on schedule for the firm, which pays bonuses in January.

As usual, there are market bonuses based on hours/performance (e.g., market for 2000-2200 hours, below-market for under 2000 hours, above-market increases at 2200 hours and then at other hour benchmarks). The firm will also pay market COVID bonuses for attorneys who billed 1900 hours (for attorneys under 1900 hours, the firm is paying 50% of the market COVID bonus).

Looks like below market is way below market - a midlevel who missed 2k but hit 19 gets 10% of the market bonus. Below 1900, no bonus. So, if you are below the threshold, you would end up making substantially more at sheppard mullin.

Seriously? 10% bonus for 1990 hours? That’s horrendous for a firm with Wilmer’s profile.

[Anonymous User]

DLA associates are not getting the COVID bonuses. Don't ask me how I know.

Wow, an OMP on TLS! Welcome.

Can you at least give us more details, like did you all discuss the fact this is more than just a dollars and cents decision but will tank recruiting for years to come? Were you all worried about the firm’s financial health or just decided the partners wanted the money more?