2021 Special Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland's NY Memo just came out and it is brutal. I truly don't know who is going to do this work.

[Anonymous User]

did hogan just offer $300 reimbursement in lieu of bonus payment ...?

Also where is gibson at @gibson (the only v10 left?)

Did SulCrom announce?

Nope!

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland's NY Memo just came out and it is brutal. I truly don't know who is going to do this work.

What's that about

[Anonymous User]

Im a corporate associate at a mid market amlaw 100 in the Rockies. Fourth year at $165k (after a $5k raise for 2021 salary) and got a $25k end of year bonus last year. No special bonuses ever as firm does not compete on cravath scale and is aggressively conservative in its secondary markets.

Thoughts on making the move? I don’t want to leave for just the money but seems like it’s a good time to do it and can command bigger signing bonus etc. and maybe get a bite of the covid cash rather than at the end of the year.

How many hours do you bill per year usually?

2000 in 2019 and about 2060 in 2020.

Same anon who asked the question on hours. 4th year at 165k is really low. I'm not sure what your long-term plans are if you were to stay at your current firm. I'm assuming those 2000-2060 hours don't include a lot of pro bono or busywork. At a large number of market-paying, special-bonus-paying biglaw firms, that's a very respectable number of hours. 2100 a year is very good at almost everywhere outside a few crazy places.

In the end though, as you probably know, your enjoyment in biglaw comes down to the partners you work with. You should take your time when lateralling though and ask around about the firm. I definitely regretted my first lateral move. If this is your first time lateralling, one advantage of lateralling to biglaw is that if you hate the firm, you can lateral again to another big law firm with few questions asked. It starts getting harder around year 7.

If you do leave your current firm, do it nicely so you leave yourself room to come back. Don't blame any partners (even the ones universally acknowledged to be terrible to work with) or say it's about compensation etc. Find an uncontroversial reason they cannot fault you for.

[motojir]

Kirkland's NY Memo just came out and it is brutal. I truly don't know who is going to do this work.

What's that about

I assume it's the weekly email they send out with all their new matters. One odd thing about law firms, is that the ones who are busiest in a particular area are also the most desirable from a client point of view. Right now some solid v25 law firms would love to have a bit of Kirkland's deal work, but they can't get it because clients would rather give it to the firm that's done this type of deal many times before.

[Anonymous User]

So have the bonuses stopped before reaching DC? Still personally surprised that Wilmer hasn’t matched given that all of its peer firms (in other markets) have.

[Anonymous User]

As a clerk deciding whether to return, also wondering where Gibson is...

[Anonymous User]

So have the bonuses stopped before reaching DC? Still personally surprised that Wilmer hasn’t matched given that all of its peer firms (in other markets) have.

Dude it's been a week, take a breath. We know bonuses haven't "stopped" because the West Coast still needs to fill out (MoFo, Gibson, O'Melveney) - and it will. Wilmer can take its sweet time but it'll match. For DC, Akin Gump might match? CovingTTTon and Hogan probably too cheap but that means the flight of associates from those firms to Latham et al. will be real and ferocious.

[Anonymous User]

Akin Gump matched. May/October payouts.

[cornerstone]

2018 raise/summer bonus matching timeline: https://abovethelaw.com/2018/06/salary- ... ises-2018/

I think this is probably the best reference point for how firms will respond this cycle. Unlike the 2020 fall bonuses, which lots of firms wrapped up into their traditional bonus memos, both the '18 raises and current spring bonuses are outside the normal bonus timeline. If firm management hasn't change significantly, I'd expect similar timing here.

Many of the big DC firms took a long time (Wilmer and A&P were about a month from first movement). FWIW, Gibson/HoLove/CovingTTTon/Wilmer/A&P all matched after Akin.

[Anonymous User]

Sidley is June/Nov. Looks like no hours requirement

I assume all offices?

All US offices. Email said bonuses for non-US will be communicated separately

Great, thanks. Time for the rest of Chicago to fall in line.

Mayer Brown?

[Anonymous User]

2018 raise/summer bonus matching timeline: https://abovethelaw.com/2018/06/salary- ... ises-2018/

I think this is probably the best reference point for how firms will respond this cycle. Unlike the 2020 fall bonuses, which lots of firms wrapped up into their traditional bonus memos, both the '18 raises and current spring bonuses are outside the normal bonus timeline. If firm management hasn't change significantly, I'd expect similar timing here.

Many of the big DC firms took a long time (Wilmer and A&P were about a month from first movement). FWIW, Gibson/HoLove/CovingTTTon/Wilmer/A&P all matched after Akin.

Thanks for posting this - my firm matched salaries so late they're not even on this list At least now I can see which firms we "follow" in the market and get a sense of whether they're going to even consider this.

[Anonymous User]

Cadwalader match

[Anonymous User]

Cadwalader match

Payments end of July and end of February 2022 though...ugh

[Anonymous User]

Cadwalader match

Payments end of July and end of February 2022 though...ugh

Well there’s a chance to get the regular bonus, special bonus and now spring bonus all at once in February. If the purpose of these bonuses is to keep people from leaving I don’t think it’s the worst idea to incentivize everyone to stay until February.

[Anonymous User]

Well the point of the retention bonus is to try to string you along a bit. If you want out, the February bonus payment may just be too far away to matter, but you might stay until May...and by then maybe you'll be willing to stay a few more months for the next one. Putting it at the END of February does pretty much nothing for someone who wants out right now.

[Anonymous User]

Greenberg Traurig with ~1.7B in gross revenue getting beat out by Am Law 200 firms with under $500M in gross revenue ... what a joke as usual, GT. I'm sure they'll throw around the usual buzzwords like 'we don't do what everyone else does and that's what makes us special' and 'meritocracy' ... lol.

[Anonymous User]

Well the point of the retention bonus is to try to string you along a bit. If you want out, the February bonus payment may just be too far away to matter, but you might stay until May...and by then maybe you'll be willing to stay a few more months for the next one. Putting it at the END of February does pretty much nothing for someone who wants out right now.

Fair point. I can’t speak for others but if I already made it to July I would probably wait a few more months for that fat stack of cash in February. For some it could be $80grand + but depends on how desperate you are to get out I suppose

[Anonymous User]

End of July to end of February is seven months. Also first installment being end of July may not be enough to keep people around either.

CWT is insanely, insanely busy right now, especially in a practice group they just screwed over last year (and that's already had quite a bit of attrition). I doubt this is going to do much to keep the people that are already looking for the exits.

[motojir]

Greenberg Traurig with ~1.7B in gross revenue getting beat out by Am Law 200 firms with under $500M in gross revenue ... what a joke as usual, GT. I'm sure they'll throw around the usual buzzwords like 'we don't do what everyone else does and that's what makes us special' and 'meritocracy' ... lol.

Revenue isn't the issue, profit per-associate is. Note I didn't say profit per partner.

Associates at lower-tier firms don't get billed out at the rate of a top-firm associate, and their partners can't collect as much on the bills either. To make millions, lower-tier firm partners have to keep more associates busy, which means bonuses will cost them more, than they would a top-tier partner.

I'm shocked DLA Piper matched (although they didn't really, because they didn't match last fall's bonuses, so their associates are still short-changed). I wouldn't expect many other lower-tier firms to match.

[Anonymous User]

If one were planning to leave (asap) a firm paying an April 30 half-bonus, but still wanted the bonus, should that person wait to give their two weeks notice after April 30? Or give notice two weeks before April 30 such that the last date of employment is April 30? Asking for a friend.

[Anonymous User]

If one were planning to leave (asap) a firm paying an April 30 half-bonus, but still wanted the bonus, should that person wait to give their two weeks notice after April 30? Or give notice two weeks before April 30 such that the last date of employment is April 30? Asking for a friend.

Definitely wait. Solid chance you wouldn't get paid if you give notice before getting the bonus.

[Anonymous User]

If one were planning to leave (asap) a firm paying an April 30 half-bonus, but still wanted the bonus, should that person wait to give their two weeks notice after April 30? Or give notice two weeks before April 30 such that the last date of employment is April 30? Asking for a friend.

definitely wait. Gonna leave a bad taste in some people's mouths if you wait to get your cash, but that's business. If you say anything before you leave they'll put you in bad standing or whatever they need to so that you don't qualify.

[Sackboy]

CWT time and time again proving that it's the shittiest NY-based biglaw firm. 8 year associate track, 2 year counsel track, and then non-equity track. History of screamers. Salary reductions during the pandemic (first mover (or close to), even). And, now, an awful retention bonus timeline. I'd take flight to another firm ASAP if I were a CWT associate.

[Anonymous User]

MoFo associate here thinking this delay is so typical. No hours threshold for NY; hours threshold for SF. Took away associates’ allotted vacation last year with zero notice after they had to pay out the special bonuses to keep up with market. Honestly not sure why anyone works here instead of Fenwick or Orrick at this point.