2021 Special Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Not enough Gibson shaming in this thread. They’re always shady about bonuses. I don’t know why they can’t just be normal and go along with the market in a reasonable time frame.

i think gibson always pays lock-step bonus like the rest of the firms?

Gibson pays market in NY regardless of hours (might be changing). Other offices have hours requirements and the ability to earn above market bonuses for high billers. There was a 1650 billable hours req for covid bonuses which only came out after people complained about not receiving them. In addition to the whole never announcing whether they were paying them.

[Anonymous User]

Will Mofo match today?

Honestly, MF needs to move because it’s going to impact their lateral recruiting. The transactional practice groups are way underwater and a few of them are not seeing enough resumes to build out their teams after outbound-lateral and in-house departures. Now that OMM has matched, there isn’t another CA large shop that hasn’t handed these out, in addition to the bonus-eligible vacations and perks the other CA shops are handing out. It’s a bad look.

[Anonymous User]

Will Mofo match today?

Honestly, MF needs to move because it’s going to impact their lateral recruiting. The transactional practice groups are way underwater and a few of them are not seeing enough resumes to build out their teams after outbound-lateral and in-house departures. Now that OMM has matched, there isn’t another CA large shop that hasn’t handed these out, in addition to the bonus-eligible vacations and perks the other CA shops are handing out. It’s a bad look.

MoFo has been very complacent in leaning on its status in SF that they've been losing candidates to Fenwick, Orrick, WSGR, etc the last couple of years. They'll eventually match but it's kinda sad to see

[Anonymous User]

Do we expect any non JD or Williams and Connolly V40 not to match?

AP, Hogan. Possibly Covington. All three have way lower PEP than the rest of V40. At the very least these firms might do some sketchy half measures and not really match market. I think Hogan did that with last year’s special bonuses.

K&S might take a while even if it matches.

I'd also keep my eye on BSF and Baker McKenzie. I'm particularly interested to see what BSF does. If AP doesn't match, I'd expect anyone with decent options to leave.

BSF is in a unique spot because many of its associates are on its "formula compensation" system rather than on market. But, some are on market. The straightforward and best solution is for BSF to view these bonuses as one-time and applicable to all associates, regardless of their December bonus selection type. But, that's likely not going to happen.

BSF probably NEEDs to match these bonuses more than most firms in order to hang on to whatever shred of attractiveness it still has for recruiting purposes. So I agree it will be interesting to see what they do, especially for junior associates/students interested in litigation boutiques.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

[Anonymous User]

.

[misanthrope8219]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

[Anonymous User]

Can we perma-ban IPs that edit their messages to "."? Thanks.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

Full match here in Atlanta. That was on top of the regular bonus. Can’t say whether others got the same or if there was an hour target you had to hit.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

Full match here in Atlanta. That was on top of the regular bonus. Can’t say whether others got the same or if there was an hour target you had to hit.

You had to hit hours (2050) for the covid bonus.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

Full match here in Atlanta. That was on top of the regular bonus. Can’t say whether others got the same or if there was an hour target you had to hit.

You had to hit hours (2050) for the covid bonus.

So defining “market” as fall 2020 and no minimum hours, this seems not market. Or maybe not top of market. Shrug.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

Full match here in Atlanta. That was on top of the regular bonus. Can’t say whether others got the same or if there was an hour target you had to hit.

You had to hit hours (2050) for the covid bonus.

So defining “market” as fall 2020 and no minimum hours, this seems not market. Or maybe not top of market. Shrug.

Yep - if that's your definition of market, then that's true. Although that's stating the obvious. Shrug.

[Anonymous User]

Did King and Spalding match last year's special bonuses in their March payout?

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

Full match here in Atlanta. That was on top of the regular bonus. Can’t say whether others got the same or if there was an hour target you had to hit.

You had to hit hours (2050) for the covid bonus.

So defining “market” as fall 2020 and no minimum hours, this seems not market. Or maybe not top of market. Shrug.

Yep - if that's your definition of market, then that's true. Although that's stating the obvious. Shrug.

The hourly minimums for regular K&S bonuses are not the same across offices. ATL is 2050 but NYC is lower. There are also differences between the bonus formulas in bigger markets. NYC and WDC are not the same. So the target for COVID bonuses could also be different depending on the city. Whatever the case may be, the lack of transparency and the delay until the end of March is crappy.

[Anonymous User]

Yes. At least with respect to NY-market offices. Can't speak to ATL/CLT.

Also interested in this.

Full match here in Atlanta. That was on top of the regular bonus. Can’t say whether others got the same or if there was an hour target you had to hit.

You had to hit hours (2050) for the covid bonus.

So defining “market” as fall 2020 and no minimum hours, this seems not market. Or maybe not top of market. Shrug.

Yep - if that's your definition of market, then that's true. Although that's stating the obvious. Shrug.

The hourly minimums for regular K&S bonuses are not the same across offices. ATL is 2050 but NYC is lower. There are also differences between the bonus formulas in bigger markets. NYC and WDC are not the same. So the target for COVID bonuses could also be different depending on the city. Whatever the case may be, the lack of transparency and the delay until the end of March is crappy.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. K&S has consistently set a 2050 hours expectations (including up to 100 hrs pro bono, along with the ability to request credit for pro bono hours beyond the first 100). They've always made it crystal clear that, if you hit your hours, you will receive the market bonus, albeit at the end of March. While there's certainly room to criticize K&S about the delayed payout of bonuses, the 2050 hours requirement, or that ATL/CLT folks might be underpaid, citing lack of transparency is entirely contrary to my 8+ years experience with the firm. In fact, in my experience, I've come to appreciate my ability to rely on K&S to consistently match market if you hit 2050 hours.

[Anonymous User]

Not enough Gibson shaming in this thread. They’re always shady about bonuses. I don’t know why they can’t just be normal and go along with the market in a reasonable time frame.

i think gibson always pays lock-step bonus like the rest of the firms?

Gibson pays market in NY regardless of hours (might be changing). Other offices have hours requirements and the ability to earn above market bonuses for high billers. There was a 1650 billable hours req for covid bonuses which only came out after people complained about not receiving them. In addition to the whole never announcing whether they were paying them.

Fun to learn details from a forum instead of our firm...

[Anonymous User]

These firms should all be embarrassed. How do MOFO, Wilmer, Gibson, etc. allow Sheppard Mullin to match before them. SAD!

[glitched]

These firms should all be embarrassed. How do MOFO, Wilmer, Gibson, etc. allow Sheppard Mullin to match before them. SAD!

Gibson doesn't really have a problem with attrition (i.e., their attrition rate seems low compared to other firms) so I don't see them changing any time soon. Plus the associates know Gibson will pay, just a matter of when.

[Asdfg890]

My understanding is that Quinn Emanuel's whole process for these things is just asking John Quinn yea or nay, so no idea why they are dragging their feet. (I mean I have ideas, but none of them are generous toward QE.)

[Anonymous User]

Wilmer special bonus announced. Need Good standing and must meet billable and pro-bono expectation on annualized basis on payment dates. True-up available if you annualize at expected levels by Aug 31 or end of year.

[Anonymous User]

Wilmer special bonus announced. Need Good standing and must meet billable and pro-bono expectation on annualized basis on payment dates. True-up available if you annualize at expected levels by Aug 31 or end of year.

I was confused by the language. Are they truing up both payments if you meet hours at the end of the year or only the second payment (and you can get a true-up of the first payment if you meet hours by august 31)?

[Anonymous User]

For those wondering, these seem to be the only v40s that haven’t announced a match yet:


V9 - Gibson
V13 - Quinn
V15 - Covington
V16 - jones day (lol of course)
V20 - Williams and Connolly
V23 - MoFo
V27 - hogan
V29 - BSF
V32 - Arnold and porter
V33 - baker McKenzie
V38 - King and Spaulding

Once you drop below 40 it seems like a lot more firms haven’t made an announcement yet so I stopped here.

Is this list right? Does anyone else need to be shamed or removed from the list of shame?

Thank you. Shame lists are the way to go. My guess is that hogan, AP, Covington, and JD will stay on this list for a while.

Orrick announced.

egregious lack of MoFo shaming has been corrected

Updated wall of shame. SAD.

[Anonymous User]

These firms should all be embarrassed. How do MOFO, Wilmer, Gibson, etc. allow Sheppard Mullin to match before them. SAD!

Not to take away from your point, but Sheppard has not matched yet.

[Anonymous User]

These firms should all be embarrassed. How do MOFO, Wilmer, Gibson, etc. allow Sheppard Mullin to match before them. SAD!

Not to take away from your point, but Sheppard has not matched yet.

Do we think they will?

[Anonymous User]

Covington just announced.