Milbank/Davis Polk/Cravath Scale: NYC to 215-415k Forum

[Anonymous User]

Every firm will match by end of month lol don't worry so much

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

I still remember that CovingTTTon tried to put its foot down and not match the market move to 180k before succumbing to pressure. We don’t forget even the pettiest hesitations to raise

That isn't petty. No one besides the weirdos on this forum remembers, much less cares about slow matches.

Also, that seems to have had exactly zero impact on Cov's recruiting, so what does it even matter? Even Latham's recruiting has been basically unaffected by the Lathaming. No one actually cares about this shit in the real world.

Look buddy, I made a lot of funny memes on this in 2016 that still live on.

[Anonymous User]

Today is the day!

(If I say it every day I'm bound to eventually be right)

[Anonymous User]

Venue officially put their foot down and made me commit to the menu last night. While I feel confident in the base salary match, I didn't feel confident enough re salaries or bonuses to go so far as to commit to extra thousands of dollars while risking not being able to just rely on surprise spring money to fund the upgrade in full.

So it's official: There will be no lobster.

I pray that no one else suffers fates such as mine while DPW dilly-dallies.

[tlsthrowaway1306]

Venue officially put their foot down and made me commit to the menu last night. While I feel confident in the base salary match, I didn't feel confident enough re salaries or bonuses to go so far as to commit to extra thousands of dollars while risking not being able to just rely on surprise spring money to fund the upgrade in full.

So it's official: There will be no lobster.

I pray that no one else suffers fates such as mine while DPW dilly-dallies.

[in the style of a Sarah McLachalan PSA]

It’s time that people confront the real costs of delay. Across the country thousands on attorneys are waiting for additional moderate increases in salary.

Every day that passes with no re-raise, a tired, overworked associate passes up on something they don’t really need but would like to have…

Like a new watch band, that matches the coat their in-laws gave them

Lobster and a raw bar for their wedding

A second PS5 that they can leave at the beach house

Or a date with an escort, now that his wife has left him for an associate at a truly prestigious firm, like DLA Piper.

It’s time for partners to dig deep and help these associates in need.

[Anon-non-anon]

Venue officially put their foot down and made me commit to the menu last night. While I feel confident in the base salary match, I didn't feel confident enough re salaries or bonuses to go so far as to commit to extra thousands of dollars while risking not being able to just rely on surprise spring money to fund the upgrade in full.

So it's official: There will be no lobster.

I pray that no one else suffers fates such as mine while DPW dilly-dallies.

[in the style of a Sarah McLachalan PSA]

It’s time that people confront the real costs of delay. Across the country thousands on attorneys are waiting for additional moderate increases in salary.

Every day that passes with no re-raise, a tired, overworked associate passes up on something they don’t really need but would like to have…

Like a new watch band, that matches the coat their in-laws gave them

Lobster and a raw bar for their wedding

A second PS5 that they can leave at the beach house

Or a date with an escort, now that his wife has left him for an associate at a truly prestigious firm, like DLA Piper.

It’s time for partners to dig deep and help these associates in need.

Fucking amazing. Can someone at an actually good firm like DLA please pour a lobster out for this guy? You can afford it.

[Anonymous User]

delay is due to DPW preparing to SHATTER the market by going to 250

[randomthrowaway]

Must be taking a while due to the unprecedented demand for lobster. It's very hard to source that much lobster, particularly with lobsterfest starting at Red Lobster.

[TigerIsBack]

delay is due to DPW preparing to SHATTER the market by going to 250

I can't believe we went 27 pages without using the word shatter. Glad it's back.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland just announced....

return to office, mandatory Tues-Thurs. starting 3/29

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland just announced....

return to office, mandatory Tues-Thurs. starting 3/29

Reply all asking about bonus.

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland just announced....

return to office, mandatory Tues-Thurs. starting 3/29

Reply all asking about bonus.

"Jon, enough of this shit. Where's the spring bonus?"

[Anonymous User]

Applauding the partners that came up with the idea of substituting the spring bonus with retroactive pay and calling it a bonus

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have a pet theory about why it's taking DPW so long to move? Obviously something more complicated than "match Milbank" has to be going on internally to explain this three week delay.

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have a pet theory about why it's taking DPW so long to move? Obviously something more complicated than "match Milbank" has to be going on internally to explain this three week delay.

My guess is that they are considering a re-raise and crunching the numbers to be strategic about it. Obviously it can’t be arbitrary so they need to figure out what makes sense. That’s the only reason that makes sense to me why it is taking so long.

[Anonymous User]

Venue officially put their foot down and made me commit to the menu last night. While I feel confident in the base salary match, I didn't feel confident enough re salaries or bonuses to go so far as to commit to extra thousands of dollars while risking not being able to just rely on surprise spring money to fund the upgrade in full.

So it's official: There will be no lobster.

I pray that no one else suffers fates such as mine while DPW dilly-dallies.

[in the style of a Sarah McLachalan PSA]

It’s time that people confront the real costs of delay. Across the country thousands on attorneys are waiting for additional moderate increases in salary.

Every day that passes with no re-raise, a tired, overworked associate passes up on something they don’t really need but would like to have…

Like a new watch band, that matches the coat their in-laws gave them

Lobster and a raw bar for their wedding

A second PS5 that they can leave at the beach house

Or a date with an escort, now that his wife has left him for an associate at a truly prestigious firm, like DLA Piper.

It’s time for partners to dig deep and help these associates in need.

In the aaaaaaarms of an angel....

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have a pet theory about why it's taking DPW so long to move? Obviously something more complicated than "match Milbank" has to be going on internally to explain this three week delay.

My guess is that they are considering a re-raise and crunching the numbers to be strategic about it. Obviously it can’t be arbitrary so they need to figure out what makes sense. That’s the only reason that makes sense to me why it is taking so long.

At this point I’m convinced they’re planning a major structural change to compensation. My best guesses are either 1) different scales for litigation vs transactional; 2) major increase in the comp gap between juniors and mid levels/seniors. It’s obviously speculation but that’s my conclusion.

[glitched]

Does anyone have a pet theory about why it's taking DPW so long to move? Obviously something more complicated than "match Milbank" has to be going on internally to explain this three week delay.

Internal debate as to whether to offer practice group specific or even individual retention bonuses (e.g., Skadden). That would be a huge paradigm shift. Partners in extremely busy/profitable groups don't want to pay out more money to associates in groups not pulling their weight because they're paying out cash while still losing associates along the way.

[NoLongerALurker]

I mean DPW’s cap markets group has been so gangbusters for a few years that they, as one practice group, are almost singe handedly responsible for several rounds of industry wide raises and bonuses. Does make you wonder what the dynamics are like inside the firm as between that group and some of the less productive ones

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland just announced....

return to office, mandatory Tues-Thurs. starting 3/29

Reply all asking about bonus.

Ultimate baller move.

[TigerIsBack]

What is the consensus on an outside date for DPW to make up its mind? Obviously payroll runs at the beginning of next week, so it seems like an announcement would have to come by Friday at the latest to make that deadline (if not sooner, idk how payroll works), but does that even matter at this point? Waiting 3 weeks vs 6 weeks or whatever other amount of time doesn't seem like it makes any difference if the true-up is retroactive since DPW already appears sufficiently indecisive and the rest of the v10 has made it clear they are not leaders and will only ever follow.

[Anonymous User]

So is DPW really going to hold this RTO townhall on Thursday which people have mentioned here, all while this distracting cloud of uncertainty hangs over associates’ heads? That seems foolish.

[NoLongerALurker]

Maybe different scales for hybrid vs full time in office situations? That could make sense to hold back until their town hall. But doesn’t really seem like a sensible approach

[Anonymous User]

I fall into the camp that says there's no way DPW (or any other firm in the V50) would announce a pay structure that explicitly favors certain practice groups over others. I think that would be one of the most foolish moves possible for the long-term health of the firm (really, the biglaw model in general) and I say that as someone who's currently in a group at my V10 that is definitely driving an outsized share of profits. Things ebb and flow and I don't want to work (nor would many of my colleagues I suspect) at a place where certain groups are more favored than others at the associate level; that seems fundamentally opposed to what a law firm is about. To the extent people are working longer or harder hours, I do think it's fine for us to be rewarded year-end with a bigger bonus.

[NoLongerALurker]

I think DPW had something ready to go and then got scooped. Compare to Skadden’s retention bonuses: there were rumors on this board for months about them (because they leaked?), then surprise pay raises hit the industry. Skadden had to figure out what to do with those bonuses, ended up matching, didn’t pay the bonuses, and then subsequently announced the bonuses months later. I assume it’s because once you have bonuses and comp lined up contemplating structure A, then the market scoops you with structure B, it takes weeks to reconcile and figure out next steps.

Since DPW is the clear leader, it means the fact they got stuck in such a situation has ended up making the entire industry pause it’s comp news until DPW can sort through the exercise of reconciling whatever they were going to do with what Milbank in fact did.