2021 Special Bonuses Forum

[Ultramar vistas]

It’s basically firm wide retention bonuses, and it definitely will have the desired effect of keeping enough warm bodies sitting in front of their firm laptops to weather out this spike in work until they can react and adapt.

Nice secondary effect for early movers is that they’ll have an easy win in fighting for laterals. If you’re a corporate mid level right now who is currently choosing between lateralling to DPW or Kirkland, wouldn’t you pick the firm that’s promised an extra $[40/50]k in signing bonuses to be paid after you arrive?

Firms that want to be competitive in the insane lateral market right now are going to have to move fast or lose their edge for the duration of the period that they are still waiting to announce.

[Anonymous User]

As someone who is at a big-law firm which won't do these bonuses, definitely bonus envy. Annualizing over 2,800 hours and have been at this level for the last three month. I'm looking to get out of this rat-race and into an in-house role. Just waiting for something worth taking the pay cut.

[Anonymous User]

Lol just want to say as a (soon to be departing) DLA associate, this is great. The firm decided not to pay the COVID bonuses and now this is like the last nail in the coffin. We'll see if they will be willing to pay this but if not they're going to be crushed in terms of retaining associates to handle their work, especially since the market is just going bonkers.

[avenuem]

Lol just want to say as a (soon to be departing) DLA associate, this is great. The firm decided not to pay the COVID bonuses and now this is like the last nail in the coffin. We'll see if they will be willing to pay this but if not they're going to be crushed in terms of retaining associates to handle their work, especially since the market is just going bonkers.

One of my classmates had top grades and chose DLA Piper. With her grades + pedigree she could have gone anywhere, but chose DLA because she thought they were nice. Didn't make sense to me then. Doesn't make sense to me now. Reading your post just adds to the ???

This classmate was one of the few peers who I respected and thought was smarter than me, so she really stood out.

[Anonymous User]

As a former DLA associate, it really didn't seem that bad when I made the decision because special bonuses weren't really a thing and I was getting market base and annual bonus. But yes, these special bonuses really put you behind your peers. Largely why I left.

[Anonymous User]

Are people quitting to go in-house or are they lateraling in the hope the next firm will be better?

From my corporate group the departures have been to smaller, more specialized boutique firms with relaxed reputations, and in-house to clients. Not much movement to similar sized shops.

The bonuses are working. I went to one of the "relaxed" eg/vc boutiques. It was great for a bit, when I was billing 1700 hours a year, doing interesting work, lots of mentoring/investment, but we are now also super busy and I've been north of 2k hours for like 16 months, we can't find associates, and I'm wondering why I am taking what is now a substantial pay cut for something that is now reasonably close to big law.

I haven't billed a single day including weekends for less than 10 hours in over a month, and of course when a deal was closing it was 16 or more. During work calls I've been creating a budget that forecasts exactly how much I'll have once bonuses hit Jan 2022 and my student loans will be almost gone. I daydream by scrolling through linkedIn over and over. If Spring of 2022 comes and this kind of staggered bonus structure exists again, would I delay? MAYBE. So I guess that means it's having the desired effect.

Oh, I'm a wildly "over it" midlevel.

I hear you. I'm the same way, but need some sort of better option. The gap in compensation between big law and other types of law firms is now really big. I used to wonder why [insert V5] didn't just spend these other firms into the ground on associate comp. It really doesn't hurt their bottom line much and would help with retention. It's also how every other industry works. I mean, Sun Trust doesn't pay its associates that same as Goldman Sachs. But Cravath pays the same as Katten (actually, less depending on your hours). The pay scale has made no sense for years. It's good that its finally fixing itself.

[MarcusH]

Are people quitting to go in-house or are they lateraling in the hope the next firm will be better?

From my corporate group the departures have been to smaller, more specialized boutique firms with relaxed reputations, and in-house to clients. Not much movement to similar sized shops.

The bonuses are working. I went to one of the "relaxed" eg/vc boutiques. It was great for a bit, when I was billing 1700 hours a year, doing interesting work, lots of mentoring/investment, but we are now also super busy and I've been north of 2k hours for like 16 months, we can't find associates, and I'm wondering why I am taking what is now a substantial pay cut for something that is now reasonably close to big law.

I haven't billed a single day including weekends for less than 10 hours in over a month, and of course when a deal was closing it was 16 or more. During work calls I've been creating a budget that forecasts exactly how much I'll have once bonuses hit Jan 2022 and my student loans will be almost gone. I daydream by scrolling through linkedIn over and over. If Spring of 2022 comes and this kind of staggered bonus structure exists again, would I delay? MAYBE. So I guess that means it's having the desired effect.

Oh, I'm a wildly "over it" midlevel.

I hear you. I'm the same way, but need some sort of better option. The gap in compensation between big law and other types of law firms is now really big. I used to wonder why [insert V5] didn't just spend these other firms into the ground on associate comp. It really doesn't hurt their bottom line much and would help with retention. It's also how every other industry works. I mean, Sun Trust doesn't pay its associates that same as Goldman Sachs. But Cravath pays the same as Katten (actually, less depending on your hours). The pay scale has made no sense for years. It's good that its finally fixing itself.

...I'm fully expecting the hours-based year-end bonus crowd to match...otherwise, those firms won't just lose people to in-house/anything but big law, but they'll also lose people to the firms that do pay (see DLA, DLA associates largely do not have to stay at DLA billing 2100+++, because people need warm bodies and they need them now).

[Anonymous User]

I’m a little surprised that we haven’t seen any movement yet today post-DPW. Anybody have intel/willing to rampantly speculate?

[Anonymous User]

Agreed. Arnold & Porter associate here. If firm refuses to pay again, it will be high five figures I missed out by choosing this firm over others that have paid. Imagine it would be a mass exodus.

[Anonymous User]

I’m a little surprised that we haven’t seen any movement yet today post-DPW. Anybody have intel/willing to rampantly speculate?

PW announcement will come <1 hour after Cravath with payments made 1 month behind DPW.

[Anonymous User]

I’m at a non-NY V30 with an hours minimum. I wonder if the firm will give these bonuses, and if so, whether they will still use the 2000 hours requirement (although most people are probably on track to hit it).

[MrTooToo]

I’m a little surprised that we haven’t seen any movement yet today post-DPW. Anybody have intel/willing to rampantly speculate?

Give people a little time; there's an administrative process to this the chairman doesn't just spin around in his chair and say "pay it!" The DPW beat of the Willkie scale is exactly what was needed to turn this from a fluke to a trend. No V10 is going to be willing to be bested by Davis Polk and I suspect most of the V25 is going to match this when push comes to shove--no one can afford the reputational or personnel hit from not doing so. The more interesting questions to me are:

(1) How far does this go in terms of a compensation war -- will DPW be beat? Will someone step out and do a scale increase (this has happened before like this)?

(2) How far down into the V50 / V100 will this make it? I'm expecting the Debevoises of the world to match this, but I'm not so sure about the Clifford Chances or Foley & Lardners.

[Chrstgtr]

I’m a little surprised that we haven’t seen any movement yet today post-DPW. Anybody have intel/willing to rampantly speculate?

No one wants to match before the any potential bidding war plays out.

Also, governance committees usually meet in the morning before the partners' days get busy. It wouldn't shock me if there was a planned announcement or two that got postponed because of the DPW announcement.

[Anonymous User]

We're not going to see a flood of matches/beats today. Probably by end of week we'll see a lot more movement but again, it's a lot of money to get approved -- not an issue for most of the firms that will end up paying it but conversations have to be had.

Will be interesting to see if anyone pulls a Weil-style beat based on hours worked, although a lot of people were pressed about the fact that a 2800 1st year could out-earn a 2200 hour 7th year, so they may not go for that again.

Really don't think that firms outside of the v25 move to match this quickly -- law.com's showing the financials for 2020 and performance has been good for the most part but mixed.

[Anonymous User]

Are people quitting to go in-house or are they lateraling in the hope the next firm will be better?

From my corporate group the departures have been to smaller, more specialized boutique firms with relaxed reputations, and in-house to clients. Not much movement to similar sized shops.

The bonuses are working. I went to one of the "relaxed" eg/vc boutiques. It was great for a bit, when I was billing 1700 hours a year, doing interesting work, lots of mentoring/investment, but we are now also super busy and I've been north of 2k hours for like 16 months, we can't find associates, and I'm wondering why I am taking what is now a substantial pay cut for something that is now reasonably close to big law.

I haven't billed a single day including weekends for less than 10 hours in over a month, and of course when a deal was closing it was 16 or more. During work calls I've been creating a budget that forecasts exactly how much I'll have once bonuses hit Jan 2022 and my student loans will be almost gone. I daydream by scrolling through linkedIn over and over. If Spring of 2022 comes and this kind of staggered bonus structure exists again, would I delay? MAYBE. So I guess that means it's having the desired effect.

Oh, I'm a wildly "over it" midlevel.

I hear you. I'm the same way, but need some sort of better option. The gap in compensation between big law and other types of law firms is now really big. I used to wonder why [insert V5] didn't just spend these other firms into the ground on associate comp. It really doesn't hurt their bottom line much and would help with retention. It's also how every other industry works. I mean, Sun Trust doesn't pay its associates that same as Goldman Sachs. But Cravath pays the same as Katten (actually, less depending on your hours). The pay scale has made no sense for years. It's good that its finally fixing itself.

In terms of stratification we might see on comp: have V25ish firms had universally good 2020-2021s? I saw that Milbank financials were published showing some monster growth numbers, which I assume is fairly representative of other top firms. On the other hand, I saw elsewhere on TLS that Cleary is instituting a 2000 hours minimum (not a great sign?) ... and perhaps more litigation-centric biglaw firms are missing this deal wave?

Will top firms move en masse, or will we actually start to see finer gradations emerge reflecting actual financial performance?

[objctnyrhnr]

As a former DLA associate, it really didn't seem that bad when I made the decision because special bonuses weren't really a thing and I was getting market base and annual bonus. But yes, these special bonuses really put you behind your peers. Largely why I left.

Feels a little premature to assume that the firms that skimped a bit on the “covid bonuses,” but that have otherwise consistently matched over the past decade or so, are gonna skimp again. I mean if they have matched every time but one, I think the smarter money is on a match (assuming strong performance for the firm in 2020). Right?

[Anonymous User]

Can’t wait to watch my V10 drag its feet on this for the next few months...

[Anonymous User]

I don’t really doubt that the V25 at least will match, but my questions now are:

Will they all do April + September, or will anyone follow Willkie’s June + September?

What will Kirkland and other firms that didn’t pay in September 2020 (but still paid later) do? Waiting to year end 2021 at this point seems like a mistake, especially if the April date for the first bonus sticks.

How many firms will try to nickel and dime this, like requiring annualizing 2000 at the time of the bonus in order to get it, or (for cheaper firms) only paying to certain top performers and busy groups?

[Anonymous User]

Isn’t K&E offering ridiculous signing bonuses right now? Like six figure signing bonuses?

cleary corporate is comically understaffed. i am done if we don't match this

Same at K&E. Also bleeding midlevels.

Interesting -- I did hear that K&E is hiring in all practice areas. What's causing so many people to leave?

We're not losing people, it's that the volume of work is pretty much unprecedented. There is so much and it's coming in from every angle.

I'd imagine other firms have similar volumes of work and my friends at other vault shops in the v50+ bracket are getting non-equity partnership/potential fast-track for junior equity partnership and other incentives dangled in front of them to stay, so harder to bring over people with large one-time bonuses and higher annual bonuses when other firms are just slapping partnership on the table.

[Anonymous User]

Isn’t K&E offering ridiculous signing bonuses right now? Like six figure signing bonuses?

cleary corporate is comically understaffed. i am done if we don't match this

Same at K&E. Also bleeding midlevels.

Interesting -- I did hear that K&E is hiring in all practice areas. What's causing so many people to leave?

We're not losing people, it's that the volume of work is pretty much unprecedented. There is so much and it's coming in from every angle.

I'd imagine other firms have similar volumes of work and my friends at other vault shops in the v50+ bracket are getting non-equity partnership/potential fast-track for junior equity partnership and other incentives dangled in front of them to stay, so harder to bring over people with large one-time bonuses and higher annual bonuses when other firms are just slapping partnership on the table.

[Anonymous User]

Isn’t K&E offering ridiculous signing bonuses right now? Like six figure signing bonuses?

cleary corporate is comically understaffed. i am done if we don't match this

Same at K&E. Also bleeding midlevels.

Interesting -- I did hear that K&E is hiring in all practice areas. What's causing so many people to leave?

We're not losing people, it's that the volume of work is pretty much unprecedented. There is so much and it's coming in from every angle.

I'd imagine other firms have similar volumes of work and my friends at other vault shops in the v50+ bracket are getting non-equity partnership/potential fast-track for junior equity partnership and other incentives dangled in front of them to stay, so harder to bring over people with large one-time bonuses and higher annual bonuses when other firms are just slapping partnership on the table.

Wait what? Please confirm because if they're offering 6 figure signing bonuses I will lateral immediately.

[lolwutpar]

Isn’t K&E offering ridiculous signing bonuses right now? Like six figure signing bonuses?

cleary corporate is comically understaffed. i am done if we don't match this

Same at K&E. Also bleeding midlevels.

Interesting -- I did hear that K&E is hiring in all practice areas. What's causing so many people to leave?

We're not losing people, it's that the volume of work is pretty much unprecedented. There is so much and it's coming in from every angle.

I'd imagine other firms have similar volumes of work and my friends at other vault shops in the v50+ bracket are getting non-equity partnership/potential fast-track for junior equity partnership and other incentives dangled in front of them to stay, so harder to bring over people with large one-time bonuses and higher annual bonuses when other firms are just slapping partnership on the table.

Wait what? Please confirm because if they're offering 6 figure signing bonuses I will lateral immediately.

Yes, Kirkland is. Other big players are easily offering over $50k.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

As a former DLA associate, it really didn't seem that bad when I made the decision because special bonuses weren't really a thing and I was getting market base and annual bonus. But yes, these special bonuses really put you behind your peers. Largely why I left.

Feels a little premature to assume that the firms that skimped a bit on the “covid bonuses,” but that have otherwise consistently matched over the past decade or so, are gonna skimp again. I mean if they have matched every time but one, I think the smarter money is on a match (assuming strong performance for the firm in 2020). Right?

If one of my clients skips a major bill for no good reason the firm doesn't consider their 10-year payment history. It just assumes they're not in the business of paying bills now.

Those firms told their associates they were worthless *less than six months ago.* Who exactly do you think is coming to Jesus on a bigger bonus this time around?

[JorgeMichael]

Isn’t K&E offering ridiculous signing bonuses right now? Like six figure signing bonuses?

cleary corporate is comically understaffed. i am done if we don't match this

Same at K&E. Also bleeding midlevels.

Interesting -- I did hear that K&E is hiring in all practice areas. What's causing so many people to leave?

We're not losing people, it's that the volume of work is pretty much unprecedented. There is so much and it's coming in from every angle.

I'd imagine other firms have similar volumes of work and my friends at other vault shops in the v50+ bracket are getting non-equity partnership/potential fast-track for junior equity partnership and other incentives dangled in front of them to stay, so harder to bring over people with large one-time bonuses and higher annual bonuses when other firms are just slapping partnership on the table.

I know the K&E folks don't want to hear this. But as a former K&E person, the firm is losing people faster than it can replace them. This has been a problem since pre-COVID, COVID just made it worse because people are a little more hesitant to lateral right now. Yes, the firm is offering pretty hefty signing bonuses ($25-50K for juniors, more for seniors) and will likely match this spring bonus (although like last time they might just group it with the year-end bonus, which was a dick move on their part). No reason to take these steps if this was just organic growth. There's a lot of work to be done, people are leaving at higher rates than normal for a variety of reasons.

[Anonymous User]

Isn’t K&E offering ridiculous signing bonuses right now? Like six figure signing bonuses?

cleary corporate is comically understaffed. i am done if we don't match this

Same at K&E. Also bleeding midlevels.

Interesting -- I did hear that K&E is hiring in all practice areas. What's causing so many people to leave?

We're not losing people, it's that the volume of work is pretty much unprecedented. There is so much and it's coming in from every angle.

I'd imagine other firms have similar volumes of work and my friends at other vault shops in the v50+ bracket are getting non-equity partnership/potential fast-track for junior equity partnership and other incentives dangled in front of them to stay, so harder to bring over people with large one-time bonuses and higher annual bonuses when other firms are just slapping partnership on the table.

Wait what? Please confirm because if they're offering 6 figure signing bonuses I will lateral immediately.

The six figures isn’t for like first or second years. When I was looking to lateral, the recruiter told me that the bonus for a midlevel (around 4th year) would be in the $50-60k range. And this was for a quickly expanding group. Maybe it’s gone up since then (early January), but I think the six figure bonuses are mostly for senior associates.