2021 End of Year Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey - can someone explain to me why people keep saying we're making less this year than last year?

In 2020, a 1st year made 190k base + 15k EOY bonus + $7.5k COVID bonus = $212,500
In 2021, a 1st year made 205k* base + $20k EOY bonus + $12k retention bonus = $237,000
*I understand the base salary was only raised half way through the year, so it's really more like $197.5K base, but still more than 2020.

I'm not trying to flame - I'm just trying to understand how people are calculating us making less money. For reference, I'm going off the numbers here which also adjusts for inflation: https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

No, it’s 2021 comp vs. 2022 comp. In the absence of special bonuses for 2022, comp is remaining practically flat for 2022. Same anon as above who is being informed that firms only care about the perception, not the effect. But the effect is I’m going to be looking at lateral options to make up the difference.

Oh, but that argument makes no sense. 2022 hasn't happened yet. We got announced our special bonuses in March 2021. We could be getting special bonuses again in March 2022. I'm not saying I will, but I think it's a bit disingenuous to say we're getting paid less this year than last year.

FWIW, I'm with everyone else that this bonus increase does not justify the insane increase in hours we saw this year, and we absolutely should be getting paid more than we currently are. But can we actually stay factually accurate?

[Anonymous User]

2. KE lateral bonuses aren't $400K. This is a dumb argument to try and make your case over.

viewtopic.php?p=10496178#p10496178

[BrowsingTLS]

2. KE lateral bonuses aren't $400K. This is a dumb argument to try and make your case over.

viewtopic.php?p=10496213#p10496213

That part annoyed me too. First years at my V10 get over $100K by lateraling to K&E*. The law.com and ATL stories about ~$500K for K&E seniors are real.

[Anonymous User]

2. KE lateral bonuses aren't $400K. This is a dumb argument to try and make your case over.

viewtopic.php?p=10496178#p10496178

That's all-in comp. That poster misinterpreted what their friend told them.

[Anonymous User]

2. KE lateral bonuses aren't $400K. This is a dumb argument to try and make your case over.

viewtopic.php?p=10496178#p10496178

That's all-in comp. That poster misinterpreted what their friend told them.

If bonuses are $100k, it's a paltry $300k signing bonus? Shame

[Anonymous User]

2. KE lateral bonuses aren't $400K. This is a dumb argument to try and make your case over.

viewtopic.php?p=10496213#p10496213

That part annoyed me too. First years at my V10 get over $100K by lateraling to K&E*. The law.com and ATL stories about ~$500K for K&E seniors are real.

Also was skeptical of the $500K bonuses but they are very real.

[Anonymous User]

Lit 2016 at v10 here, hit 2500 billable in November ($2.3mm to $2.5mm worth to the firm). Is it me, or are these EOY bonuses a boon to K&E? I'm seeing a strong incentive to jump ship to K&E for the signing bonus and market-beating EOY comp.

[Anonymous User]

BSF just announced. Associates on market formula get the matching Cravath scale, with some extra $$$ at 2350 hours and some more $$$ at 2600 hours. TBD on associates on formula comp.

[Anonymous User]

I'm not that disappointed in this EOY scale. But I am disappointed that there's been nobody indicating that there will be spring/summer retention bonuses yet.

I thought we would get a small bump + retention bonuses. More important part of that is still missing.

[Anonymous User]

Can someone who is good at math do an all-in 2021 comp scale for associates by class year? This would include base + special bonuses + Cravath-announced bonuses. Would be interesting to compare all-in comp YOY with special bonuses vs. 2020's covid bonuses.

[Definitely Not North]

Can someone who is good at math do an all-in 2021 comp scale for associates by class year? This would include base + special bonuses + Cravath-announced bonuses. Would be interesting to compare all-in comp YOY with special bonuses vs. 2020's covid bonuses.

https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

[Anonymous User]

Can someone who is good at math do an all-in 2021 comp scale for associates by class year? This would include base + special bonuses + Cravath-announced bonuses. Would be interesting to compare all-in comp YOY with special bonuses vs. 2020's covid bonuses.

https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

[justanotherlurker]

Can someone who is good at math do an all-in 2021 comp scale for associates by class year? This would include base + special bonuses + Cravath-announced bonuses. Would be interesting to compare all-in comp YOY with special bonuses vs. 2020's covid bonuses.

https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

2020
CLASS SALARY SPECIAL BONUSES ANNUAL BONUS TOTAL
1st Year $190,000 $7,500 $15,000 $212,500
2nd Year $200,000 $10,000 $25,000 $235,000
3rd Year $220,000 $20,000 $50,000 $290,000
4th Year $255,000 $27,500 $65,000 $347,500
5th Year $280,000 $32,500 $80,000 $392,500
6th Year $305,000 $37,000 $90,000 $432,000
7th Year $325,000 $40,000 $100,000 $465,000
8th Year $340,000 $40,000 $100,000 $480,000

2021
CLASS SALARY SPECIAL BONUSES ANNUAL BONUS TOTAL
1st Year $205,000 $12,000 $20,000 $237,000
2nd Year $215,000 $16,000 $30,000 $261,000
3rd Year $240,000 $32,000 $57,500 $329,500
4th Year $275,000 $44,000 $75,000 $394,000
5th Year $305,000 $52,000 $90,000 $447,000
6th Year $330,000 $59,200 $105,000 $494,200
7th Year $350,000 $64,000 $115,000 $529,000
8th Year $365,000 $64,000 $115,000 $544,000

[Anonymous User]

As of now, 2021 annual comp is ~13% higher than 2020 across the scale (give or take 1-2% in any given class year).

I do still have faith in DPW to come over the top though.

[lawdude31]

Can someone who is good at math do an all-in 2021 comp scale for associates by class year? This would include base + special bonuses + Cravath-announced bonuses. Would be interesting to compare all-in comp YOY with special bonuses vs. 2020's covid bonuses.

https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

These amounts are not entirely accurate as the raises went into effect July 1.

[Anonymous User]

I'm not that disappointed in this EOY scale. But I am disappointed that there's been nobody indicating that there will be spring/summer retention bonuses yet.

I thought we would get a small bump + retention bonuses. More important part of that is still missing.

This is the crazy part to me. If they don't roll out Fall bonuses, they're creating a very tempting window for associates to leave biglaw or lateral without much risk.

[glitched]

We should keep track of all the TTT law firms and sticky it:

• Cravath

• Cleary

[Anonymous User]

They're listening: https://abovethelaw.com/2021/11/will-cr ... -stay-put/

[Anonymous User]

Can someone who is good at math do an all-in 2021 comp scale for associates by class year? This would include base + special bonuses + Cravath-announced bonuses. Would be interesting to compare all-in comp YOY with special bonuses vs. 2020's covid bonuses.

https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/

These amounts are not entirely accurate as the raises went into effect July 1.

Did the math using half 2020 half 2021 for base

CLASS Base Special YE Bonus Total Change as %
1st Year $197,500 $12,000 $20,000 $229,500 $17,000 8%
2nd Year $207,500 $16,000 $30,000 $253,500 $18,500 8%
3rd Year $230,000 $32,000 $57,500 $319,500 $29,500 10%
4th Year $265,000 $44,000 $75,000 $384,000 $36,500 11%
5th Year $292,500 $52,000 $90,000 $434,500 $42,000 11%
6th Year $317,500 $59,200 $105,000 $481,700 $49,700 12%
7th Year $337,500 $64,000 $115,000 $516,500 $51,500 11%
8th Year $352,500 $64,000 $115,000 $531,500 $51,500 11%

(edited to add class years)

[peoplearehungry]

We should keep track of all the TTT law firms and sticky it:

• Cravath

• Cleary

Per above, you can add BSF to this list, but it probably went without saying.

[Hstrat]

They're listening: https://abovethelaw.com/2021/11/will-cr ... -stay-put/

...What even is that article? Did they just rip a quote out of the Bloomberg law article, not put quotes around it or in any way indicate it was a quotation at the top, and then not reference the source article in the quotation description at the bottom?

[Anonymous User]

First bonus season here. How quickly do other firms normally match? Is it a good sign that only two have matched 24 hours later or is this typical?

[Anonymous User]

They're listening: https://abovethelaw.com/2021/11/will-cr ... -stay-put/

...What even is that article? Did they just rip a quote out of the Bloomberg law article, not put quotes around it or in any way indicate it was a quotation at the top, and then not reference the source article in the quotation description at the bottom?

What's wrong with that?

[Anonymous User]

First bonus season here. How quickly do other firms normally match? Is it a good sign that only two have matched 24 hours later or is this typical?

It's a reasonably good sign that the market is still expecting one of the usual suspects (DPW/STB/Millbank/?Skadden?) to come over the top of Cravath. Historically when firms have wanted to match quickly they've done it--you can see matching memos come out within hours of the announcement. The fact that we're not seeing that means firms are expecting more movement.

[TigerIsBack]

First bonus season here. How quickly do other firms normally match? Is it a good sign that only two have matched 24 hours later or is this typical?

It's a reasonably good sign that the market is still expecting one of the usual suspects (DPW/STB/Millbank/?Skadden?) to come over the top of Cravath. Historically when firms have wanted to match quickly they've done it--you can see matching memos come out within hours of the announcement. The fact that we're not seeing that means firms are expecting more movement.

Agree. I think the lack of word from DPW is good news, especially in light of the fact that they've moved within a day for the past 3 comp announcements.