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Is it common for biglaw firms to not promote their associates a class year or withhold a raise if the associate does not hit a certain hours target, even in a slow practice area? (Before anyone asks, I am not going to out the firm.)

No. It's not particularly common. Usually they just fire you if you don't make your hours for whatever reason.

(this is OP)

In my experience, people do not usually get fired as juniors even if their hours are low (maybe they would get fired if they were sub-1500). I was wondering specifically about the non-promotion thing, as most firms do seem to keep and promote first and second years who bill a reasonable number of hours and don't start culling until third year.

Anonymous User wrote:Is it common for biglaw firms to not promote their associates a class year or withhold a raise if the associate does not hit a certain hours target, even in a slow practice area? (Before anyone asks, I am not going to out the firm.)

I don't think it's common, but I've heard a couple of stories of this happening. I always assumed it was a message to the associate--shape up or leave. It's almost like a cold offer.

Something I've wondered: when this happens, does the firm bill the associate out at the lower class year rate, or does the firm bill out the associate per the number of years the associate has worked at the firm, even though the associate isn't getting paid for that class year credit? I bet it's the latter.

I would agree that they don't usually fire until the end of the second year for low hours, but your OP didn't specify junior associates.

Still, most of the situations I've heard about where someone was held back a year were because of reasons other than low hours (think extended medical leave, etc.).