Mayer Brown Forum

[Anonymous User]

Interviewing with the firm soon. I remember reading that Mayer brown is own of the firms that doesn’t automatically promote associates if they don’t hit 2000 hours. Is that true?

Also, how does that affect the salary scale?

Any other helpful information (i.e. perks) welcome!

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

[Anonymous User]

Are NY and Chicago at different thresholds? I’m particularly interested about Chicago.

[M458]

Are NY and Chicago at different thresholds? I’m particularly interested about Chicago.

I can't speak to NYC, but Chicago is definitely on the 2000/75%, 2100/100% bonus scheme.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

First anon. NYC is on a different bonus scale. Everyone else is below market under the scale mentioned above

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

First anon. NYC is on a different bonus scale. Everyone else is below market under the scale mentioned above

OP here.

Thanks. That’s unfortunate re:bonus, but nice to hear that the whole class year thing isn’t a real issue.

I’ve heard that the firm is more of a “lifestyle” firm compared to the other large Chicago firms. Is that just marketing or is there any truth to that?

[M458]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

First anon. NYC is on a different bonus scale. Everyone else is below market under the scale mentioned above

OP here.

Thanks. That’s unfortunate re:bonus, but nice to hear that the whole class year thing isn’t a real issue.

I’ve heard that the firm is more of a “lifestyle” firm compared to the other large Chicago firms. Is that just marketing or is there any truth to that?

Maybe with respect to what some folks bill at K&E, but not really in comparison to any of the other large Chicago firms.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

2000 is full market bonus. MB chooses to lower it (typically without disclosing the target until late in the year--occasionally to 1900 in NY). Policy is 2000 though. Does not get paid until February (which is irksome).

I'm an associate there.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

First anon. NYC is on a different bonus scale. Everyone else is below market under the scale mentioned above

OP here.

Thanks. That’s unfortunate re:bonus, but nice to hear that the whole class year thing isn’t a real issue.

I’ve heard that the firm is more of a “lifestyle” firm compared to the other large Chicago firms. Is that just marketing or is there any truth to that?

Maybe with respect to what some folks bill at K&E, but not really in comparison to any of the other large Chicago firms.

It's definitely not lifestyle. Only if you compare it to a v10 and even then, your hours will be pretty high.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

2000 is full market bonus. MB chooses to lower it (typically without disclosing the target until late in the year--occasionally to 1900 in NY). Policy is 2000 though. Does not get paid until February (which is irksome).

I'm an associate there.

Poster above, are you still an associate there? I’m interested in the SLC office but hesitant. I don’t know what the culture is like there, how hard they enforce the 2k hours, and whether they’re on the Cravath/Milbank scale even.

[Anonymous User]

Still a great choice if you’re in Chicago. Doesn’t have the same across-market strengths as KE and Sidley unless you’re in finance or litigation (by far Mayer’s two strongest groups). Culture definitely more relaxed day to day. 1900-2000 hours seems to be a genuine end goal vs a starting point like it was at the V10 I lateraled from. Also feels way less sink or swim than my previous firm.

I’m a recent lateral so I’ll check back in here after I get a more fulsome impression.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

2000 is full market bonus. MB chooses to lower it (typically without disclosing the target until late in the year--occasionally to 1900 in NY). Policy is 2000 though. Does not get paid until February (which is irksome).

I'm an associate there.

Poster above, are you still an associate there? I’m interested in the SLC office but hesitant. I don’t know what the culture is like there, how hard they enforce the 2k hours, and whether they’re on the Cravath/Milbank scale even.

They’re on the milbank scale and since the last posts in this thread they’ve fixed the 75% bonus issue. It’s now market at 2000 and there are gridded out additional bonuses at 2100, 2200 and 2300. It’s not an insane amount over market bonus but it is nice to know exactly what the amount will be if you’re over on the year.

Anon before me is right re: expectations just being that you hit the 2000 (and like previous anons I don’t know anyone who was ever dinged a class year, and I know a lot of people who were under hours their first year). It did take some effort to move the firm to market in some respects but there has been leadership change since that was pushed through and it does seem like the new guard is particularly interested in recruiting and retaining talented associates so I expect it shows an upward trajectory that will continue in other respects too.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

2000 is full market bonus. MB chooses to lower it (typically without disclosing the target until late in the year--occasionally to 1900 in NY). Policy is 2000 though. Does not get paid until February (which is irksome).

I'm an associate there.

Poster above, are you still an associate there? I’m interested in the SLC office but hesitant. I don’t know what the culture is like there, how hard they enforce the 2k hours, and whether they’re on the Cravath/Milbank scale even.

They’re on the milbank scale and since the last posts in this thread they’ve fixed the 75% bonus issue. It’s now market at 2000 and there are gridded out additional bonuses at 2100, 2200 and 2300. It’s not an insane amount over market bonus but it is nice to know exactly what the amount will be if you’re over on the year.

Anon before me is right re: expectations just being that you hit the 2000 (and like previous anons I don’t know anyone who was ever dinged a class year, and I know a lot of people who were under hours their first year). It did take some effort to move the firm to market in some respects but there has been leadership change since that was pushed through and it does seem like the new guard is particularly interested in recruiting and retaining talented associates so I expect it shows an upward trajectory that will continue in other respects too.

Are you the poster who is currently an associate at Mayer Brown and posted above?

Wondering if you could PM me. I’m hearing from recruiter that MB is not full market bonus and that for 2016 class year, last year it was only $80k not $90k for 2000 hours.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

2000 is full market bonus. MB chooses to lower it (typically without disclosing the target until late in the year--occasionally to 1900 in NY). Policy is 2000 though. Does not get paid until February (which is irksome).

I'm an associate there.

Poster above, are you still an associate there? I’m interested in the SLC office but hesitant. I don’t know what the culture is like there, how hard they enforce the 2k hours, and whether they’re on the Cravath/Milbank scale even.

They’re on the milbank scale and since the last posts in this thread they’ve fixed the 75% bonus issue. It’s now market at 2000 and there are gridded out additional bonuses at 2100, 2200 and 2300. It’s not an insane amount over market bonus but it is nice to know exactly what the amount will be if you’re over on the year.

Anon before me is right re: expectations just being that you hit the 2000 (and like previous anons I don’t know anyone who was ever dinged a class year, and I know a lot of people who were under hours their first year). It did take some effort to move the firm to market in some respects but there has been leadership change since that was pushed through and it does seem like the new guard is particularly interested in recruiting and retaining talented associates so I expect it shows an upward trajectory that will continue in other respects too.

Are you the poster who is currently an associate at Mayer Brown and posted above?

Wondering if you could PM me. I’m hearing from recruiter that MB is not full market bonus and that for 2016 class year, last year it was only $80k not $90k for 2000 hours.

It’s a little bizarre that your recruiter is straight up wrong. AtL has the bonus memo.

https://abovethelaw.com/2021/12/mayer-brown-bonus/

Maybe the age of this thread is causing confusion but MB has paid market or above market bonuses since moving to the market bonus scale in 2020 so long as you bill 2k hours.

[Anonymous User]

Theoretically you need 1800 billable hours to advance with your class but it seems like they give a pass to people with less as long as you don’t totally mail it in. I don’t know of anyone who’s missed a salary increase.

Perks are pretty standard Biglaw perks.

Bonus is below market - 2000 hours gets you 75% of Milbank/Cravath scale. 2100 hours gets you full market.

This is wrong. 1900 hours was full market bonus (NYC).

2000 is full market bonus. MB chooses to lower it (typically without disclosing the target until late in the year--occasionally to 1900 in NY). Policy is 2000 though. Does not get paid until February (which is irksome).

I'm an associate there.

Poster above, are you still an associate there? I’m interested in the SLC office but hesitant. I don’t know what the culture is like there, how hard they enforce the 2k hours, and whether they’re on the Cravath/Milbank scale even.

They’re on the milbank scale and since the last posts in this thread they’ve fixed the 75% bonus issue. It’s now market at 2000 and there are gridded out additional bonuses at 2100, 2200 and 2300. It’s not an insane amount over market bonus but it is nice to know exactly what the amount will be if you’re over on the year.

Anon before me is right re: expectations just being that you hit the 2000 (and like previous anons I don’t know anyone who was ever dinged a class year, and I know a lot of people who were under hours their first year). It did take some effort to move the firm to market in some respects but there has been leadership change since that was pushed through and it does seem like the new guard is particularly interested in recruiting and retaining talented associates so I expect it shows an upward trajectory that will continue in other respects too.

Are you the poster who is currently an associate at Mayer Brown and posted above?

Wondering if you could PM me. I’m hearing from recruiter that MB is not full market bonus and that for 2016 class year, last year it was only $80k not $90k for 2000 hours.

It’s a little bizarre that your recruiter is straight up wrong. AtL has the bonus memo.

https://abovethelaw.com/2021/12/mayer-brown-bonus/

Maybe the age of this thread is causing confusion but MB has paid market or above market bonuses since moving to the market bonus scale in 2020 so long as you bill 2k hours.

Ya, I referenced that memo and was told it's wrong so I wanted to get confirmation from a current associate before I push back on them. I'm quite perplexed by the response myself.

[Anonymous User]

2016 at MB and can confirm we got the full bonus at 2000 hours.

[Anonymous User]

Re perks, as a recent lateral, the insurance at Mayer is insanely good. Not even by Biglaw standards, just generally. Compared to what I had at my V10 my deductible is thousands lower and the copays lower across the board, by a good amount. Dental and vision are more run of the mill, though the better dental plan is good as far as dental goes. If you’re someone that never goes to the doctor this won’t matter, but as someone that has to stay on top of their health, this insurance will save me thousands of real dollars.

[Anonymous User]

Any of you recent laterals? Does MB do guaranteed EOY bonus? Getting some “culture” pushback..

[Anonymous User]

Re perks, as a recent lateral, the insurance at Mayer is insanely good. Not even by Biglaw standards, just generally. Compared to what I had at my V10 my deductible is thousands lower and the copays lower across the board, by a good amount. Dental and vision are more run of the mill, though the better dental plan is good as far as dental goes. If you’re someone that never goes to the doctor this won’t matter, but as someone that has to stay on top of their health, this insurance will save me thousands of real dollars.

That’s awesome to hear. How was your offer/negotiation process with the firm? Did you feel like it was fair?

Also interested in question from the poster above regarding end of year bonus. I thought that a guaranteed full bonus was a normal ask in Big Law, so not sure why Mayer Brown would be any different.

[Anonymous User]

2016 at MB and can confirm we got the full bonus at 2000 hours.

Thanks for confirming! Are you in a non-NY office?

[Anonymous User]

Re perks, as a recent lateral, the insurance at Mayer is insanely good. Not even by Biglaw standards, just generally. Compared to what I had at my V10 my deductible is thousands lower and the copays lower across the board, by a good amount. Dental and vision are more run of the mill, though the better dental plan is good as far as dental goes. If you’re someone that never goes to the doctor this won’t matter, but as someone that has to stay on top of their health, this insurance will save me thousands of real dollars.

That’s awesome to hear. How was your offer/negotiation process with the firm? Did you feel like it was fair?

Also interested in question from the poster above regarding end of year bonus. I thought that a guaranteed full bonus was a normal ask in Big Law, so not sure why Mayer Brown would be any different.

Yes this was part of my package. I came from a V10 and negotiated a guaranteed year end market bonus as well as an above market signing bonus for my class year. I’ve read about some mixed experiences here from others negotiating with Mayer but I had no issue negotiating with them. They came in with by far the strongest signing bonus offer and were happy to guarantee my year end bonus and up my signing bonus after I asked through my recruiter (no negotiating or jerking me around). Only caveat is that I got a couple firms to match their initial bonus offer before asking, so I did have some ammo in my pocket.

Fwiw Mayer was not my top choice among the 4-6 offers I ended up with, but I ended up picking them after how well they recruited me - admittedly, I am likely biased from this positive experience.

[Anonymous User]

Re perks, as a recent lateral, the insurance at Mayer is insanely good. Not even by Biglaw standards, just generally. Compared to what I had at my V10 my deductible is thousands lower and the copays lower across the board, by a good amount. Dental and vision are more run of the mill, though the better dental plan is good as far as dental goes. If you’re someone that never goes to the doctor this won’t matter, but as someone that has to stay on top of their health, this insurance will save me thousands of real dollars.

That’s awesome to hear. How was your offer/negotiation process with the firm? Did you feel like it was fair?

Also interested in question from the poster above regarding end of year bonus. I thought that a guaranteed full bonus was a normal ask in Big Law, so not sure why Mayer Brown would be any different.

Yes this was part of my package. I came from a V10 and negotiated a guaranteed year end market bonus as well as an above market signing bonus for my class year. I’ve read about some mixed experiences here from others negotiating with Mayer but I had no issue negotiating with them. They came in with by far the strongest signing bonus offer and were happy to guarantee my year end bonus and up my signing bonus after I asked through my recruiter (no negotiating or jerking me around). Only caveat is that I got a couple firms to match their initial bonus offer before asking, so I did have some ammo in my pocket.

Fwiw Mayer was not my top choice among the 4-6 offers I ended up with, but I ended up picking them after how well they recruited me - admittedly, I am likely biased from this positive experience.

Are you in a non-NY office? I wonder if that could be the difference here for the other poster.

What would you consider to be an above market signing bonus? Or I guess what did the other firms offer you? I’m trying to gauge where the market is trending on that front.

It’s great they recruited you so well. Were you in a niche practice?

Are you happy with your experience there so far? I know the first part of lateral life is kind of honeymoon but any thing not panning out as you thought it would?

[Anonymous User]

2016 at MB and can confirm we got the full bonus at 2000 hours.

Thanks for confirming! Are you in a non-NY office?

Yes, I am!

[Anonymous User]

How are the clerkship bonuses at MB? Standard 50k for one and 75k for two?