Fall bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Latham coming around to dutifully remind fresh graduates and laterals that CravaTTTh, KirklandTTT and SkaTTTen are all overraTTTed.

Wow, that makes Kirkland look terrible.

Can confirm, morale super low at Kirkland. End of year bonuses better be massive.

[Anonymous User]

Latham coming around to dutifully remind fresh graduates and laterals that CravaTTTh, KirklandTTT and SkaTTTen are all overraTTTed.

Wow, that makes Kirkland look terrible.

Can confirm, morale super low at Kirkland. End of year bonuses better be massive.

Even if they are, the damage has been done. People have been unbelievably busy and have watched others get bonuses. That's a couple months of resentment building up and people are sending out resumes. Like, even with big annual bonuses, that won't undo the stress and anger.

[Anonymous User]

Latham coming around to dutifully remind fresh graduates and laterals that CravaTTTh, KirklandTTT and SkaTTTen are all overraTTTed.

Wow, that makes Kirkland look terrible.

Can confirm, morale super low at Kirkland. End of year bonuses better be massive.

Even if they are, the damage has been done. People have been unbelievably busy and have watched others get bonuses. That's a couple months of resentment building up and people are sending out resumes. Like, even with big annual bonuses, that won't undo the stress and anger.

Used to be at Kirkland for a few years, now at a V30 firm. I've been through the Kirkland bonus season a few times myself, and still have close friends there. My two cents:

- Yes, K&E associates have been generally crazy busy.
- That said, would rather be billing 2600 at Kirkland than 2600 at Skadden or Cravath. Apples to apples, you'll get paid more for those hours at Kirkland than you will at Skadden or Cravath.
- Question is, how much more paid? Kirkland associates should be expecting 100% of year-end, plus 100% of DPW fall bonuses, plus 100% of the normal 1.1-1.5x+ of market they would have received in any other normal year for a year significantly in excess of 2000 billables. If the bonus is not 100% of all those payments, they have options: (a) go somewhere where billables will never come close to 2400 / 2600+ again and just get market for a more reasonable life balance, or (b) stay, keep billing, and get paid more than you otherwise would for those billables pretty much anywhere else. There may be some option (c)s at firms that will pay extra for extra-high billers, but those are more rare; otherwise, leaving and then billing out at substantially the same clip as you were at Kirkland, with "merely" market bonuses to show for it, doesn't make any sense.

[nahumya]

This late bonus announcement almost makes up for Lathaming all of the first years in 2008.

[Anonymous User]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

[Definitely Not North]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

Less than 10?? Idk that’s on you

[thelawyler]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

You should out the firm if you're anon. I know more than one does it, and you're def not the only one of a thousand associate that will have missed it by double digits.

[SGTslaughter]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

Less than 10?? Idk that’s on you

If he's at Weil/Milbank, they determined hours based on past dates for bonuses. No way to know.

[Anonymous User]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

Less than 10?? Idk that’s on you

If he's at Weil/Milbank, they determined hours based on past dates for bonuses. No way to know.

Sounds like they had a chill year then. The cutoffs were ridiculously low.

[Dcc617]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

Less than 10?? Idk that’s on you

If he's at Weil/Milbank, they determined hours based on past dates for bonuses. No way to know.

Sounds like they had a chill year then. The cutoffs were ridiculously low.

Bootlicker

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

Less than 10?? Idk that’s on you

If he's at Weil/Milbank, they determined hours based on past dates for bonuses. No way to know.

Sounds like they had a chill year then. The cutoffs were ridiculously low.

The *lowest* cutoff that shut someone out of money was 1800 at Weil. Notwithstanding that we don't even know if that's what OP is talking about, 1800 was an entirely normal amount to bill not that long ago. Thank God Anon is here to tell us that's "ridiculously low" now. Look forward to TLS 2030 where 2200 hours makes you a slacker.

[Anonymous User]

Latham coming around to dutifully remind fresh graduates and laterals that CravaTTTh, KirklandTTT and SkaTTTen are all overraTTTed.

Wow, that makes Kirkland look terrible.

Can confirm, morale super low at Kirkland. End of year bonuses better be massive.

Even if they are, the damage has been done. People have been unbelievably busy and have watched others get bonuses. That's a couple months of resentment building up and people are sending out resumes. Like, even with big annual bonuses, that won't undo the stress and anger.

Used to be at Kirkland for a few years, now at a V30 firm. I've been through the Kirkland bonus season a few times myself, and still have close friends there. My two cents:

- Yes, K&E associates have been generally crazy busy.
- That said, would rather be billing 2600 at Kirkland than 2600 at Skadden or Cravath. Apples to apples, you'll get paid more for those hours at Kirkland than you will at Skadden or Cravath.
- Question is, how much more paid? Kirkland associates should be expecting 100% of year-end, plus 100% of DPW fall bonuses, plus 100% of the normal 1.1-1.5x+ of market they would have received in any other normal year for a year significantly in excess of 2000 billables. If the bonus is not 100% of all those payments, they have options: (a) go somewhere where billables will never come close to 2400 / 2600+ again and just get market for a more reasonable life balance, or (b) stay, keep billing, and get paid more than you otherwise would for those billables pretty much anywhere else. There may be some option (c)s at firms that will pay extra for extra-high billers, but those are more rare; otherwise, leaving and then billing out at substantially the same clip as you were at Kirkland, with "merely" market bonuses to show for it, doesn't make any sense.

I'm a KE associate who will be attempting to find an option (a). A little extra $$$ isn't worth marginal hours that all come out of your sleep/exercise/friends or a cause a divorce.

[Anonymous User]

Latham coming around to dutifully remind fresh graduates and laterals that CravaTTTh, KirklandTTT and SkaTTTen are all overraTTTed.

Wow, that makes Kirkland look terrible.

Can confirm, morale super low at Kirkland. End of year bonuses better be massive.

Even if they are, the damage has been done. People have been unbelievably busy and have watched others get bonuses. That's a couple months of resentment building up and people are sending out resumes. Like, even with big annual bonuses, that won't undo the stress and anger.

Used to be at Kirkland for a few years, now at a V30 firm. I've been through the Kirkland bonus season a few times myself, and still have close friends there. My two cents:

- Yes, K&E associates have been generally crazy busy.
- That said, would rather be billing 2600 at Kirkland than 2600 at Skadden or Cravath. Apples to apples, you'll get paid more for those hours at Kirkland than you will at Skadden or Cravath.
- Question is, how much more paid? Kirkland associates should be expecting 100% of year-end, plus 100% of DPW fall bonuses, plus 100% of the normal 1.1-1.5x+ of market they would have received in any other normal year for a year significantly in excess of 2000 billables. If the bonus is not 100% of all those payments, they have options: (a) go somewhere where billables will never come close to 2400 / 2600+ again and just get market for a more reasonable life balance, or (b) stay, keep billing, and get paid more than you otherwise would for those billables pretty much anywhere else. There may be some option (c)s at firms that will pay extra for extra-high billers, but those are more rare; otherwise, leaving and then billing out at substantially the same clip as you were at Kirkland, with "merely" market bonuses to show for it, doesn't make any sense.

I'm a KE associate who will be attempting to find an option (a). A little extra $$$ isn't worth marginal hours that all come out of your sleep/exercise/friends or a cause a divorce.

Option (a) exists, and I can attest -- it's much better, but it's still biglaw.

[parkslope]

Sometimes I feel like this forum is populated exclusively by Kirkland and Latham associates.

[SGTslaughter]

Missed the hours cut off by a few (less than 10) hours and my firm didn’t round up. I’ll see if DPW needs me.

Less than 10?? Idk that’s on you

If he's at Weil/Milbank, they determined hours based on past dates for bonuses. No way to know.

Sounds like they had a chill year then. The cutoffs were ridiculously low.

If this guy's at Weil, they had tiered cutoffs so not necessarily chill--they might have been at the $30K point and missed out on hitting $40K, for example.


Either way, tell me you wouldn't be salty about missing out on $10,000 because you were less than 10 hours off from a cutoff you didn't know about when you were actually billing...

[ChairmanKaga]

Thoughts on when we'll start hearing year-end bonus announcements? Didn't Milbank announce super early last November? Do we expect one of the fall bonus hold-outs (probably Cravath or Kirkland) to announce first this year to calm their associates?

[Anonymous User]

Kirkland partners have informally reiterated that our bonus announcement will be on its usual schedule, which is mid-December. Probably the week of the 14th. Paid on 12/31.