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Hi all,

I'm wondering if bonuses (sign-on and otherwise) differ in amounts in the following situations.

1. Same biglaw firm, major office in primary market vs. a satellite in a secondary market.

2. Different biglaw firms in same primary market, Biglaw A's major office vs. Biglaw B's satellite office.

3. Different biglaw firms in same secondary market, both offices are satellite.

4. Same primary market, biglaw (major or satellite) vs. midlaw.

5. Same secondary market, biglaw (major or satellite) vs. midlaw.

Here are some definitions/assumptions for the purpose of this thread since the scope of these terms can be nebulous at times.

- Primary markets include NYC, LA, SF/SV, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta.

- Secondary markets include virtually all US cities not defined as primary markets.

- Biglaw refers to firms with >700 attorneys and pays market rate ($190k). Assume same base pay for all offices.

- Midlaw refers to firms with 100-200 attorneys that is reasonably competitive in its market and matches or pays close to market rate ($170k-$190k).

- I'm guessing bonus amounts also differ wildly between biglaw firms, and the same for midlaw firms as well. If there's an implicitly understood average, please use that, i.e., exclude outliers that pay much larger bonuses than their peers.

lol sorry the format turned into a law school class hypo session, but I would appreciate your thoughts.

I'm not reading through all the definitions in your email, so these may not line up exactly, but both big law firms I have worked at have done different bonuses in the primary market (NYC/DC/LA/SF) and secondary markets (Philadelphia, Atlanta etc.).

In general in secondary markets many firms do not give bonuses, including biglaw firms, and comp is much more irregular than in major markets. For example, Jones Day starts at $170k in Cleveland and Columbus, but local big/midlaw market is something like $125k, with a lot of variation. There's also often not a major difference between big and midlaw firms in secondary markets, like Faegre and Dorsey are the "biglaw" firms in Minneapolis but pay roughly the same as midlaw firms like Fredrikson, Stinson, and Robins Kaplan and generally compete with those firms for work. It will really depend on the specific firms and markets you're looking at.

Some of your assumptions are weird fwiw. Outside of major markets, no firms pay 190, including top biglaw firms, Delaware and Denver being exceptions. Salary variation between offices is really big because COL in Cleveland and NY is not remotely comparable, you can't really exclude it. And in major markets there's very little variation in bonuses beyond a few outliers, look up the Cravath bonus scale.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 19, 2021 7:29 pm

In general in secondary markets many firms do not give bonuses, including biglaw firms, and comp is much more irregular than in major markets. For example, Jones Day starts at $170k in Cleveland and Columbus, but local big/midlaw market is something like $125k, with a lot of variation. There's also often not a major difference between big and midlaw firms in secondary markets, like Faegre and Dorsey are the "biglaw" firms in Minneapolis but pay roughly the same as midlaw firms like Fredrikson, Stinson, and Robins Kaplan and generally compete with those firms for work. It will really depend on the specific firms and markets you're looking at.

Some of your assumptions are weird fwiw. Outside of major markets, no firms pay 190, including top biglaw firms, Delaware and Denver being exceptions. Salary variation between offices is really big because COL in Cleveland and NY is not remotely comparable, you can't really exclude it. And in major markets there's very little variation in bonuses beyond a few outliers, look up the Cravath bonus scale.

I think Miami is at market now.