Biglaw First Year Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone have any insight into whether first years/juniors get any extra bonus for working above the billable hours threshold and if so, how firms calculate that? My firm's policy is very vague. It's something like, a junior who bills substantial hours over the threshold will get a higher bonus. But there's no insight whatsoever into what counts as "substantial" and what the higher amount is.

Edit: I'm talking about class of 2020 first years.

[Anonymous User]

This is highly firm dependent.

[Anonymous User]

If you have to ask it probably doesn’t qualify

I would guess it’s for first years that get absolutely killed and end up billing high 2k or more

[Anonymous User]

Generally it's about $5k for every 100 hours over 2000. So if you bill 2200, you'd get a $10k additional bonus. Comes out to about $50/hour, which is a lower hourly rate than your base pay, so you are effectively working more for less money the more you work after the bonus threshold.

[Anonymous User]

Generally it's about $5k for every 100 hours over 2000. So if you bill 2200, you'd get a $10k additional bonus. Comes out to about $50/hour, which is a lower hourly rate than your base pay, so you are effectively working more for less money the more you work after the bonus threshold.

I'm at a v10 and billed ~2600 my first year and it was nowhere close to $5k per 100 hours. more like ~$900 per 100 hours.

[mardash]

Generally it's about $5k for every 100 hours over 2000. So if you bill 2200, you'd get a $10k additional bonus. Comes out to about $50/hour, which is a lower hourly rate than your base pay, so you are effectively working more for less money the more you work after the bonus threshold.

That seems very firm-specific and also generous. At a V50 I don’t think I got anything “extra” on top of the standard bonus for being around 2200.

[Anonymous User]

Generally it's about $5k for every 100 hours over 2000. So if you bill 2200, you'd get a $10k additional bonus. Comes out to about $50/hour, which is a lower hourly rate than your base pay, so you are effectively working more for less money the more you work after the bonus threshold.

That seems very firm-specific and also generous. At a V50 I don’t think I got anything “extra” on top of the standard bonus for being around 2200.

At my V5 there was no junior "extra" bonus either for being above 2000. Maybe this is a newer policy? If so, I haven't heard anything about it.

[Anonymous User]

Try asking associates you're close with or your HR department how your firm handles it. I billed ~2600 as well and ended up with double market (~$2500/100hr). Each firm calculates this differently, but beware that many have hard cutoffs for extra hours-based bonus levels. I would have made the same if I only billed 2500, and I wish I had known that earlier.

[mardash]

Try asking associates you're close with or your HR department how your firm handles it. I billed ~2600 as well and ended up with double market (~$2500/100hr). Each firm calculates this differently, but beware that many have hard cutoffs for extra hours-based bonus levels. I would have made the same if I only billed 2500, and I wish I had known that earlier.

Yeah, a good mentor or coworker will give you the heads up on this if you ask them. It’s a good way to avoid putting in the extra hours with a misguided expectation.