Kirkland Signing Bonuses Forum

[Anonymous User]

Do signing bonuses typically have just a one year clawback? Considering lateraling to Kirkland for the lareral bonus before leaving big law altogether in a year. Third year in M&A at a V10.

2 yr

Mine was huge and 1 year

[Anonymous User]

It’s strange to me how much people have to talk about and disparage Kirkland. Totally cool if you don’t want to work there or don’t like some people who work there, but they’re paying people lots of money and offering sweet perks. This has positive effects that ripple across the associate labor market and benefit many of us

I think the amount of "Kirkland cope" that goes on in here fuels the fire. Kirkland has destroyed its brand. Once the M&A boom is over, god help all of us.

Do you mean the middle-market M&A deals that K&E thrives on... I feel like firms that operate more based on deal value rather than volume are much better situated because those deals are more or less always there.

[Elvis_Dumervil]

It’s strange to me how much people have to talk about and disparage Kirkland. Totally cool if you don’t want to work there or don’t like some people who work there, but they’re paying people lots of money and offering sweet perks. This has positive effects that ripple across the associate labor market and benefit many of us

I think the amount of "Kirkland cope" that goes on in here fuels the fire. Kirkland has destroyed its brand. Once the M&A boom is over, god help all of us.

Do you mean the middle-market M&A deals that K&E thrives on... I feel like firms that operate more based on deal value rather than volume are much better situated because those deals are more or less always there.

Which deals are always there, the huge ones or the middle market ones?

The huge deals are, in the end, pretty rare, especially for PE. According to the WSJ yesterday, $10B+ deals happened in 2005-7, but since then only sporadically, occurring in only three of 14 years.

[Anonymous User]

Also curious about retention bonuses. Will most likely be starting at KE and I already know I’ll be bitter if only these lateral bonuses exist in a few years.

Yes at the senior associate / NSP level. You generally have to negotiate it, but I know of multiple people in corp making >$200k over market, before factoring in the outsized EOY bonus. Have anecdotally heard of it at 3rd-4th year, but can't really verify that.

I'll also just tack on an LOL at the Cravath tripe in here. I have multiple friends at CSM and every single one of them is 300-400 hrs above their avg K&E counterpart. But sexier resume line item? sure.

[Anonymous User]

It’s strange to me how much people have to talk about and disparage Kirkland. Totally cool if you don’t want to work there or don’t like some people who work there, but they’re paying people lots of money and offering sweet perks. This has positive effects that ripple across the associate labor market and benefit many of us

I think the amount of "Kirkland cope" that goes on in here fuels the fire. Kirkland has destroyed its brand. Once the M&A boom is over, god help all of us.

Do you mean the middle-market M&A deals that K&E thrives on... I feel like firms that operate more based on deal value rather than volume are much better situated because those deals are more or less always there.

Which deals are always there, the huge ones or the middle market ones?

The huge deals are, in the end, pretty rare, especially for PE. According to the WSJ yesterday, $10B+ deals happened in 2005-7, but since then only sporadically, occurring in only three of 14 years.

Well, not sure what to make of this, but firms that skew away from churning volume are still probably better off, right? At any rate, is M&A going flat even a remote possibility?

[BrowsingTLS]

Also curious about retention bonuses. Will most likely be starting at KE and I already know I’ll be bitter if only these lateral bonuses exist in a few years.

Yes at the senior associate / NSP level. You generally have to negotiate it, but I know of multiple people in corp making >$200k over market, before factoring in the outsized EOY bonus. Have anecdotally heard of it at 3rd-4th year, but can't really verify that.

I'll also just tack on an LOL at the Cravath tripe in here. I have multiple friends at CSM and every single one of them is 300-400 hrs above their avg K&E counterpart. But sexier resume line item? sure.

The weirdest thing about Cravath remaining V1 is that law firm associates, not law students, are rating firms and thus impacting rankings. How can associates be dumb enough to keep rating as number one a Cravath instead of elevating firms like Milbank, DPW, K&E which either raise the salary scale or bonuses, or do something else that is both a sign of success as a firm and benefits associates? It might be because stub/first years are more likely to complete the survey and they are too fresh out of law school and uninformed about this stuff. Also, Wachtell should always be ranked above Cravath in terms of prestige. Does anyone who has been admitted to the bar really think that working at Cravath is more prestigious? Far easier to get into to Cravath's hollowed halls and get paid the same for less than Wachtell's hallowed halls and get paid more than double.

That said, predicting the bonus scale gets raised today by Mil-lionsandbillionsofdollarsinthe-bank.