BSF new clerk bonus Forum

[Anonymous User]

Boies Schiller is increasing the clerk sign-on bonus to $110,000 (from I believe $50,000). Could be interpreted as a signal of renewed strength of the firm, or instead that they are now getting pretty desperate to attract talent given all their exits/retention problems. It does seem like the firm's stabilized now, but I think they're still having retention/attraction problems.

It'll be interesting to see if this move works with clerks in the coming years. Obviously everyone can Google and see what's been going on at BSF over the past 2-3 years. On the other hand, $110,000 is nothing to sneeze at, and the memo also says they get to pick their own form of compensation. So that also raises the question who exactly the rival firms are. Is it still a place like Susman Godfrey or Kaplan or Quinn, or the Big Law market? I don't think many offer a sign-on bonus in that range even at lit boutiques.

Report:

https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2022 ... rt-clerks/

[2013]

Thank you for sharing, BSF recruiting manager!

[Anonymous User]

Feels like it’s time for the 50/70 or 50/75 or whatever it is bonus for one/two clerkships to go up. It’s been that way for how long now?

I’m paywalled on OP’s link but I wonder what pick their own form of compensation means. Are we talking USD vs BTC here?

[Anonymous User]

Quinn offers $105k for clerks (and adds I think another $20k for second clerkship). Not sure about other firms or boutiques mentioned here.

Source: QE associate

[Anonymous User]

Former BSF associate here. It actually is sort of a big deal that they are opening up formula comp again to new associates, moreso than the one-time clerkship bonus; Natasha Harrison was very committed to killing off formula comp (the compromise with Gravante, David, and Jonathan being that existing associates could retain it but not any new ones). With her departure, and the fact that nuking formula comp was terrible from a recruiting perspective, reversing the decision makes sense. I'm no BSF homer (see below), but formula comp offers the opportunity to earn far more than the one-shot clerkship bonus even as a junior associate.

All the above said, don't go to BSF. I can't believe they actually suckered enough kids into having a summer program tbh. The firm is a mere shell of its former self. If they had instituted an above-market clerkship bonus program a year or two ago, maybe it would have had an impact, but now it smacks of desperation. On the margins, it helps move the clerkship bonus market though (but only on the margins).

[Anonymous User]

Former BSF associate here. It actually is sort of a big deal that they are opening up formula comp again to new associates, moreso than the one-time clerkship bonus; Natasha Harrison was very committed to killing off formula comp (the compromise with Gravante, David, and Jonathan being that existing associates could retain it but not any new ones). With her departure, and the fact that nuking formula comp was terrible from a recruiting perspective, reversing the decision makes sense. I'm no BSF homer (see below), but formula comp offers the opportunity to earn far more than the one-shot clerkship bonus even as a junior associate.

All the above said, don't go to BSF. I can't believe they actually suckered enough kids into having a summer program tbh. The firm is a mere shell of its former self. If they had instituted an above-market clerkship bonus program a year or two ago, maybe it would have had an impact, but now it smacks of desperation. On the margins, it helps move the clerkship bonus market though (but only on the margins).

I just looked up Natasha Harrison's new firm, and it has, without a doubt, the worst law firm website I have ever seen.

[12YrsAnAssociate]

I just looked up Natasha Harrison's new firm, and it has, without a doubt, the worst law firm website I have ever seen.

Really bad. The circle cursor drives me nuts. Weird background pictures of odd irrelevant shit. Unnecessary lines. The bio pictures are also weird--the people aren't looking anywhere near the camera, weird smirks, super odd clothing choices, a lot of the people look like caricatures of actual Europeans.

[Anonymous User]

Former BSF associate here. It actually is sort of a big deal that they are opening up formula comp again to new associates, moreso than the one-time clerkship bonus; Natasha Harrison was very committed to killing off formula comp (the compromise with Gravante, David, and Jonathan being that existing associates could retain it but not any new ones). With her departure, and the fact that nuking formula comp was terrible from a recruiting perspective, reversing the decision makes sense. I'm no BSF homer (see below), but formula comp offers the opportunity to earn far more than the one-shot clerkship bonus even as a junior associate.

All the above said, don't go to BSF. I can't believe they actually suckered enough kids into having a summer program tbh. The firm is a mere shell of its former self. If they had instituted an above-market clerkship bonus program a year or two ago, maybe it would have had an impact, but now it smacks of desperation. On the margins, it helps move the clerkship bonus market though (but only on the margins).

I'm very curious what the thought process of these summer associates is. Do they not do basic google searches on the firms they look at before joining? Or do they have no other options?

Like, I get you want a above-market bonus your first 1-2 years in. But...you have a whole career ahead of you!

But to speak to prior post, instituting the above-market clerk bonus 1-2 years ago would not have made a difference. Their problem was never their associates, it was their partners/management. Associates were smart enough to see the writing on the wall, and left in droves.

But yeah, the raise does scream desperation.

[Anonymous User]

Former BSF associate here. It actually is sort of a big deal that they are opening up formula comp again to new associates, moreso than the one-time clerkship bonus; Natasha Harrison was very committed to killing off formula comp (the compromise with Gravante, David, and Jonathan being that existing associates could retain it but not any new ones). With her departure, and the fact that nuking formula comp was terrible from a recruiting perspective, reversing the decision makes sense. I'm no BSF homer (see below), but formula comp offers the opportunity to earn far more than the one-shot clerkship bonus even as a junior associate.

All the above said, don't go to BSF. I can't believe they actually suckered enough kids into having a summer program tbh. The firm is a mere shell of its former self. If they had instituted an above-market clerkship bonus program a year or two ago, maybe it would have had an impact, but now it smacks of desperation. On the margins, it helps move the clerkship bonus market though (but only on the margins).

I'm very curious what the thought process of these summer associates is. Do they not do basic google searches on the firms they look at before joining? Or do they have no other options?

Like, I get you want a above-market bonus your first 1-2 years in. But...you have a whole career ahead of you!

But to speak to prior post, instituting the above-market clerk bonus 1-2 years ago would not have made a difference. Their problem was never their associates, it was their partners/management. Associates were smart enough to see the writing on the wall, and left in droves.

But yeah, the raise does scream desperation.

At my lower t14 they didn't attend OCI and then advertised through the career office over a month later, when most people had already accepted offers. So I'm guessing it's mostly people with no better options.

[Anonymous User]

They're too cheap to even give all of their associates the non-free version of Adobe PDF. Instead, associates have to beg for it and explain why they need it installed on their computers. It's not worth taking a marginally higher clerkship bonus to go there and not be able to CTRL+F a 200 page deposition transcript.

[Anonymous User]

They're too cheap to even give all of their associates the non-free version of Adobe PDF. Instead, associates have to beg for it and explain why they need it installed on their computers. It's not worth taking a marginally higher clerkship bonus to go there and not be able to CTRL+F a 200 page deposition transcript.

I still don't get this story. Has no associate thought to just go to some BSD partner and say "look, Gary, welcome to 2022, every other firm in the V100 uses Adobe and here's why: to *search*. It will make us *better*. We have to have this."

[Anonymous User]

They're too cheap to even give all of their associates the non-free version of Adobe PDF. Instead, associates have to beg for it and explain why they need it installed on their computers. It's not worth taking a marginally higher clerkship bonus to go there and not be able to CTRL+F a 200 page deposition transcript.

I still don't get this story. Has no associate thought to just go to some BSD partner and say "look, Gary, welcome to 2022, every other firm in the V100 uses Adobe and here's why: to *search*. It will make us *better*. We have to have this."

Former BSF associate here. There's not much more to the story. Associates don't get the more expensive version. They're told to contact a paralegal if they're working with a file that needs that kind of treatment, and then the para will convert the file and sent it back. Rinse and repeat. You'd have to make a focused, concentrated, sustained effort to contact a partner and make a special case to be allowed to have the full Adobe suit yourself. And then maybe you'd be lucky enough to get it. It wasn't the default, and the first few requests to get it were denied unless you really went to bat for it.

How much money does this save the firm, on net? Who knows. They have now probably changed this situation because it's gotten so much bad rep. But in the partners' minds, it's the type of sacrifice you make as a BSF associate in exchange for above-market bonus. (Until, of course, it turns out your bonus is not actually above-market because the firm usually does some shady math when it crunches its "formula").

[Anonymous User]

The bonus is nice, but the *real* benefits will come in a couple of years when BSF joins the Dentons family. Think of the prestige!

[Anonymous User]

The bonus is nice, but the *real* benefits will come in a couple of years when BSF joins the Dentons family. Think of the prestige!

Smile, for even in death you are all children of Dentons.

[Anonymous User]

Speaking from experience, BSF is still a good litigation firm that will often work on exciting, front-page cases. But you should really think through a decision to join the firm, even with the enhanced clerkship bonus. A lot of the cases they take on are very specifically based on political optics (and because, let's face it, they just don't have the institutional clients like Apple or Uber anymore, so they have fewer choices when it comes to clients).

For similar reasons, if you're a female junior it can be a great place, because the firm actively wants to staff female lawyers on front-page cases it is pivoting its identity (the sex crimes cases, female athletes cases, abortion rights, etc.). When I was there (I'm a male), a lot of staffing decisions were based on considerations like that much more so than timing, availability, or talent. The lawyers there are all good, but there's a reason the junior attorneys who get staffed, and whose names appear on, cases like the Louisiana abortion trigger law case are all female. I know at least 3 good, talented male juniors left the firm because, in part, they just were not getting staffed on the cases the firm prioritizes (and on which they could bill a lot of hours and have it counted towards their bonus without having to worry that the client is stingy or the hours aren't billable).

There's politics when it comes to staffing for most firms, of course, but BSF -- because it's got fewer commercial matters, because of its efforts to rehab its PR, and because of the optics overall -- is a great place for a hardworking, aspiring, go-getter female trial attorney. I'm just not as sure it's true for male attorneys.

[Anonymous User]

The bonus is nice, but the *real* benefits will come in a couple of years when BSF joins the Dentons family. Think of the prestige!

Whats wrong with Dentons? The people I have interacted with there have been great.