BigLaw is taking an 'uneven approach' to bonuses
Several BigLaw firms have yet to announce bonuses, while others are refusing to follow the standard bonus schedule set by Milbank. (Image from Shutterstock)
Several BigLaw firms have yet to announce bonuses, while others are refusing to follow the standard bonus schedule set by Milbank.
“The discrepancy among big firms highlights the uneven approach BigLaw is taking to bonuses so far in 2024, with fewer firms apparently in lockstep with the bonus decisions of the industry elite and several firms delaying their bonus decisions compared with others,” Law.com reported in a Dec. 20 story.
Law firms that had not announced bonuses by Dec. 20 included Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr; Williams & Connolly; Venable; McGuireWoods; and ArentFox Schiff, the article reports. Above the Law is keeping track of bonuses at this link.
Some BigLaw firms that have announced bonuses are tying special bonuses to hourly requirements or are not paying them at all.
The market rate for year-end bonuses is $15,000 to $115,000, while the going rate for additional special bonuses is $6,000 to $25,000. That makes the total bonus $21,000 for the class of 2024 and $140,000 for the class of 2016 and beyond.
Associate legal recruiter Darin Morgan of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa doesn’t anticipate a “mad rush” for special bonuses.
“Those are the kind of things that we tend to see when the lateral market is super, super high and firms are fighting tooth and nail against their competition to keep good associates,” Morgan told Law.com.
Morgan was, however “a little bit surprised that there’s so many firms who have yet to announce” bonus decisions.
Lockstep bonuses may not be a good idea for all firms, according to Above the Law founder David Lat in a post for Original Jurisdiction. He cited his advice in a previous blog post that he wrote on associate compensation.
Firm leaders should make compensation decisions, he said, “based on what’s best for their particular firm, in light of factors such as where it sits in the Biglaw hierarchy, where it operates in the legal market, who its peer firms are, and what those peers have (or haven’t) done.”
Compensation decisions can eat into partner profits, which can cause top performers to begin looking at other firms, Lat wrote.
“To all the firms out there that have not yet announced bonuses,” Lat wrote, “be smart. Do what’s right for your firm and your people. Your associates might grumble in the short term. But when they’re still gainfully employed a year from now, not laid off because you lost critical practice groups to Kirkland or Paul Hastings, they’ll thank you (or at least should thank you).”
