An Update on Quinn Emanuel and EE Degrees
This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about Quinn Emanuel, which was considering adopting a pay system in which associates with coveted electrical engineering degrees would earn higher base salaries than their less well-endowed colleagues.
We contacted name partner John Quinn, but he hasn’t gotten back to us. Through other channels, however, we’ve learned what we think happened in terms of this issue.
If you’re curious, read the rest of this post, after the jump.
Here’s a memo that Quinn Emanuel sent out to legal recruiters late last month:
Date: 6/29/2007TO: LEGAL RECRUITERS
FROM: QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART OLIVER & HEDGES, LLP
RE: 40% ENHANCED FEE FOR TOP PATENT LITIGATORS IN LA, NY, SAN FRANCISCO AND THE SILICON VALLEY OFFICES. ALL CANDIDATES PLACED PURSUANT TO THIS SEARCH WILL RECEIVE A $25,000 SIGNING BONUS!
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP is looking for lateral patent litigation associates for immediate employment. A 40% placement fee will be paid to recruiting agencies who place candidates in any of our offices who meet all of the following requirements:
1. Must have a technical degree, i.e., an appropriate hard science undergraduate degree such as: computer science, electrical engineering, chemistry, biology, physics, etc.
2. Must have some experience in patent litigation or a willingness to be involved in patent litigation.
3. Must be placed at Quinn Emanuel between July 1, 2007 and October 1, 2007.
The ideal candidates would have attended a top-10 law school and earned a grade point average that put them within the top 10% of their class. We also highly value candidates that have trial experience and/or a strong interest in trial work.
The 40% fee will be paid based on the candidate’s starting base salary (not including any bonuses of any kind). We offer the following annual salaries, effective March 2007: 2nd year - $170,000; 3rd year - $185,000; 4th year - $210,000; 5th year - $230,000; and 6th year - $250,000. Our salaries are reviewed January 1 of each year and significant bonuses are paid at the end of each year.
All candidates placed pursuant to this search will receive a $25,000 signing bonus. The $25,000 signing bonus will not be subject to the 40% fee.
Except for this 40% placement fee, all of the terms and conditions of the firm’s standard Contingency Fee Agreement, attached hereto, will apply. Please return signed fee agreement prior to submitting any candidates. Execution of this agreement before submission of the candidate’s name to Quinn Emanuel is a prerequisite to earning the 40% commission.
Interesting. So instead of going with a higher base salary, Quinn decided to do what some commenters suggested: pay special signing bonuses to patent litigators (and enhanced placement fees to recruiters who deliver such lateral candidates). The firm also broadened the bonuses beyond electrical engineers, to include all candidates with technical degrees.
It’s worth noting that this info presumes the candidate is placed through an agency. If you decide to approach the firm on your own, you should try to negotiate the same deal.
Another option (warning — shameless plug): Proceed through ATL’s new career partner, Lateral Link (and be sure to tell them that ATL sent you). Then you’d get a $10,000 placement bonus from Lateral Link, on top of the $25,000 signing bonus for Quinn, for a total bonus of $35,000. Good stuff!
Earlier: Quinn Emanuel: More Money for Electrical Engineers?
(42) Comments
Comments
$25K doesn't seem like that much when they were thinking of paying base salaries higher than $20K for all years.
FIRST!
Damn it!
It's funny when "FIRST" people get beaten to the punch by substantive commenters.
Does anyone know if other firms pay special bonuses for IP lit laterals?
wait, so what bonus goes to the recruiter, and what bonus goes to the candidate?
Hmmm, I wonder if being it the Computer field (Security/Forensics) for 10+ years and just getting a Law degree qualifies for any of this? :0)
Candidate gets $25K bonus.
Recruiter gets 40 percent fee (40 percent of successful candidate's base salary).
Did you ask Quinn about the lack of capital letters and his inability to discern the difference between "its" and "it's"?
do any IP firms give signing bonuses to first years?
ie-- I'm a EE... can I ask about signing bonuses in fall recruiting interviews?
i love it when the first troll is thwarted. nice work.
Last! (So far)
i'm switching careers. all i have to do is place 3 i.p. attorneys per year and i'll make more than i do now.
PWNED previous poster
First!
Holy crap. I know it depends on their agreements with firms, but do recruiters typically get a percentage of a successfully placed attorney's salary or a set fee? What's the typicaly percentage/fee?
3:35 - Yes, that's how recruiters are typically paid (but the standard fee is lower than 40 percent).
Now you know why you keep getting all those cold calls. If just one of them hits...
some 5th or 6th years should jump ship to quinn. probably a better chance to make partner if they are in such need of EE patent attorneys.
is political science a hard science? damn.
how many cum laude graduates of elite law schools with an undergrad in CS or EE are in biglaw? If I were in that position I'd do firm work for about a tenth of a second before moving on to an in-house gig for twice the pay and/or half the work.
Corleone Family to pay $55k signing bonus for war-time consigliere! Tom's out, who wants in?
NY list of shame:
Barzini $30k
Tattaglia $20k
White Girls With Asian Guys
Pretty standard for recruiters to get 25% of the starting salary for a placement.
3:45 -- twice the pay and/or half the work? is it really that good in-house?
Lat: could we do a post on in-house folks to get some info on the scene?
Keep in mind that when these people go in-house its to companies like Google, Microsoft, Sony, et cetera. Many in-house gigs are just as crappy and low-paying as midlaw work is. But consider that silicon valley companies are constantly pushing their IP portfolios to limits, and they need the best lawyers looking out for them. Maybe thats why google pays this guy 10 times as much as equity partners as Quinn Emmanuel make...
http://www.google.com/corporate/execs.html#walker
Hyman Roth to $65K!
To synthesize this comment chain with another commonly appearing subject on ATL...
Does anyone know (i.e., someone on the inside) if Quinn will pay the $25,000 bonus IN ADDITION to a clerkship bonus?
If so, please forward my resume to John Quinn.
Sounds like a good deal for the recruiter and those EE undergrad majors that went to a top 10 school and graduated in the top 10% of the class. Wait, do any of these individuals actually exist???
5:26
They exist, but they work for the USPTO...and like it...A LOT!
"some 5th or 6th years should jump ship to quinn. probably a better chance to make partner if they are in such need of EE patent attorneys."
Quinn's got a six year partnership track, with a three-year at firm minimum. Third years are best placed to benefit.
I now hate this dude in my class who has a double major in EE and CS. From MIT. With great social skills.
So Quinn wants EE majors from T10 schools in the top 10% of their class who want to be litigators? In other words, they don't plan on hiring anyone.
7.5% of law students have engineering degree
say half of those are EE's
T10 is 10/165 possible law schools
engineer with social skills to do litigation = 1/10
(0.075 * 0.5) * (10 / 165) * (1 / 10) = 0.000227272727
30000 law grads
30 000 * (0.075 * 0.5) * (10 / 165) * (1 / 10) = 6.81818182
There are 6 people who match this description.
Top 10 school. Check.
Patent Litigation interest. Check.
EE/CS degree. Check.
Social skills. Check.
Top 10%. Well.... I knew i'd hit a snag somewhere........
Do all notices to recruiters look like this? Only the most elite firms (Quinn Emanuel isn't one) will only entertain the top 10% from a top 10 school. Further, all Biglaws desperately in search of associates relax their grade/% requirements. I guess this is why QE called this their ideal candidate - their criteria are way too restrictive if this hiring need is as dire as they make it sound.
I'm not sure that a $25k signing bonus is enough. It's surely a better deal to have a higher base salary year in and year out. A signing bonus is not enough to make a move, if the salary is the same, and you're on partnership track.
As planned, I think this will only motivate HH's to call and hassle more associates with EE degrees, not appreciably increase the number of EE's that QE is able to hire.
3 yrs of law school students
top 10 %
3 * 30 000 * (0.075 * 0.5) * (10 / 165) * (1 / 10) * .1 = 2.04545455
There are 2 people who meet this criteria.
5:26 – The PTO gives a $10K bonus to EE Examiners for the first 4 years. But they start at 60-70K.
11:42 et al. – I know 2 off the top of my head.
Why don’t these people direct apply under the condition that they get the HH’s 40%. Yes, it’s a bold move, but if they strike out they can stay where they are. Or, move to just about any other firm. A 100K bonus may be enough to get someone to move.
Haven't you guys ever worked for a corporation? The ideal candidate is what they are dreaming of; they don't expect to find it. They will accept the top 10% from top 25/50 schools. Or top 25% from the top 10 schools. Come on kids, at least read about hiring practices online.
11:42 -- go back to third grade math class
That absolutely is a shameless plug for you, ATL. 40% of the commission on a second year associate, the fee you would get for "allowing" us to use your website to submit OURSELVES to Quinn without any help, is $68,000. You offer us a 10K bonus, when after taxes we'll be lucky to get 4k. We would be better off using recruiters and having someone to prep us for the interviews. What service, other than 4K out of your minimum cut of 68K, are you really offering? Shameless and disappointing.
You overlook the fact that you wouldn't even have known about this option, were it not for the ATL website...
And who needs interview prep?
11:42 was just pointing out what an idiot 10:51 is.
especially if it's the same person.
Who are these "most elite firms" that would entertain only the top 10% at top 10 schools with engineering degrees? If not Quinn, who?
Genuinely curious.