Associate Bonus Watch: Beyond Biglaw
This site tends to focus on large law firms when it comes to compensation coverage. There are several reasons for this. First, Biglaw shops tend to be more public about how they pay their people. Second, there's a larger audience for information about their pay scales. Third, even when firms don't make salary and bonus information publicly available, it's easier to get information out of a firm with several hundred lawyers -- there are more potential tipsters, and the risk of a leaker being discovered is much lower.
But many of you are curious about what pay is like at smaller shops. Here's a representative request from one reader:
How about getting the scoop on bonuses as smaller firms? My particular interest is in white-collar boutiques -- e.g., Morvillo, Lankler, Stillman, Zuckerman Spaeder, etc.There's no info online, and those firms tend to be pretty quiet about how much they pay. This should be right up your alley.
So here's an open thread -- although we're not sure how successful it will be. As our tipster notes, smaller firms tend to be tight-lipped about compensation matters.
If you have information to share on the bonuses doled out by smaller firms, including but not limited to white-collar criminal defense shops and litigation boutiques, please share in the comments. It would be optimal if you could identify the firm by name; but if you can't, please provide as much information as possible (e.g., "a 25-lawyer, white-collar criminal defense firm in New York"). Thanks.
(92) Comments
At a 3 lawyer firm in a small town, I received one week's pay as a bonus!
Bonus = $10 starbucks gift card
Small southern insurance firm (40 lawyers, 4 offices), general bonus is 2-4 weeks salary + additional bonii for extraordinary contribution which has occaisionally resulted in bonii of biglaw-esque proportions in the past (33% of salary). We get paid pretty much on a percentage of revenue though after the 2nd year so the real bonus for a good year is next year's salary.
Can haz larj bownus?
anyone who uses the word bonii doesn't deserve one.
Guys in my high school used to be total do*ches and offer to write "snippets" of code to auto-delete "first" posters all the time, it was no big deal.
what about labaton??
6 lawyer firm, bonus is 10-20 depending on hours and on what kind of year the firm has.
"Bonii" isn't even correct Latin; it's just pretentious douche-speak.
50 person firm in DC -- largest bonus is 25K-30K unless your hours are extraordinary. A lot of people get less: anywhere from nothing to 10-15K.
Re Morvillo:
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070207/FREE/70207013/1057
Whoops, no bonus info. Well, take it for what's it's worth re salary.
75 person firm in DC - 1st years got a measly $2k last year, told to expect $10k for 2300+ hours this year. Uggg. And this is from a firm that a) keeps reasonably close to market salaries for first years b) recruits from t14 schools, and c) has many laterals to and from BigLaw.
Thanks to those answering the post's question. Very helpful.
Could you also give an idea of average hours billed? For example, 12:44, what is "extraordinary" for your firm?
For perspective, I am a 4th year big law associate, billing around 2100, 3 years running.
Lat, how about a special thread for the lonely 3L's of the world (as to firm gifts, practice groups, bar prep fees, motivation, etc.)?
30 lawyer Texas environmental boutique - bonus is 1/3 of your "effective billing rate" (meaning, the average rate that your time is actually billed AND collected...so all the written-off hours or not collected from clients-that-don't-pay-their-bills are a big fat zero factored in there) times the number of hours you work over 1750. In a good year, you can make some decent money. For example, a 2400 hour year with an effective billing rate at $300 earns you $65,000 in bonus money. On the other hand, if a billing partner decides he doesn't like you, he can "be nice to the client" and write off all of your time (and none of his own--as opposed to reducing the total bill by a percentage and thus affecting everyone billing on it equally).
weil gave us a gift tin of goodies for finals! YAY!!!!!!!
2100-2200 hours will get you into the 25-30K range. At 2300-2400 you might get more, but those type of hours are virtually unheard of. Most people here don't break 2000.
I get a boner every morning and while sitting at my desk. This has happened to me at small, mid, and biglaw firms. I expect a big boner around lunch time...oh bonus!
As a 2L part-time associate, I received $500 at a 3-lawyer firm in Upstate NY
5 lawyer immigration firm, work hours 8am-6pm.
1k
I feel like the individual asking the original question is considering a lateral move (or is in law school). I think that even asking this question means that smaller firms might not be a good fit.
With rare exception - you aren't going to get the same compensation at a small firm. Generally, you'll have a better QOL, because usually you'll bill less. And, generally, you'll have a much better shot at promotion.
Those are the trade-offs. If you're asking about the bonus, you probably aren't patient enough to try to realize the benefits of the small firm and need the prestige of a pay-check. When I was at a midlaw, I in no way tried to kid myself that my firm was going to pay market salary or bonuses. But I knew what I was getting in exchange for that.
avoid SOKOL & ASSOCIATES
I love threads like this, because its great to learn about how the poors live.
Lat, what's annual take home from operation of this site? Come on, I'll let you approximate.
I love the pretentious comments from biglaw people on "how the poors live." Yeah, well done--you're a brief-writing minion, you got seduced by a big paycheck, and you think you're hot shit.
I've never heard of anyone leaving biglaw--no matter how big a pay cut--and then regretting it.
Uncle Sam gave me $1000 and Christmas Eve off from my 9-5 job. Who says government lawyers don't get bonuses?
My firm offers free mustache wax if you bill over 2000 hours, or weigh over 300 pounds.
40 lawyer Florida boutique. Just ended 4th year. Billed 1875, and bonus was $35k.
A significant portion of this was attributed to origination. You get 15% of all fees received from clients you originate. Good thing is that the origination bonus works on a sliding scale. 100% first year, 80% second year, etc. So if you have a personality and produce excellent work product, you can make a fortune off origination. Even better, you get paid for work done by other partners, associates, and paralegals.
There are a few senior (6-7 year) associates who bring in huge bonuses. One particular senior (who is now a partner) brought in a few choice clients and collected six figure (200k-250k) bonuses for work done by others.
btw, starting salary is $110k, with compression taking its toll on the seniors. Money is made through 1) hours and 2) origination.
i'm a 2l who has signed on with a 10ish person litigation firm in a mountainwest city....they said they pay 10-20k depending on how well the firm does that year...for what its worth...
@ The Man
Lucky you, I just got the Christmas Eve...Uncle Sam screwed me out of my bonus (as small as it was going to be) because I switched govt. jobs mid-year...missed it at this job for not being here as of the calculated date.
Junior associate, Long Island firm, mid 70k, 1k bonus, a joke. Other LI firms have similar/higher pay, and bigger bonus. Easy hours.
45 attorney NYC boutique, general practice. 1800 hours last year (on track with expectations). $10K bonus (maximum awarded this year; min was $2500), plus 16% raise. Total comp about 3/5 of biglaw for my class year. Home every night by 7:30. I'm satisfied.
"If you're asking about the bonus, you probably aren't patient enough to try to realize the benefits of the small firm and need the prestige of a pay-check."
Personally, I just need the pay of a paycheck; they keep the "prestige."
Also--what's the difference between a "botique," and a run of the mill small firm?
When poors like Liberated get self-righteous, its incredibly cute. That's why I hand out $20s to the poors during the holiday season. They're adorable when they bathe.
Boutique - specialty areas
Small firm - many areas, just smaller clients than big firms
Because my firm (like many non-BigLaw firms) doesn't announce and doesn't have a detailed salary/bonus structure, I'll have to wait before reporting on my bonus/raise.
If I'm guessing, as a third-year, I'll get $140k salary + $25k bonus at my mid-sized Houston-based firm for 2300 *billed* hours.
1:51 - not much difference and I am sure people use them interchangeably, but I think a botique usually encompasses a niche practice area and a small firm is either full-serivce or close to it or at least broader practice area. For example, there are white-collar botiques, IP litigation botiques, IP prosecution, Environmental botiques. Even something like Bartlett Beck in Chicago is called a Litigation botique.
Kevin Marino -- Chatham, NJ -- White Collar Boutique (3-5 attys) -- Large Bonus (i.e, $50k), no life outside of work
Liberated, I'll give you $10 to cut my grass.
It's not that I'm seduced by a big law paycheck - It's just that I need to do whatever I have to do to provide for my family. period.
A lot of people work for biglaw as opposed to small firms for the same reason that people choose the DOJ over the county sheriff's office. You'll work alongside some of the top minds in the profession and elevate your own expectations for yourself in the process. The money is secondary, though it's nice. For example, many lawyers would want to work for Williams & Connelly even though they reportedly pay no bonus at all.
Hey Lat, what about non-V20 firms paying market base?
Yeah, well when I'm partner at my small shop and control my own life and actually get to be in court, I'll give you a call if I need some doc review done. If you can take the time away from shining the partners' shoes.
when you're a partner at your own small shop I'll buy the building you lease space in just to burn it to the ground. when you relocate i'll buy the next one, for the simple life pleasure of watching a controlled implosion.
but i'll always be there to hand out $20 to the poors during the holidays so keep your chin up player.
who actually wants to go to court? there are so many poors there, and litigation is for suckers.
30 person general litigation firm in L.A. Got $2000 mid-year bonus as a 1st year, so I assume my Christmas bonus will be around 6k. Getting in a 9 and being home by 6 p.m. every day is the daily bonus.
Does anyone have bonus info for smaller, more selective west coast firms like Keker, Farella, Howard Rice, Munger, Irell, etc? What about Plaintiff side? Susman, Lieff??
2:45--Irell is hardly smallaw.
2:41--drink much koolaid? Guess you're a transactional lawyer. Find and Replace is a really great function in Word, isn't it?
2:08--at least I have time to cut grass. And see my family. And my friends. And not watch my relationships implode because my free time is subject to the whim of a partner.
40 attorney IP boutique in DC. $160k base + 1/3 of billables over 1900 hours.
I work at a 40-50 person law firm in Ducane, Missouri and I get a hot sandwhich for every month I bill over 250 hours. Its not much but its good!
kool aid, while delicious, is a drink for poors.
12:18-
Lay off. The FIRST posts are better than your rants and incessant use of the word "slag".
I'm really not trying to start something with you. Instead, I'm asking that you turn it down a notch, and if you can't, then please leave this thread to prevent it from resembling autoadmit.
This guy who refers to "the poors" is hilarious.
Any others on IP boutiques? Darby, Fish, etc?
"A lot of people work for biglaw as opposed to small firms for the same reason that people choose the DOJ over the county sheriff's office. You'll work alongside some of the top minds in the profession and elevate your own expectations for yourself in the process. The money is secondary, though it's nice. For example, many lawyers would want to work for Williams & Connelly even though they reportedly pay no bonus at all."
The money is secondary? Yeah, right. I dont know of anyone at my firm who would be here if it werent for the money. Or anyone I know at ANY other firm.
im with 3:45, biglaw is ALL about the money.
Those of you who say biglaw is ALL about the money. Are you in litigation or corporate? Are you claiming that your job is miserable in every single way except for the money? You don't get great intellectual enjoyment out of your job?
When I was a 1st year at a 60 person firm in Indiana doing insurance defense (in 1998), ALL associates, years 1-7, got... $250 cash! EVERY YEAR! I've moved on, thank God!
I get intellectual enjoyment by making hilarious statements about the poors, and developing novel interpretations of Camus' theory of the absurd over a bottle of 78 Lafitte.
If you get intellectual enjoyment out of structuring carried interest or filing motions on behalf of investment banks you should catch a staph infection. Its a fucking job not a calling.
On the other hand, doing yay off of and resting your tumbler of Suntory Yamazaki on, the taut backsides of 22 year olds naive enough to believe a job at biglaw and connections to the maitre de at Daniel makes you desireable is satisfying in its own shallow yet extremely awesome way. That is a pleasure the poors will never know.
For NYC City Lawyers, bonus is free lunch (i.e. crappy wraps with generic-brand potato chips).
2:45 -- those firms don't really fit together.
I don't think I'd ever put Farella in the "more selective" category with Keker and Munger.
Howard Rice is a maybe. Granted, they do have a big thing for clerks, including two USSC clerks. But their non-clerk associates don't seem to be much more elite than any other firm. They're not bad, just not uber selective. They're a good looking bunch though.
Sussman supposedly pays insane bonuses, but it's plaintiff's side work, so the comp structure is different. You have to be contributing to the business early on to get the top rewards. If you can hustle, you might make a killing there.
4:16 wins. No one else needs to post anything. Thanks.
to anon. at 4:16
the possessive of Camus takes both an apostrophe and an "S," not just an apostrophe.
you're obviously not the real genius who's been ragging on poors and that sucker "Liberated from BigLaw."
imitating anonymous thread-posters. get a life you pathetic sh!t.
4:27--Those are the smaller (read: fewer than 250 atty) firms that recruit at my T3 school and have offices on the West Coast. That is how they fit together. Does anyone have any hard info on what bonuses are for those firms?
I'm with 3:45 too. I don't know anyone who'd endure the misery of biglaw for the money, unless they're just self-important jerks who get off on the supposed prestige. But then, we get a lot of them commenting on here.
4:40 - one of the poors who has seen to many episodes of Scooby Doo. Yoinks!
2:45 -- They are all smaller firms with west coast offices, and for all I know they may recruit at your school. But they aren't all "more selective," which is how you grouped them, and the part of your question with which I took issue. They're all pretty different places.
Unfortunately, I don't have useful bonus information, as I'd like to know it too.
Brief-writing is an art. Litigation is an art. Some people genuinely love the challenge, whether it's pro bono civil rights stuff or big ticket litigation. To some, it IS a calling.
Hey BigLaw... it's 5 pm. I'm going home.
$2k bonus, 20 yr. govt. lawyer, senior policy advisor/manager in a fed. agency, in an office w/ ~400 employees in 40 locations.
And with 4 days of use-or-lose leave, compressed work week and official holidays I'll be off from 12/21/07-1/3/08.
40-50 lawyer IP boutique in TX. Discretionary bonus was 10k this year as a second year associate. Last year got a 6k discretionary bonus. Worked over 1900 billables this year.
4:27 - you're wrong about the different comp structure at Susman. It's the basic salary plus bonus you find everywhere else. Except that the bonus is huge and the partnership track is about 5 years. Partners make a killing, even junior partners (who can easily make over 500K).
It's not the typical plaintiffs firm.
Yes, I do wish I worked there.
Hey "sad that so many don't love their work":
You write that brief writing and litigation are an art. I don't disagree. But at a biglaw sweatshop, where's the time to actively enjoy it? There's always deadlines and pressure and when it's 1am, there's no love in writing a brief, no matter how interesting the subject.
DC boutique - 1850 hours/year, no bonus, but same base pay as NY and partnership after 5 years (and the equity is VERY good).
Riker Danzig in NJ -- 150 lawyers; $6,000, but only if you bill 2100 hours. Cheap bastards.
5:24 Smallaw--- there are always deadlines with brief writing, whether in biglaw or small. Please notify your carrier if you disagree...
On another note, 315+ mid-size SE firm, 7.5% of base bonus at 2000 hours, and additional 7.5% of base for each 100 hours billed on top of 2000, with no cap. Additionally, there are yearly merit bonuses that cap out at $10k, and are purely discretionary.
7:37- Is that a Charlotte firm? If so, care to say which one?
6:25 -- How good is VERY good? Do mid level partners take home a few million? What does at first-year partner make? I'm just curious.
6:25--Firm?
What's up with Riker? 2100 hours?? In NJ??? And for a lousy $6K?? Are all NJ firms that cheap?
7:56
No, VA based.
@ 8:36
McCarter pays 10/15k bonuses based on hours for newer associates and up to 30k bonuses for upper level associates
Only 3k a year raises however - talk about compression
anyone know about midsize NY firms - otterbourg steindler, olshan grundman, anderson kill & olick?
We've recently been dealing with the difficulty of convincing our partners they are paying us below market b/c we can't provide data on what firms our size pay (mid-size litigation - CA), so this post could be helpful (if biglaw assoc would stay out of it). We won't know our bonuses for a couple wks, but I'll post then.
Fairfield County, Connecticut firm. When I was there, it was one partner, three associates, two paralegals, and no bonus. The partner should be cockpunched.
Anyone who thinks the plural of "bonus" is "bonii" is a bonehead.
8-lawyer securites lit firm on wall street; base $80K, no bonus, but a $1500 christmas gift; hours 9 am - 6 pm, usually 30 to 60 minute lunch.
45 Attorney general lit/med mal defense firm - NO BONUS. Not even a gift card.
working for 4 years for 2-man firm as associate (and only attorney who goes to court) and bonus was measly $400
200+ attorney SE firm. Bonuses are discretionary and determined based upon a formula that the partners don't fully disclose but is not tied to hours.
Fox Rothschild (appx. 375 attorneys) doesn't give a year end bonus. I don't know how they expect to hang with the bigger boys with that policy. Sadly, this is true of most NJ firms.