christmas ham afaik

open bar at xmas party - 3000 billable hours for no particular benefit

we get shafted... IP boutique in nyc

1900 is the min to get a bonus
15% of billing rate from 1900-2100 hours
25% of billing rate from 2100-2300
33% of billing rate from 2300-2500

So essentially, if you work 2100 hours in a year, your 200 hours of bonus is paid at an hourly rate that is substantially less (15%) than your hourly rate for salary purposes. For salary, we get paid about a third of what the firm bills to the client (as is the general rule).

This provides very very little incentive to work extra hours.

By "IP boutique in nyc," who do you mean? It is always helpful to get specifics. I don't know of any NYC IP boutiques that have 1900 hours as a minimum, so I'm curious...

How about some of the better midsize Chicago shops, e.g. Schwartz Cooper, Quarles & Brady, etc.? Anyone know about their bonuses?

How about some discussion about attorneys working in non-traditional legal jobs? For instance, I work for a Big 4 accounting firm specifically in their M&A practice. While we do not technically practice law, we spend all of our time nose-deep in corporate tax law. Our clients are prestigious and our pay is competitive with large law firms. Show us some love.

1:10, nobody gives a rat's ass about you.

Gallion OUT!

Anyone know about Kasowitz Benson? I am going to summer there this year

Give it up Big 4 and stop cut and pasting the same post in every thread. No one cares about you.

wow... one meaningful post at 12:51

Carter Ledyard-$135,000

Any info on Boston firms?

How bout the bean counters go to www.wecouldntgetajobatbiglaw.com and post there, eh?

1:10/Big4, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I worked in Big4 and you are full of crap. NYU LLMs going into NYC specialty groups are lucky to start out north of 100k, and the raises after that suck. Hardly competitive with large law firms. If you want to shill for Big fine, talk about reduced hours/QOL, which is a lie in major market specialty groups that actually do good work. Also, Big4 M&A means doing due diligence, not "nose deep in corporate law" Tort that crap over to taxtalent.com where the LLM & MST students will believe your lies.

"Our clients are prestigious and our pay is competitive with large law firms"

big4 escapee -- Where are you working now? How long did you work at a big 4?

i worked in big4 longer than i should have

i am now clerking

Carter Ledyard's offices smell like urine in my personal opinion

Gallion = DOUCHE BAG

Try not to be so abrasive.

a lot of chicago shops that fit into that 75-200 are at $160k:

bell boyd
chapman and cutler
vedder price

to name a few. i think most of them are, though there may be a few stragglers.

An earlier comment:

Big 4 compensation is definitely not on par with the larger law firms, unless you go to work at the DC national office doing pure tax research. I've seen graduates of some law schools receive offers for 50k in non-major markets, and 70k for NYC/LA, compared to 160k in NYC/LA. And, do you really want to wear cheesy golf shirts to work for the rest of your career?

How about McCarter English? I couldn't muster the courage to ask at interviews.

125

Any word on Kenyon bonuses? Haven't heard anything yet, though they DID just send out the resume pack for the 2008 summer class. 100% tech this time -- and more PhD's than you can shake a stick at.

this is one of the biggest failures in recent posting history, just take the thread down now and pretend it never existed.

"a lot of chicago shops that fit into that 75-200 are at $160k . . . i think most of them are"

Ummm . . . no.

i *know* the three i mentioned (bbl, chapman, and vedder) are at $160k.

i couldn't imagine too many other midsize firms being different.

that said, my conception of midsize is like 150-300 or so, i think lat is including small firms.

I hear Texas firms are matching (or close) the NY special bonuses in their NY offices. Anyone have info on V&E, Fulbright, A&K, Hayboo, or Baker Botts?

1:16 -- you might want to re-think that

This is very interesting. I remember these firms at OCI at school years ago and do not remember any difference in starting salaries.

My, how times have changed.

i work at lieff cabraser and I get 130/13 next year's salary/year end bonus

BBL gave out zero merit bonuses to all but five associates this year.

"How about McCarter English? I couldn't muster the courage to ask at interviews."

135k for first years, 10-15k bonus based on billables. 3k bumps between classes the first couple of years.

A slew of TX firms went to $160K and some haven't relased bonus numbers yet. The base comp at TX regional firms is the same as NY (160K), but the bonuses really separate the men from the boys.

1:30, Yeah, I think the standard in TX is something like zero stub bonus / $5k first year bonus ... But when you factor in no state income tax and much lower COL, they're probably not crying in their Shiner Bocks.

Any word on Gunderson Dettmer in SV?

4:17 -- Why??

Pryor Cashman new bonus structure as of April '07

above 1850 hours bonus equals 5-10 %of salary (discretionary)
above 2000 hours bonus is discretionary above 10% of salary

Miles & Stockbridge in B-more?

Any info on salary & bonus at LA entertainment & media law firms?

Loeb & Loeb
Greenberg Traurig
Liner Yankelevitz
White O'Connor
Greenberg Glusker
Davis Wright Tremaine
Lavely & Singer

What about Curtis Mallet?

re: lieff - what year are you?

re: lieff -- I am a 3rd year.