Associate Bonus Watch: Winston & Strawn (DC)
(And a request for info about that Monday morning meeting)
We previously reported on bonuses in the New York office of Winston & Strawn. Now it’s Washington’s turn:
Winston & Strawn’s DC associates recently received their bonuses. Associates received individualized bonus memos, so there is nothing that can be posted (this has been firm policy for years).Bonuses were up significantly over previous years, and every associate seemed to be very happy with what they received. The general feeling is that the firm stepped up to the plate and is committed to paying market bonuses.
We do have one data point to pass along. One source (whose class year we won’t reveal) received a bonus that was higher than the NYC market year-end bonus, but lower than the NYC market-plus-special bonus, for someone of their seniority. Pretty good (although this person did bill north of 2400 hours).
Speaking of Winston & Strawn in D.C., we hear that a very interesting meeting took place on Monday morning, concerning controversial remarks made by managing partner Tom Mills to the Wall Street Journal. We’re working on a post. If you can enlighten us about what transpired, please drop us a line. Thanks.
(16) Comments
Comments
What firms in D.C. are comparable to Winston Strawn (if that makes any sense)? Meaning, what DC firms are likely to look at Winston and say "ok, that's what we should do."
What about Winston Chicago?
but what about POWELL GOLDSTEIN?
Chi wasn't anywhere close to market.
Jeans?
Powell Goldstein's bonus = additional 12 weeks of unemployment benefits (provided that Senate's stimulus package passes) That place is a sinking ship.
Winston-Chi was the same as Winston-DC.
re: POWELL GOLDSTEIN, hasn't the rumor been that the place has been sinking for the past 20 years? is this year it's final hurrah?
as george costanza said in the Andrea Doria, "It eased into the water like an old man into a nice warm bath."
I heard that PG was "merging" with Womble. Isn't Womble about the last firm in the Southeast that hasn't attempted to merge with PG? I know at least McGuire called off the merger they had a few years ago.
last i heard that merger died b/c Pogo walked away. apparently they felt womble was taking too long to shit or get off the pot.
but maybe they moved slow b/c they didn't want to pick up the dead weight of Pogo.
Winston's bonuses were not near market, at least for California. My bonus was lower than the NYC market normal bonus with 0 special bonus. In bonus, I made half what a NYC Winston associate made. Needless to say, it is time to jump ship.
I agree that the bonuses this year were better than previous, but they still pale in comparison to comparable firms. I do not know who gave you this information, Lat, but unless you receive a Compensation Memorandum, I would doubt this actually happened.
I can also confirm that W&S bonuses were better than last year, but still lag the competition. I think people were surprised by the bonuses (in a good way) but mostly because their expectations were so low.
My bonus was identical to last year (where I billed 2400). Let's get some numbers out there because I don't buy this whole bonus being better than last year...
I worked about 100 hours less than I did last year and my bonus went up by more than 50%. I think that many people experienced a similar jump. Obviously, we still didn't get the NY market. But I think the gap between Winston and non-NY firms has been reduced significantly.
Not only didn't we get the NYC market, we didn't get the California market. My bonus is less than notoriously low paying California-based firms.
If people are happy because Winston went from absolutely insulting to a little less than market, then great. For me, Winston proved it does not want to be a main market player (except outside of NY apparently) by growing the firm from the inside.
chicago went up significantly, and mine was pretty close to if not at market, although it's tough to say for other people as each memo is personal and no grid is distributed. 2005 @ 2300 hrs (incl. pro bono & credited firm hours) = $45,000. Much better than last year.