This kind of thing is why Heller is probably still a great option.

A little off-topic, but has everybody noticed the "Paid for by John McCain" ads all over this website?

LESS HELLER EHRMAN MORE DECHERT!

I have a paid for by "Mesothelioma Attorneys"... ATL must be Plaintiff Lawyer troll!!!

Way to go, Heller. And we thought you were a punk like MoFo.

That's pretty impressive. More firms need to do that.

at Heller you still appear to only get a $15,000 bonus at 2000 hours. At Latham, Gibson, OMM, etc., you get a $30,000-$35,000 bonus for only 1900 hours. Orrick's bonus still blows Heller's out of the water.

So remind me, what are Heller associates so happy about?

Heller: toilet, or biggest toilet?

Wow. A firm that treats their junior associates as valued assets instead of fungible billing units. I am impressed.

Congrats on the new 1600 billable requirement. I think i need to make a move to Heller ASAP

3:35 said "ONLY $15,000" like that's 5 bucks. Must be nice to be wherever you're from.

What do you need to do to get the "enhanced bonuse"???

That's awesome. Way to go Heller.

I interviewed with them as a 2L, and they seemed great. I may consider applying there now...

3:53:

Regardless of whether it's $15,000 or $150,000, if the associates down the street are making twice as much for doing the exact same work, I would not be happy.

if i billed 2400 hours and made the same amount as someone who billed 2000 hours, i would not be happy. at least heller's compensation structure addresses that problem.

Management deserves some positive press for addressing this, especially the new 1st year requirement and the retroactive bonuses. It doesn't completely erase the way this was handled last year, but it helps (a lot).

Heller is now roughly on par with MoFo for overall comp., which has always been the understood, if unstated, general goal.

Management deserves some positive press for addressing this, especially the new 1st year requirement and the retroactive bonuses. It doesn't completely erase the way this was handled last year, but it helps (a lot).

Heller is now roughly on par with MoFo for overall comp., which has always been the understood, if unstated, general goal.

when is paul hastings reporting its bonus structure?

This is great news from Heller!

And you can't compare $15k to $30k because Heller spreads out their bonus at various hours levels (like MoFo) rather than pay a lump sum (like most other firms).

Do you really think anyone at Latham, Gibson, OMM, etc. is billing 1900? Of course they're not. Instead, they're probably billing at least 2200. And at Heller, 2200 gets you at least $25k. Only a $5k difference.

Now, if only they would raise their clerkship bonus. Is it still at $20k?

I thought MoFo has paid NY market bonuses this year regardless of hours. Is this incorrect?

4:28: How is Heller "roughly on par with Mofo?"

At least in SF, MoFo's bonuses are hours based - just like Heller.

It might be different in NY.

4:35, that is entirely incorrect. MoFo may have paid NY market in their NY office, but paid basically exactly what Heller is now paying (all told) for all of their other offices. Search this blog for 5 minutes and you'll find all the info.

There's been a lot of criticism of Heller over the last few months -- some deserved, some not so deserved.

With big law firms, you really have to pick your poison. Many of the firms discussed on this board have their particular faults -- they will grind young associates (and mid-level associates, and senior associates) into the ground.

Heller's poison is twofold -- it is slow to do what all of the other firms do, and it sometimes (especially with compensation) doesn't get all the way there. And many commenters on this site have critiqued the firm for that.

But I think that if you look a little more closely, there's more that can be taken out of the firm's course of conduct. Heller still fundamentally thinks of itself as an organization of *professionals* rather than as a big business.

The reason things take forever is that the firm takes the time to involve everyone in its decisions. It's a very consensus-driven environment. That has its flaws, undoubtedly. But it has strengths as well.

Ask any of the partners who are at the firm who could be elsewhere making more money (and there are quite a few of them) why they are still at Heller. They will tell you that it's because they couldn't imagine practicing elsewhere (and many of them have). They value the people they work with and the relationships that they have developed -- enough to forgo a measure of material compensation that they could easily acquire at another firm.

I like that.

I like the people I work with.

I like that the partners I work for look out for me in ways that sometimes impact on their free time, or compensation (admittedly, in minor ways), or whatever. I see examples of it all the time. It encourages me to do the same in my relations with my colleagues.

I like that the "layoffs" that were a huge deal a couple of summers ago were in fact the firm telling super-senior associates, many of whom had been informed a *year* or more before that they weren't going to make partner, that it was finally time for them to get new jobs. But only after an additional three months of looking for the next job. Because the firm didn't want to kick anyone out into the cold.

There aren't many firms out there which treat their associates as well as Heller does.

I was involved early and often in the compensation debate. My views have evolved. And I have concluded this:

Associates at Latham, Orrick, Skadden -- keep your $25,000 a year, or whatever. I'd rather work at a firm that really cares about developing me and my colleagues as lawyers, and shows it on both the macro and micro scales.

And demonstrates it by taking steps like the 300 hours of development credit.

Is that a perfect or complete solution? No -- for example, I would like to see it extend to second, third, maybe even fourth years.

Is it a step in the right direction? Yes.

Is it a typically Heller move? Yes, it is. And I mean that in the best possible way.

Would I like more money? In a vacuum, I would. But I'd rather work at a place where I can honestly say (unlike many of my law school friends) that I don't dread coming into the office every day and I feel reasonably certain that I'll be treated fairly.

How many of you can say that you have that?

4:42: I meant NY. Apologies for not specifying that. So you're saying they're the same elsewhere but not in NY?

4:49, yes.

wow. lots of pro-heller people on here rather quickly. i suppose that's what happens when you have no work to do.

the memo says a 1st year who does 300 hours of career development only has to bill 1600. what happens to the 1st year who does 250 hours of career development? does she still have to bill 1900? then another 300 in non-billable. this could turn out to be like Heller's non-raise raise.

Heller is what it is.... a second tier firm. A good move, but lets not pretend it changes anything.

As 3:35 pointed out, Heller still lags well behind the leaders.

@5:49: the first year who does 250 hours of career development would need to bill 1650. isn't that obvious?

5:52: umm...no, it's not obvious. especially when there are no phrases like, "...up to 300 hours...." there are 2 numbers mentioned - 300 and 1600. nothing in between and no language to allude to anything in between.

to read it like a lawyer: "Career Development Hours will be treated for all purposes as billable hours within our compensation structure."

So, by 6:17's logic someone who bills 301 hours would have to bill 1900 hours? Because only 300 gets you the 1600 requirement? Read it like it's meant to be read, and don't be a d-bag--up to 300 career development hours can be applied to the 1900 hour requirement.

Those trying to poke holes in this great new policy are clearly miserable souls stuck at miserable firms.

as i said, the impact of the policy is obvious. thank you, 6:25 and 6:26.

Anyone have any thoughts on what the "Staffing" paragraph means? Could it be a not so simple hint that more doc reviews will be farmed out, meaning less billables for younger associates?

6:40 -

OH NO!! Less doc review!!!??? How miserable that would be.

They're clearly trying to make it harder for junior associates to meet the minimum.

I heard that they already hire contract attorneys for most of it anyway.

As a Heller associate, found that the firm paid a lot of lip service to associate development, but that it was pretty uneven in that respect. Some associates who were affiliated with the right people from he get-go got great training while many others were left out in the cold. I'm sure this is no different than any other large firm, but the place really sells itself on training and, in my experience, didn't really deliver on that.

6:40, you are an idiot. Of course, the whole point of that paragraph is "we understand that doc review and other bullshit work sucks and does nothing for your career development, therefore we're going to outsource more of it." This is a good thing.

and then you become a second-year and shit hits the fan...

I think Paul Hastings distributes the bonus memo end of next week. They actually distribute bonuses on March 14.

I appreciate the forum Lat provides here, but I think it is ridiculous and bad precedent for a law firm to address ATL comments. Once you start responding to ATL, it is expected that a firm address any bad press it gets. If not, people start assuming it is true.

8:47: It sucks in the sense that Heller still has a minimum and doc review is a great way to get those make-up hours when business is slow for litigators.

8:02, you missed the part about how the minimum will be overlooked if an associate misses due to circumstances beyond his/her control (e.g., slow department). Personally, I would much rather miss a soft minimum and have tons of free time than waste what remains of my youth reviewing documents. Doc review doesn't help advance your legal career any more than going home early and taking bong hits does. Besides, with the new 1600 minimum for first years, this is kind of a moot point. If you're still putting any meaningful time into doc review after your first year, your career is already on the wrong trajectory.

Heller still expects more senior associates to bill 2300-2400 hours. This is stupid. 3rd year associates are the most likely to jump ship to life-style friendlier pastures, so firm management decides to overwork associates just as they reach that point in their careers.

Full credit for this retroactive raise goes to last week's tipster (and ATL for publishing).

2:34 - Why should someone be paid NY scale as a senior associate for working 1800 hours a year? Sign me up for that, please.

Someone has to pay the rent.

I think that pro bono hours continue to count toward the bonus levels. Can anyone confirm that?

I don't believe that any NY associate would find this to be good news. Heller is significantly below market in compensation in NY, even in comparison to Heller's competitor law firms from San Francisco. And if you think there is some intangible benefit an associate gets from the trade-off -- nicer partners, better lifestyle, etc... -- you are wrong. Heller associates have had less work in previous years,but only because business has been bad. The Heller associate who defended the firm above is intoxicated on the Kool Aid.

People who want to earn 3-5 times (to start) the median income should not bitch about having to work ~ 30% more. Or in the case of your med student counterparts, less hours.

Finding good working conditions in the field is an entirely different matter, but expecting $160 base compensation for a 40 hour week is insane. Let alone the guy who whined about senior associates having to actually bill out hours.

There are an awful lot of people working 12-hour days in manual labor jobs or working two customer service jobs who would trade an eye to sit in a fancy office and be paid many times more. Grow a bleeping work ethic already.

i hear wachtell lowered their hours requirement to 50. WOW what a lifestyle firm it must be so great working there.

hours requirements dont mean ANYTHING except at crappy firms, like mine.

"8:02, you missed the part about how the minimum will be overlooked if an associate misses due to circumstances beyond his/her control (e.g., slow department)."

Yeah, that's what I was told as a first-year and guess what? Hours still surfaced in everybody's reviews, regardless of which department they were in. There wasn't any immediate effect from the hours-related commentary, but it was there in black-and-white.

"Doc review doesn't help advance your legal career any more than going home early and taking bong hits does."

Well, doc review is great if you want to get a bonus and are just about there (again, a very common thing when I was there). I'm sure, though, that your devotion to your professional development preempts your wanting something as pedestrian as money.

As for your "tons of free time" - enjoy it. I know I didn't have any when I was there.

If you bill less than 1900 hours (the premise of your screed), you by definition have tons of free time. Q.E.D.

wait, so now we're still the number 1 lowest "national" firm in terms of bonus?

We're number 1! We're number 1!