We’ve received over 900 responses so far to Monday’s ATL / Lateral Link survey on bonuses, which is still open here.

Although ATL had predicted that bonus announcements may come later this year, McDermott Will & Emery actually announced the “December Bonus Advance” portion of their bonus plan mere hours after our survey went live, quickly proving a portion of us wrong, and rendering a portion of their associates reassured.

Overall, most respondents expect that their firms will pay bonuses on roughly the same schedule as they did for 2007:

Results: When Did, Or Will, Your Firm Pay Bonuses?

The results above only include responses from people who were at firms last year, are still at firms now, and can actually remember that sweet, sweet day when their bonuses were paid for 2007. While the overwhelming majority of these respondents received a bonus last year, and expect at least the timing of bonuses to remain the same for 2008, a meaningful number are definitely concerned: roughly one in thirteen of these respondents either aren’t sure about when their firms will be paying bonuses or, worse yet, don’t think their firms will pay bonuses at all for 2008.

Find out which firms paid when last year, and see some preliminary results on whether your peers would trade their bonuses for better job security, after the jump.

As shown above, the overwhelming majority of respondents said that their firms pay bonuses in December or January.

But associates at the following firms said they didn’t receive their 2007 bonuses until a bit later:

February 2008
Cahill Gordon
DLA Piper
Goodwin Procter
Kramer Levin

March 2008
Kaye Scholer
McDermott Will & Emery
Seyfarth Shaw

April 2008
Paul Hastings
Reed Smith

Note that in some cases, like McDermott, bonuses were paid in two stages, so the later date is reported above. In other cases, respondents gave varying dates so, again, the latest date is what’s reported above.

But timing aside, what about the numbers?

Asked whether (and how much) associates would be willing to cut their bonuses in exchange for fewer layoffs, some respondents’ comments weren’t quite as warm and fuzzy as the photo above. As one reader put it:

Don’t care about layoffs, and so wouldn’t sacrifice a nickel in bonus to avoid them. Layoffs, if any at my firm, won’t reach my class (2004). If they do, they won’t reach my practice area (litigation). If they do, they won’t reach me.

Actual survey responses included write-in gems like these:

lay off the lazy a-holes. I billed 3000 this year.

Would prefer higher bonus with layoffs

This depends on whether I would be the one getting laid off.

But after these responses came in we got some painful reminders of one reader’s prediction:

This year’s bonus in biglaw: you’re not fired. Let’s hope most of us can get it.

So, before we tell you whether the comments above are typical, we’re going to leave the survey open here to see how people respond now that White & Case has ushered the Vault 20 into layoff season. Will late responders be more likely to throw their peers some support, or will they toss them overboard? If you haven’t already taken the survey, click here to chip in your two cents — which may be higher than that bonus in January.

Stay tuned for more results on Monday.

—
Justin Bernold is a Director at Lateral Link, the sponsor of this Associate Life Survey.