Morgan Lewis Move to Merit Based Bonuses
For FY 2009
Back in October, we reported that Morgan Lewis & Bockius was one of the first firms to say anything about associate bonuses. The firm said it wasn’t going to make a decision about associate bonuses until sometime in January of 2009, but at least they said something.
Notably, at the time the firm also reported:
As in past years, base compensation adjustments will continue to be effective as of January 1 and will be reflected in your January paycheck.
We now know that the announcement was a much bigger deal than it seemed at the time.
Morgan Lewis has still not announced what they plan to do with 2008 bonuses, but the firm has announced that 2009 bonuses decisions will be made on a different basis. Instead of a 2000 hour requirement in effect for 2008, in 2009 associates will not be required to reach 2000 hours.
But on the other hand, hitting 2000 hours will no longer “guarantee” a full bonus.
Read the firm’s specific wording after the jump.
A spokesperson for Morgan Lewis confirmed that the new policy will not affect 2008 bonuses:
Effective with the 2009 fiscal year, which started October 1, 2008, we have decided to eliminate any hard-and-fast requirement that an associate bill 2,000 hours to get a bonus. In deciding on bonuses, we will look at the entire picture of an associate’s contribution, including level of engagement, efficiency and value in serving clients, excellence, results achieved, contribution to our culture, participation in our programs, and other factors. We still expect that an associate meeting our expectations will be sufficiently engaged that he or she will have 2,000 billable hours annually (including pro bono hours), and we will give substantial weight to the level of engagement in awarding bonuses. However, having at least or fewer than that number of billable hours in any fiscal year will neither guarantee nor preclude a bonus.
Good? Bad? Fair? “You’ve beaten my giant, which means you’re exceptionally strong, so you could’ve put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you’ve also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”
Hopefully, the economy is slowly building up a resistance to iocane powder.
Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: Morgan Lewis Pushes Back Bonus Decisions
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Comments
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FIRST!
first
Suck it, 2.
-1
First to ask for a Mekka Don update!
FOURTH!
Kasowitz-lite. What's up with Cahill?????????
The Princess Bride quote was a nice touch.
The Jews just bombed Mekka Don.
Please view this CBS news video to see the true nature of Jews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev6ojm62qwA
"The idea, he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the Vice President. That’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that. "
I, for one, welcome our new merit-based bonus overlords.
thanks for the princess bride reference. quite appropriate.
Bring on the performance based bonuses and layoffs. I'm tired of subsidizing the low performers in the group.
love the princess bride reference. unlike the economy, i've already successfully built up my resistance to iocane powder.love the princess bride reference. unlike the economy, i've already successfully built up my resistance to iocane powder.
love the princess bride reference. unlike the economy, i've already successfully built up my resistance to iocane powder.
9 - If they started firing rockets at California from Tiajuana, you would learn the "True Nature of Americans" pretty damn quickly.
And Tiajuana would start to look even more shitty, if that is possible.
I miss Andre the Giant.
wow 14/15 didn't just double post ... he/she double posted in a single post. impressive
Whats funny is i bet %90 of associates think they are at least top-half performers, if not star performers.
Scenario
Two Rooms each having one adult and one child. Each adult is given a gun. In one of the rooms, a Hamas member is the adult and the child is a jew. In the other room, a Jew is the adult and a palestinian is the child. Honestly, which child would be killed?
that is the true nature of this conflict.
now, onto above the law.
16 - it is Tijuana.
merit based = bonuses for the suck ups and $0 for the folks actually doing the work.
# 9 is disgusting, and # 16 doesn’t seem to get it. The “Jews” are not doing anything. This is the action of a country. When America acts we don’t say “look what the evangelicals have done!”
#9 should have the balls to give me his home address.
# 9 is disgusting, and # 16 doesn’t seem to get it. The “Jews” are not doing anything. This is the action of a country. When America acts we don’t say “look what the evangelicals have done!”
#9 should have the balls to give me his home address.
20 = racist.
22 nailed it. The problem with merit based bonuses is that suck ups always get theirs first even before those doing the work. This is what happens in other industries where merit based bonuses are the norm. Ideally, a significant component of the "merit" will be billable hours.
22, are you the same guy in law school who complained that people who got high grades (merit-based evaluations, if you will) were suckups and did not deserve them, and that the people with low grades were the hard workers?
26, 27 - I have to agree that "suckups" do indeed get the best of most things as associates, as elsewhere in life. Hard work is good, good relationships are better.
Though sometimes a "suckup" is just someone who is better friends with senior people that you are, and isn't really doing anything WRONG. Fair or not these people do well, a recurring theme in life.
25 - 20 is correct. 20 did not say "Arab" or "Muslim" he said "Hamas member" "Arab" would have been racist.
Hamas is a batshit religous group who welcomes martyrdom and all that crap, which is a lot of the problem. Dead Palestinian civilians probably suit their cause just fine.
11-Nice Kent Brokman reference.
11-Nice Kent Brokman reference.
20 here:
I did not say Arab because, as 29 put it, that would have been racist, and in most instances, quite frankly wrong.
29 - even the "religious group" part is a pile of crap. The "religion" component of their identity is complete hypocrisy, and a perfectly calculated strategy for garnering sympathy for themselves and hatred against Israel and its supporters.
Just for the record, I am not aware of any MLB associates currently engaged in armed combat in Gaza, despite the nature of this discussion.
Hamas to 120!
35- if by "120" you mean Hell, then yes.
Any info on MLB's Princeton office: layoffs, new hires, bonuses, steady work flow (specifically regarding Lit)?
8 and 9 -- First isn't this a legal tabloid site? Why are you talking about the conflict in the middle east? Based on your moronic comments, it is clear that you hate jews and are ignorant or refuse to accept what is really happening. Hamas is fully responsible for the violence in gaza. Even the Egyptians who clearly have no bias in favor of Israel state this openly. Hamas fires thousands of missles at Israel and when Israel finally defends itself you blame Jews. Get a clue idiot!
38- 8 and 9 are doing exactly what Hamas is doing, that is, blindly sending out a shot then hoping for a response so they can claim victim status. Unfortunately, we took the bait.
29 - 29 - You are 100% correct - dead civilians do suit their cause. If Hamas gave a crap about their own people they wouldn't hide among civilians and fire weapons out of schools/ hospitals, etc.
Sh*t - I have been baited and hooked into this conversation....
(changing the subject)
"MLB RULES! Smart moves! Forward looking@!"
"No way! Super TTT! Rush to the door! "
"I bang this hot MLB 4th year every Tuesday at lunch..."
etc etc
Why are we talking about MLB? Pitchers and catchers do not report until second week of February.
Morgan Lewis Move?! A firm move??!! AAARRRRGGGHHH!!! When will the brain-bleed at ATL end? Typos kill the part of me that still finds self-worth in precise writing.
This system is great. It allows the firm the flexibility to give bigger bonuses to people who bill less than 2000 hours, by being in trial or writing substantive motions; the people who billed 2000 by doing 1250 hours of "doc review" from home, 500 hours of pro bono and 250 hours of paralegal-type work won't automatically be getting the same. And, if you refuse to drink the Kool-Aid (or least refuse to pretend to), you can get less too. They seem to want to keep people here who work hard and want to make partner someday.
By the way, this wasn't true for all offices. After this e-mail went out, about an hour later another e-mail went out to offices (like those in Pennsylvania and Texas, I think) who are on a two-tier bonus structure. The second e-mail said to basically ignore the first one -- that if you want your bonus, you still have to hit 2,000 hours. No one knows what is going on with that. Waiting for reviews to happen for some clairification.
42: open your eyes! the pitchers and the catchers are all around all year round.