Associate Bonus Watch: O'Melveny Highlights Difficulties for West Coast Firms

Tipsters report that O’Melveny & Myers has announced its bonuses. Tipsters are underwhelmed. Tipsters in California are starting to ask: “What about our spring bonuses?”

As we mentioned last night, spring bonuses are sweeping the nation. We’re actually working on a spring bonus update (pending confirmation of a few things). If you have information and memos about your firm’s spring bonuses, please send them to tips@abovethelaw.com.

We’re starting to worry that California might be left out in the cold. Last week, Morrison & Foerster announced it was still “monitoring” the New York market. Today we have news that O’Melveny is doing the same.

Guys, read Above the Law. The major New York dominoes have fallen. California associates read Above the Law, and they’re waiting for you to get with the program…

The O’Melveny bonus announcement is fair enough. Here’s the scale (note that the “median” bonus means that some people were paid a lot less):

Median, High
2009 – $10,000, $19,000
2008 – $14,000, $24,000
2007 – $22,000, $36,000
2006 – $30,000, $60,000
2005 – $37,000, $65,000
2004 – $42,000, $65,000
2003 – $50,000, $65,000
2002 – $51,000, $75,000

Sponsored

A tipster tells us that these numbers only reflect the bonuses of people who “received” a bonus. So some OMM associates received nothing at all — and their goose eggs aren’t reflected in these stats. We have no idea how many people received the “high” bonus numbers — or how many soul-shattering hours those people had to bill to get that cash.

But again, these are the “regular” bonuses, not “spring” bonuses. O’Melveny says that it is still watching the New York firms, but hasn’t made a decision on spring bonuses.

I’m not sure what California is waiting for. Spring bonuses are the it thing this year. Maybe California firms are trying to be fashionably late, but they’re starting to look like the people who are missing the party.

Earlier: Spring Bonus Mania: Freshfields, Cadwalader…. Where Will It End? Could Your Firm Be Next?

Sponsored


Bonus Time

Enter your email address to sign up for ATL's Bonus & Salary Increase Alerts.