Associate Bonus Watch: Quinn Emanuel (2014)

Quinn Emanuel associates express differing views about the firm's bonuses this year.

When it comes to bonuses, bounty may be in the eye of the beholder. Most of the Kirkland & Ellis sources we heard from were happy about the K&E bonuses, but after we published our post, we heard from some dissatisfied non-share partners (see the multiple updates).

This theme of disagreement brings us to the bonuses just announced this afternoon by Quinn Emanuel, the obscenely profitable litigation powerhouse led by the legendary John Quinn. We’ll start with the facts:

Comparing this to the Davis Polk scale, you need to hit 2100 hours to get a DPW bonus. Hitting 2400 gets you a few thousand dollars more, exact amount varying with seniority. Significant extra money doesn’t really kick in until the 2700-hour mark.

Reactions from our QE sources varied (which was the case last year too). Some were happy:

  • “Quinn finally announced! (They usually announce on the Thursday before Christmas.) Very happy.”
  • “Holy benevolence! Quinn bonuses were just announced. And boy did Christmas come early!”

Some were not:

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  • “The QE bonus scale is out, and it is a disappointment for high billers. People billing over 3000 hours get a wee more than someone billing 2100 hours. In addition, the cut-offs appear to be hard-and-fast rules. If you bill 2099, you get half as much as if you billed just a single additional hour (2100).”

UPDATE (12/22/2014, 5:00 p.m.): Good news: “They paid the bonuses out today [Monday] — Friday was just the notice — and they actually did round up people who were close to a cut-off. I was [just a few] hours from a cut-off. So that was a welcome surprise for me!”

Some fell in between:

  • “[M]ixed reactions, especially in the 2000-2099 bonus tier.”
  • “Seems fair (although I wouldn’t want to be a high biller). The firm has the financial strength to further beat the DPW scale, but doing so would probably hurt ability to poach top partner candidates from other firms.”

Which Quinn has been doing quite avidly as it opens outposts around the world. Let’s hope that it is expanding prudently, aware of the cautionary tales of Dewey & LeBoeuf and Bingham McCutchen.

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At least Quinn isn’t being irresponsible about associate compensation. In my view, QE compensates reasonably but not generously. This makes sense; people don’t go to Quinn just for the money. They go there for the responsibility, the training, the reputation, and the opportunity to grow into great litigators. And at the end of the day, that’s worth a whole lot more than a few extra grand here or there.

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: Quinn Emanuel (2013)


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