Associate Bonus Watch: Yet Another Firm Offers Up 'Insulting,' Below-Market Bonuses

This firm apparently decided to willfully ignore market trends and stick with the Simpson Thacher scale that was effectively done away with months ago.

Hot on the heels of bonuses that made Arnold & Porter’s associates livid, another firm decided to step up to the plate with subpar, below-market bonuses.

If you recall, it was on November 21 that Simpson Thacher kicked off the 2014 Biglaw bonus season, and many firms were quick to fall in line. Less than one week later, in an exciting turn of events, Davis Polk swooped in and beat the Simpson scale, prompting the firms that previously matched the Simpson scale to true-up their associates with DPW-level bonuses.

The firm we’re writing about today, however, has apparently decided to willfully ignore market trends and stick with the Simpson Thacher scale that was effectively done away with months ago. Which firm could be doing such a thing?

It seems that Kasowitz Benson is denying the superior legal minds at the firm the full DPW treatment this year — but that’s not even the worst part. In the firm’s bonus memo, managing partner Marc Kasowitz refers to the STB bonuses as “benchmark amounts,” and notes that associates may receive “up to” those numbers. Not only is KBTF offering its New York associates below-market bonuses, but associates may not even receive the full amount of these now substandard bonuses.

As a reminder, this is the difference between the STB and DPW bonus scale:

Midlevel associates at Kasowitz will not only be getting screwed out of $5-10K, but it could be even worse than that, since their bonuses are “subject to adjustment to reflect individual performance and hours worked.” Here’s what a tipster had to say about the firm’s rather unsatisfactory 2014 bonuses:

We find out what we get individually next week, but almost no one that I’ve spoken to is expecting the full bonus. This makes everyone wonder why we wouldn’t go “up to” actual market if they’re going to be adjusted downward anyway.

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For the record, the firm sent out this bonus announcement on December 30, 2014, and based on the tips from frustrated associates we’ve received, Kasowitz Benson still hasn’t reevaluated its inferior bonus scale. No pressure, but maybe now it will.

If you have more intel for us, we’d love to hear it. Please be sure to email us or text us (646-820-8477). Our condolences to Kasowitz Benson’s unhappy associates.

(Flip to the next page to see Kasowitz Benson anger-inducing bonus memo in full.)

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