BONUS NEWS: First Firm Announces Bonuses

Get ready for the 2015 Bonus Season!

UPDATE: 10/16/2015 4:45 p.m.It turns out this memo — about “2015 Associate Bonus Structure” was really their memo about 2014 bonuses labeled 2015 because they didn’t pay them until March of this year. And that’s kind of a problem as we explain here.

Normally we have to wait until late November to get our first bonus news, but one firm has gone ahead and put up its associate bonus schedule. Who do you think it is? It’s not traditional bonus announcement frontrunner Cravath, nor is it last year’s market-driver Davis Polk. Who could it be?

It’s Sheppard Mullin and the bonuses are out for associates working in all U.S. offices.

The full bonus memo is available here, but basically the firm opted to hand out the exact same bonuses it gave out last year — or at least the same bonuses it gave out last year after associates pointed out that their initial announcement fell well below market.

And perhaps we should pump the brakes on calling this an “announcement.” The firm has not, as of this writing, actually informed its associates of the bonuses, it just put up the memo on the firm intranet — a notorious Sheppard Mullin practice (we hear that’s how they’ve “announced” all manner of firm policy changes). But the firm had pledged to hold out on announcing bonuses until the rest of the market moved. Have they changed their minds — maybe put out some hourly targets in the hopes of lighting a few fires — or is this a case of a boneheaded mistake publishing a memo in progress? We’ll find out in time, but for now, let’s find out what Sheppard Mullin associates are (probably) making this year.

Sheppard Mullin breaks down its bonuses by “creditable hours,” with associates having to work 2200 hours to receive bonuses on the Davis Polk scale that set the market last year. Here’s the breakdown for 2200+ billers per the memo:

Class 2200+
2014-15 $15,000
2013 $25,000
2012 $50,000
2011 $65,000
2010 $80,000
2009 $90,000
2008 $100,000

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While things drop off a bit if an associate fails to reach the 2200-hour threshold, there is a higher schedule of bonuses for those who put in 2400+ that runs from $17,250-$115,000 (with vague promises of discretionary bonuses as well), which is nice.

So, other than the relatively high billables requirement, is there anything to wrong with these bonuses? Well, actually yeah. Remember when we said we’d find out “what Sheppard Mullin associates are (probably) making this year”? Let’s clarify the phrase “this year.” As our tipster points out, the firm has always screwed its associates when it comes to handing out the bonuses, but with this announcement added insult to the injury:

Even though they are announcing bonuses now, they are not paying them until MARCH. MARCH. The memo says first quarter, but we’ve been told March. Previously the rationale for March was so they could fully asses market bonuses. Now it just seems to be a way to screw us out of a bonus if we leave.

Yep, that’s what that sounds like.

Still we have the opening shots in this year’s Bonus Season. To all other associates out there, may the odds be ever in your favor.

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