Associate Bonus Watch: Compensation That's 'Woefully Below Market'

If you think your firm's bonuses are bad, check out this sad scale.

We receive — and sometimes lodge — a lot of complaints about Biglaw bonuses in these pages. Some complaints seem legitimate, while others appear a bit… whiny. For example, it’s hard to feel too bad for people complaining that they didn’t beat the market scale (i.e., the Cravath scale) by a large enough margin.

Today we bring you some griping that’s a bit more compelling — at least by the standards of Biglaw bonus complaints, which admittedly address “First World problems” (apologies to anyone who’s offended by that term). It comes to us from a tipster in the New York office of Troutman Sanders:

Bonuses are woefully below market.

Salaries for 2016 were announced to each individual associate during yearly reviews. Salaries also woefully below market.

Associate morale is incredibly low. A number of associates have left the firm. Management has claimed that are working on improving salaries, but no progress so far.

A second source echoed these sentiments, reporting that associates are very disappointed with the 2015 bonuses and salary increases in Troutman’s New York office. Why? Check out this scale (click to feel depressed or feel schadenfreude enlarge):

Ouch. Can you imagine working 3200 hours in a year and getting just a fraction of the market bonus? That’s a brutal number of hours; even the Quinn Emanuel bonus scale tops out at 2700.

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For comparison purposes, here’s the Cravath 2015 bonus scale:

Class of 2015 — $15,000 (pro-rated)
Class of 2014 — $15,000
Class of 2013 — $25,000
Class of 2012 — $50,000
Class of 2011 — $65,000
Class of 2010 — $80,000
Class of 2009 — $90,000
Class of 2008 — $100,000
Class of 2007 — $100,000

So, for example, a class of 2008 associate in the NYC office of Troutman Sanders who hits the 3200-hour mark gets $61,500 — less than two-thirds of the Cravath amount of $100,000. And that’s for 3200 “productivity hours” at Troutman, which one source explains are basically straight billable hours — pro bono and non-billable hours do not count as productivity hours.

One caveat about this bonus scale: as noted in the table, it covers just the “Productivity Component,” and TS bonuses also include a “Discretionary Component.” But sources report that the discretionary portion is essentially “a joke,” with very few associates getting them; those who do receive just a few thousand dollars extra.

What about base salaries? You could imagine a firm — e.g., Williams & Connolly — that pays nothing in bonuses, but makes up for it with above-market base salaries (starting at $200,000 at W&C). But that’s not the case at Troutman Sanders. Salaries aren’t lockstep; associates find out about their individual raises during yearly reviews in the fall. One TS tipster claims that base salaries in the New York office are $15,000 to $30,000 below market, depending on seniority level. As a result, morale is low, and associates are defecting to higher-paying firms.

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But let’s look on the bright side: money isn’t everything. Associates at Troutman Sanders historically have been quite happy. The firm earns an impressive grade of A-minus on the ATL Insider Survey, and 75 percent of respondents said that if they had to do it all over again, they would still choose Troutman Sanders.

Sometimes Biglaw associates say, during periods of long hours or high stress, that they’d trade compensation for contentment. Maybe these frustrated young lawyers should look into lateraling over to Troutman Sanders. You won’t get market-level compensation — at least not in New York (maybe things are better in Atlanta) — but you might like your life better.

As long as you don’t bill 3200 hours for a below-market bonus.

Earlier: 5 Reasons These Biglaw Bonuses Suck
Nationwide Pay Raise Watch: Who Now Pays A Starting Salary Of $200,000?
Associate Bonus Watch: Cravath Announces Its 2015 Associate Bonuses!


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