Associate Bonus Watch: More Big Boutique Bonuses

Here's another boutique offering above-market compensation.

He'll grow up to be an IP litigator.

He’ll grow up to be an IP litigator.

As a general rule, you’ll earn less at a boutique firm than in Biglaw. If you interview with a boutique after a few years at a large law firm, you can look forward to (potentially) more responsibility and better hours, but probably not to a compensation bump.

But every rule has exceptions — and we’ve covered them this bonus season. Boutique firms like Holwell Shulster & Goldberg, Wilkinson Walsh & Eskovitz, and Greenberg Gross are paying bonuses at or above the (already generous) Cravath scale.

The latest boutique to join this august group should be familiar to Above the Law readers. It’s Desmarais LLP, the IP litigation boutique founded by John Desmarais, a former head of Kirkland & Ellis’s patent litigation practice (and, interestingly enough, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York — so he’s worked outside the IP world as well).

Last year, Desmarais announced individualized bonuses that, in terms of both mean and median bonus, exceeded $100,000. This year, we just have the top bonuses in each class (query whether the means and medians have gone down), but they still look mighty fine (the Cravath-scale amount is indicated parenthetically):

Class of 2016 – $5K plus 15K signing bonus ($15K pro-rated)
Class of 2015 – $25K ($15K)
Class of 2014 – $35K ($25K)
Class of 2013 – $80K ($50K)
Class of 2012 – $85K ($65K)
Class of 2011 – $115K ($80K)
Class of 2010 – [Class empty.] ($90K)
Class of 2009 – $150K ($100K)
Class of 2008 – $185K ($100K)

And, as one source reminds us, “Salaries are $20K above New York market, health care premiums are paid for by the firm, and the firm pays 4% of your salary into your 401K.”

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How do associates feel about this year’s bonuses?

“Definitely very happy,” a tipster told us. “On top of the very high salary and great benefits, the bonuses are wonderful. It’s great to see the firm and associates do so well. It’s a great place to work, with great experience (for all associate levels), great clients, great work, and, especially important, great people.”

The firm has an interesting business model. For example, it doesn’t bill by the hour, generally charging clients based on the stages of a litigation and the results achieved (a model that’s popular with clients, who hate paying lots of money for poor outcomes). More controversially, some of the firm’s work involves asserting IP rights held by Desmarais’s patent-holding company, Round Rock Research — which has led some defense-side IP litigators to complain to us that Desmarais is a “patent troll” firm.

But in light of the firm’s success, one has to wonder if such complaints come as player hating. Congratulations to the Desmarais associates on their hefty bonuses, part of a total package that makes the firm one of the best midsize and boutique firms to work for.

Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch (2015): Who Says Patent Litigation Is Dead?
The Best Midsize And Boutique Law Firms To Work For

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DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.


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