Associate Bonus Watch: Mo' Money At MoFo

General sentiment about bonuses at Morrison & Foerster is positive.

businesswoman lawyer associate raining bonus money hands in airMost Biglaw associates would respectfully dissent from the Notorious B.I.G. More money does not give rise to more problems; it just means faster repayment of law school loans.

Which is why we’re hearing from happy MoFos at Morrison & Foerster LLP. The firm matched the New York aka Cravath bonus scale for associates who made their hours, and associates with 2500+ hours get an extra $5,000 to $10,000, depending on seniority. The memo appears on the next page.

Here are some representative reactions:

  • “MoFo bonuses for non-NY offices. Everyone seems very content with the match.”
  • “People are pleased. We expected market and got market, so everyone is in a good mood.”
  • “Very pleased, not much else to say.”

Some sources had a little more to say, in a slightly more critical vein:

  • “While we would of course prefer an earlier announcement and payment, this is the historical practice and lines up with some peer firms.”
  • “Associates I’ve talked to are happy, but an extra $5K only for 2500 hours is kinda ridic.”
  • “People who got bonuses are generally happy, but many others (who didn’t hit hours) are still wondering–genuinely–why folks in NYC don’t have a minimum hours requirement to get bonuses, but folks in San Francisco (where rents and cost of living are demonstrably higher) have to hit 1950. People are also generally wondering why SF associates get paid bonuses so many months later than our NYC office. Makes one wonder if it is a surprise that talent on the West Coast is going to the Fenwicks of the world.”

But note that even these grumpier sources acknowledged the general positive sentiment. And there’s no denying that the current non-NYC bonus scheme is way better than what it replaced. As one source said:

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This is now the third year of firmwide New York match. Prior to that (2013 bonuses and earlier), the firm matched in New York and had a merit/hours matrix for non-NYC. The transition was rocky (you reported on it), but everyone has been content since then (predictability being key).

There are many great things that can be said about MoFo as a workplace — it’s strong on diversity, it’s family-friendly, it’s fun — so strong bonuses are just icing on the cake.

Bonuses from the West Coast or California-founded firms are starting to come in — see, e.g., the bonus news earlier today from Cooley — and Above the Law will be there to track it all. So please help us help you. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text us (646-820-8477). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts, please scroll down and enter your email address in the box below this post. If you previously signed up for the bonus alerts, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll receive an email notification within minutes of each bonus announcement that we publish.

(Flip to the next page for the complete Morrison & Foerster bonus memo, from firm chair Larren Nashelsky.)

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Earlier: Associate Bonus Watch: No Memo, No Problem


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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