Another day, another hour, another Cravath match. Biglaw firms continue to fall all over themselves to match this year’s bonus scale. Won’t anyone hand out a little more money to these hard-working associates?
It looks like at least one law firm is willing to dig deeper into its pockets to compensate those who worked a bit harder than their peers. Ropes & Gray announced its bonuses this morning for the classes of 2016, 2015, and 2014, of $15,000 (prorated), $15,000, and $25,000, respectively. Bonuses will be paid on December 23, 2016. In the firm’s memo, however, chairman R. Bradford Malt and managing partner David C. Chapin explained that bonus amounts would be increased for some associates who billed their butts off.
Here’s the relevant passage (the full memo is on the next page):
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As you know, we have an activity target of at least 1,900 billable and pro bono hours to be eligible for a bonus. This year, we have again increased bonuses from the above scale for associates who worked substantially more than the targeted amount, maintained bonuses for some associates who worked less than the target, and decreased rather than eliminated bonuses for many other associates who worked less than the target. We have also adjusted bonuses in unusual circumstances where an associate’s performance review is substantially above or below our expectations. Our career associates and London associates are compensated in accordance with their respective markets, so their compensation will be different.
Congratulations to you if you’re an associate who managed to squeeze some more money out of Ropes & Gray. But how much more is the firm actually willing to pay out? We’re not sure yet, but last year, a source we spoke to told us that the firm’s increased bonus amounts were such “a joke” that it almost made doing the extra work a waste of time.
What about more-senior associates? For that group, the R&G memo says, “For more senior associates, bonuses will, as always, be determined and communicated individually. These bonuses will reflect personal contributions, assessed on both qualitative and quantitative bases, as well as prevailing market compensation.” What is the firm actually paying its more-senior classes? If you can enlighten us as to what older associates will receive, please email us or text us (646-820-8477).
That’s the word on the Ropes & Gray bonuses. If you’re a Ropes lawyer, what do you think? Feel free to let us know how you feel by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). A fun or insightful response — we’ll keep you anonymous — could find its way into an update to this story.
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As a little reminder, we love covering the Biglaw bonus season, but we need your help. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”). We always keep our sources on bonus stories anonymous. There’s no need to send the memo using your firm email account; your personal email account is fine. Please be sure to include the memo as proof; we like to post complete bonus memos as a service to our readers. You can take a photo of the memo and attach as a picture if you are worried about metadata in a PDF or Word file. Thanks for your help.
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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. She’d love to hear from you, so feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.