Biglaw, Bonuses, Money

Associate Bonus Watch: Proskauer Matches -- In Select Offices

Some associates will feast on Cravath bonuses, while others will dine on mystery meat.

By  
on

Rich Businessman Poor BusinesswomanOver the summer, what should have been a feel-good story turned into a gripe-fest. Following the rest of Biglaw, Proskauer Rose raised associate salaries to the Cravath scale — but only in certain offices. Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. — what one Proskauer tipster called the “major” offices — got bumped up to Cravath levels. Boca Raton, New Orleans, and Newark — the not-so-major offices — did not. This generated many complaints of unfair treatment from associates in the smaller offices (see the multiple UPDATES to this post).

It’s now time for year-end bonuses, and Proskauer is following the same playbook. Associates in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and D.C. will get the Cravath scale, to be paid on December 22. Associates in Boca Raton, New Orleans, and Newark will learn of their individualized bonuses on or before December 14. So some associates will feast on market-matching bonuses, while others will dine on mystery meat.

Associates in the major markets seem pleased:

  • “Everyone here seems happy and relieved (some people were a bit nervous about what would happen as a result of post-Trump uncertainty). The scale is as expected since we were explicitly told that the firm would match market at a recent associate town hall meeting.”
  • “We were not expecting anything more than last year’s bonus scale, what with the base-rate raises this year. Still exciting news, and feel confident that if any other firm ends up setting a new bonus scale, Proskauer will always go with market.”
  • “Not surprised at all, but pleased nonetheless. The only surprise is the timing. Proskauer usually waits a few days for the dust to settle before announcing, but this year they announced within 24 hours of the first mover, which is new.”
  • “Proskauer always follows the market, and is fast to pay. As a more general observation, the summer raises were bold and buzzworthy — this move is not. Going lower than 2015 would effectively be clawing back structured salary trumpeted when raises were announced. I feel fortunate, to be sure, but as a market observer, I don’t see how the scale could have landed lower without losing the goodwill generated by the summer raise.”
  • “Firm is very consistent that we will follow the market wherever it lands, and so this is not a surprise, but still good news.”

And what about associates in the other offices? The ones we’ve heard from so far are taking a “wait and see” approach, but they’re probably not expecting Cravath-level bonuses (just as they eventually got base-salary hikes, but not as big as the NYC market raises). The long-term fate of the smaller offices — tied to specific lawyers, such as ERISA litigation king Howard Shapiro in New Orleans, or specific clients, such as wealthy snowbirds in Boca Raton — remains uncertain.

We’ve heard from many of the major NYC-centric firms, but dozens of others have yet to weigh in. When 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. You can also text us if you prefer, at 646-820-8477.

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. Thanks!

Sponsored

(Flip to the next page for the two Proskauer bonus memos.)

Earlier: Game, Set, Match — In This Biglaw Firm’s ‘Major’ Offices
Associate Bonus Watch (2015): Two More Firms Hop On The Cravath Bonus Bandwagon

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.

Sponsored

1 2Next »
Bonus Time

Enter your email address to sign up for ATL's Bonus & Salary Increase Alerts.

Topics

, , , , , , , ,