It’s that time of the year — BONUS SEASON. Sure, some people in Biglaw will be taking home six-figure paydays, but a lot of you are not. Whether it’s because your firm has stretched out its financial obligations making MoneyLaw raises earlier this year or is generally known to be Grinch-y (or will just enroll you in a Jelly of the Month Club), there’s some anger a-brewin’ in the associate ranks.
We’ve even started getting complaints. Take this Jones Day associate:
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[A]s bonus season rolls around, associates at JD are getting even more frustrated. There have been rumors that JD will do an off-cycle raise in January to mitigate the market gap issue that y’all highlighted earlier this year, but no one from the administration has confirmed this, nor does anyone really believe it will bring us up to (or near) market.
And Morgan Lewis folks are anticipating getting screwed already:
Morgan Lewis has made clear that they intend to cut bonuses for associates that made their hours (2000) by anywhere from 25 to 75% based on subjective factors in the discretion of firm/practice group management (this was explained during webinars the firm held for associates this past October apparently to get us geared up for the upcoming disappointment).
….
With Dechert announcing full bonuses for those that make their hours (1950), I thought it would be a good time to make everyone aware of how different their crosstown rival compensates their associates so that anyone trying to make a choice between the two will know what is at stake.
So who else out there knows the holidays won’t be happy (at least money-wise)? Drop us an email and let us know — we’d love to hear you bitch. Funny, biting, or otherwise interesting responses may be published here on Above the Law, anonymously of course.
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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).