Venerable Firm Offers Bonuses Waaaaaaaay Below Market

Not exactly a good haul.

PenniesVenerable law firm Venable LLP announced its bonuses for the year in an associate compensation meeting and the takeaway is that some younger lawyers are definitely going to be making more than their senior colleagues.

First things first, let’s remember how Venable handles its salaries. For the first three years, associates are paid on the Cravath scale. After that it’s something of a crapshoot, with associates paid on an individualized basis within the following set “bands” of compensation (UPDATE: An earlier version of this story showed the salary ranges released during Salarygeddon — the figures below are updated for this year):

4Y – $210K – $230K
5Y – $220K – $250K
6Y – $235K – $270K
7Y – $240K – $285K
8Y – $247.5K – $300K

Into that already contentious compensatory environment come some low-end bonuses. According to a tipster:

Must have 1950 billable and 250 non-billable to qualify for year end bonus. 4K (total) for years 1-3, 5k for years 4-6 and 6k for years 7+. No change from last year.

Perhaps that is no change, but it’s a far cry from the bonus schedule starting at $15K that Cravath and the gang are handing out.

UPDATE (2/2/17): Now, other tipsters have come in explaining that these are bonus floors and that associates get another $4K-6K for every 50 hours over 1950 they bill. Meaning a first-year who billed 2100 hours would get $16K and thus finally get ahead of what the rest of Biglaw gives as a matter of course. Still stingy, but not as draconian as the initial post made it sound.

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This all reinforces the most important lesson a prospective hire needs to learn: when a firm says they pay “$180K,” that isn’t the end of the inquiry! Don’t take that as a Cravath scale match just because they match the entry point. Scrunching raises up the scale, black-box senior salaries, and discretionary ranges abound in this industry.

And so do below-market bonuses.


HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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