This Firm Won't Give You Anywhere Near A Full Bonus If You Don't Meet Your Hours Requirements

Is your firm planning to pull one over on associates like this? We hope not!

Thus far, this bonus season has been a relatively happy one. Aside from some gripes about being spoonfed the same high-dollar bonuses year after year after year and complaints about associate compensation being cut by virtue of changes to health insurance plans, things have been just peachy — until now.

This afternoon, Norton Rose Fulbright matched the Cravath bonus scale. Like Weil associates, NRF associates will receive their bonuses in January 2018. Associates don’t seem to be bothered by that, since their 2016 bonuses were paid in January of this year. From a tipster: “If NRF shifted the 2017 associate bonus into December 2017, then we would receive two bonuses in the same calendar year, and it is likely we would pay significantly more income tax due to those last dollars being taxed at a higher marginal tax bracket. Consistency is critical.”

What associates are pissed about is the fact that there’s an hours requirement for them to qualify for full market bonuses. We’ve been told that associates must have 2300 hours in order to qualify for market bonuses, and anything less than that — specifically, 2000-2299 hours — will earn them just 50 percent of market. Ouch!

With about a month left in 2017, associates who find themselves stuck at around 2000 hours will have absolutely no motivation to bill more, since there will be no difference in compensation for them. “Not a great decision or result from a managerial standpoint,” a source quipped. “This is disheartening considering what other Texas ‘peer firms’ are doing for their associates.” No kidding, this is awful.

Here’s what bonuses look like at NRF for those who have less than 2300 hours:

Class of 2017 — $7,500 (pro-rated)
Class of 2016 — $7,500
Class of 2015 — $12,500
Class of 2014 — $25,000
Class of 2013 — $32,500
Class of 2012 — $40,000
Class of 2011 — $45,000
Class of 2010 — $50,000
Class of 2009 — $50,000

Is your firm planning to pull one over on associates like Norton Rose Fulbright has done this year? We certainly hope not, because this seems really unfair.

Sponsored

UPDATE (11/29/17): Sources from the firm have reached out to us to let us know that “some discretionary bonuses are paid for those who are significantly above the 2,000 hour mark, but below the 2,300 hour mark.” In addition to that, as readers know, Norton Rose Fulbright recently merged with Chadbourne & Parke, and we’ve been told that while all legacy Chadbourne associates will receive full market bonuses in January, “many (probably the vast majority) of the legacy NRF associates are subject to the lower scale described.”

UPDATE (11/30/17): Norton Rose gave this statement given to the American Lawyer with regard to its bonuses: “In addition to hour-based bonuses, our associate compensation program includes a significant discretionary bonus component to encourage and acknowledge important non-billable activities, such as client development and pro bono activities. We use discretionary bonuses in conjunction with hour-based bonuses to ensure that Norton Rose Fulbright’s compensation is in line with, or exceeds, the compensation paid in each of our markets.”

Congratulations to Norton Rose Fulbright associates who were able to meet their hours, and condolences to those associates who came up short this year, as it turns out that their bonus payouts will come out even shorter.

As a little reminder, we love covering the Biglaw bonus season, but we need your help. Remember: 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. You can also text us at 646-820-8477. We look forward to hearing from you.

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. Thanks!

Sponsored


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.


Bonus Time

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