Associate Bonus Watch: Good News, Bad News Edition

This Biglaw firm doesn't do the expected.

One week into the 2017 Associate Bonus Season, and things have gotten… well, a little stale. Yes, yes, it sure is nice to know you’re about to receive the now-expected Cravath scale bonuses, but almost every firm seems to be playing follow the leader.

Ropes & Gray doesn’t play that game. Well, to be fair, they mostly do. Class years 2017-2015 will receive bonuses on the market scale, but for associates outside of the junior ranks things get a little less lockstep-y. Those bonuses, as per firm tradition, are individualized and “reflect personal contributions, assessed on both qualitative and quantitative bases, as well as prevailing market compensation.”

Plus, for those that bill more than 1,900 hours (a fairly modest hours requirement, all things considered), they could see an even bigger payday:

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.

There’s also some bad news hidden in the bonus announcement — at least if you’re the type to procrastinate your time entry:

Timely diaries are critical to our business. They enable us to bill clients promptly at the end of each month, and are essential to monitoring and managing alternative fee arrangements. For these reasons, adhering to our diary standards is absolutely crucial. As previously announced, lawyers violating our diary standards have received an automatic bonus reduction.

At least they were warned ahead of time, and hopefully most associates planned accordingly.

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So Ropes & Gray associates, how do you feel about this year’s bonuses? Do the individualized bonuses for senior associates help you? Is the punishment for late time entry too harsh? Shoot us an email to let us know what you really think — all submissions will be kept strictly anonymous.

Please help us help you when it comes to bonus news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text (646-820-8477), or tweet (@ATLblog). We always keep our sources anonymous — and that includes our sources for bonus stories. 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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Read the full memo on the next page.


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headshotKathryn 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).