Biglaw Firm Raises Salaries, But That Doesn't Mean Everyone Is Happy

Check out the update to our story -- some associates ARE happy.

The good news for associates at Schulte Roth is that the firm has moved — and relatively quickly — to increase associate compensation, both base salaries and special bonuses. They’ll now be paying associates in line with the Milbank/Simpson/Cravath scale that’s become all the rage at the biggest and best law firms.

Associate compensation at Schulte will now range between $190,000 and $350,000, depending on seniority. And special bonuses will run from $5,000 – $25,000:

But it’s the bonuses that are causing consternation among many associates at the firm. Schulte has taken the route of linking the money to mid-year bonus targets. And tipsters are letting us know their feelings about it:

As usual, they take the insanely cheap route re: bonuses. And a new twist, anyone who’s taken a vacation in the early part of the year gets screwed.

Schulte’s announcement noted that while associates have to meet 90 percent of their annualized target hours through June 30th to get the bonus, at year-end if an associate that did not previously qualify for the bonus meets their annual target they’ll get the special bonus amount added to the end of the year bonus. Which seems pretty reasonable. But sources at the firm reveal meeting the billable targets at all is an uphill battle for a lot of practice groups:

In case this isn’t known, most departments at the firm never get their associates close to the year end billable requirement. It’s also been a very slow year and with a 200 hour cap on all pro bono, firm promotion, and recruitment activity, this just isn’t happening for nearly everyone. We already have an attrition problem. This won’t help.

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It’s hard to bill when the work isn’t there.

UPDATE: We’ve heard from more associates at the firm, and some folks are pretty happy with the firm:

I realize that you’re working with the tips that you get, but I think that some of the comments you received from tipsters were a bit off base.  I’m a 5th year associate at SRZ, and I can tell you that while some people have difficulty meeting those hours targets, plenty of us are super busy and appreciate that the firm came through on this.

Bonuses have always been tied to the same annual requirement for 20+ years.  Everyone knows the deal regarding target hours, people who are pissed about it either can’t get better jobs or are just bitter. Those of us billing heavily  don’t get to leave at 5 often or have weekends free, and we appreciate the bonuses.  I’m not going to speak for everyone, but the firm struck a good balance in my opinion.

It’s true, disgruntled associates definitely reach out to Above the Law more than happy ones. But this post seems to have touched a nerve:

In short, this is why we cannot have nice things. The bonus policy is more than fair. It allows you to use “Target A” non-billable hours toward the requirement, and even sets the threshold at 90 of pro rated target to account for people who have taken time off or had an uneven schedule (which I consider not only fair, but generous). Schulte also trues up anyone who makes target by year end. I can also tell you that, generally speaking based on my group and those I have spoken to in most other groups, the firm is busy and having one of the busier first halves of the year than I’ve seen in the past. Of course not everyone is on target, but perhaps disgruntled people should look inward at why they have less work instead of blaming the firm.

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Remember everyone, we depend on your tips to stay on top of this stuff. So when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Raises Salaries”). Please include the memo if available. You can take a photo of the memo and send it via text or email if you don’t want to forward the original PDF or Word file.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we’ll also use for salary announcements), 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!

(Read the full memo from the firm on the next page.)


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).


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