Biglaw

For This Biglaw Firm First Comes Raises, Then Comes The Fine Print

Not everyone at the firm will see the money.

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It was just over a month ago when Morgan Lewis & Bockius, with its $2,001,000,000 in gross revenue for 2017, announced associate base salary raises and special bonuses in line with the market standard. But now that the dust has settled and the euphoria of new money has died down, the firm has released certain conditions on the money everyone had been cheering.

According to tipsters at the firm, yesterday associates got practice group-specific voicemails letting them know that the extra money they thought they’d be getting for sure was actually contingent on a rating system in addition to any clear hours requirement. And sources there are already concerned about the lack of clarity:

Morgan Lewis just sent out a voicemail saying that not all associates will get the Milbank raise or bonus. The decisions will be based on nebulous criteria, apparently something additional to an objective billable hours requirement. It seems they advertised a match in name only to be included in the good press last month.

Another associate at the firm has a little more information about how they decision will be made, but still concedes there’s a ton of vagueness in the process:

That’s correct. The voicemail was quite vague, however we have a ratings system that shows you as either below, meeting or exceeding expectations. If your mid year review had you as below, my understanding is you will not be getting a summer bonus (nor would you get a year end at below expectations ratings). The hours requirement is 1900 and you just have to be on track we believe (nothing has been 100% specific here or detailing what happens if you aren’t on track but later make up the hours by year end).

And given none of these conditions were known last month when the firm made its initial compensation announcement, well, you can’t be surprised at the motivations sources are ascribing to the move:

[The previous announcement] was certainly an attempt to preserve candidates until a later date, since there are many mid-level positions open at the firm and OCI is just around the corner. Morgan Lewis has had shady bonus policies for years now, and despite keeping up appearances of changing that, it looks like we are back where we started in black box decision making.

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Earlier:

With Over 2 Billion In Revenue, Of Course This Firm Raised Associate Salaries

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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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