The Best Bonus Of All? This Biglaw Firm Will Pay Associates To Take A Vacation

This firm will reward its associates with something that's even more exciting than a market-shattering bonus.

As the year draws to a close and Biglaw associates realize just how exhausted they are after billing thousands upon thousands of hours, some may suddenly become even more exhausted when they realize all they can do to comfort themselves is curl up with a big pile of money. Material things aren’t all that matter, after all, and one Biglaw firm has chosen to reward its incredibly hardworking associates with something that’s even more exciting than a market-shattering bonus: some time off on the firm’s dime — up to 150,000 of them, to be exact.

Which firm is offering its associates up to $15,000 to take a much-needed vacation?

It’s Orrick, and the firm really wants to show associates who have gone above and beyond the call of duty just how much it appreciates the long days and even longer nights that they’ve spent working and sacrificing personal time that they could’ve been spending with family and friends. As a bonus, it’s not just associates who are being offered this opportunity — dedicated of counsel, career associates, project attorneys, paralegals, and legal assistants may be able to participate as well.

Here’s more information on who could be eligible for this unique program:

To express our gratitude and to help you recover, recharge and reconnect, we are offering those members of our team aspecial gift from the firm that we’re calling Unplug On Us.

If you’ve put in 2,400 annualized client representation hours during the 2018 performance year – including pro bono, training and shadowing, innovation time and work for the firm,have been with us for at least six months and are in good standing, we want to make absolutely sure you plan a week’s vacation early in 2019 – and we’ll pick up the cost (up to $15,000).

This is, of course, in addition to the merit and other bonuses that all of our team members may receive under our year-end bonus program (and this year’s special two-part “summer bonus”). It’s intended to support those who have worked at truly extraordinary levels and to ensure you have some time to take care of yourself.

Flip to the next page to see the full memo about the firm’s vacation program.

This program came to be after Mitch Zuklie, Orrick’s chairman and CEO, told the rest of the firm’s leadership about a time early on in his career when his then-firm sent him and his wife on vacation after an especially tough work period. The experience had been so “personally meaningful” to him that he and his colleagues wanted their valued team members to enjoy something similar. Then and there, Orrick’s Unplug On Us program was created to bring some additional work/life balance to the firm.

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About 10 percent of associates are candidates for the program this year. Here’s a note one of the New York associates who qualified for Unplug On Us sent to firm leaders:

Thank you so much for this. It’s such a nice surprise. And while I’m sure every economist in the world will tell you I’m being illogical, I am happier that this is earmarked for a vacation rather than if we simply got the equivalent in a bonus. It was a genius idea. The vacation is something I’m very excited about, and probably would never have done without this.

Chief Talent Officer Siobhan Handley said that Orrick’s leadership recognized the “incredible intensity level” that some of their team members committed to their work this year, and wanted to celebrate their contributions to the firm. “We wanted to thank them in a way that would be special — and we also wanted to make sure they are taking care of themselves and that we help them create an opportunity to unplug,” Handley said. “While this has always been a focus at Orrick, our attention to it, and I think our entire profession’s attention, has really been heightened in the past year.”

Congratulations to all of the employees at Orrick who may be able to take advantage of this new perk! Is your firm doing anything as extravagant as offering $15,000 for its tireless employees to go on vacation? Please get in touch with us via email or text us (646-820-8477) and let us know. Thanks very much, and happy holidays!


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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked 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.


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