Biglaw

When Exactly Will These Biglaw Associates See Their Bonuses?

Just because associates are getting market sized bonuses, it doesn't mean they're happy.

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On the surface, there’s not too much remarkable about the bonus announcement made by Paul Hastings. The bonus scale is on par with the market, there’s extra money available for associates who had an especially good year, and associates who missed the hours requirement for special summer bonuses have an opportunity to true up if they hit the end-of-the-year billing targets.

Here’s the expected bonus schedule:

Read the full memo below.

So, if the basics are in line with the market standard, what’s there to complain about? Well, the announcement didn’t come out until February 25th and the compensation memo indicates that associates will be paid 2018 bonuses “in March” with no indication which of the 31 days of the month they might expect their money.

And some associates are pissed:

Paul Hastings just matched the market scale for bonuses, but is scheduling them to be paid “in March,” just showing a stunningly casual disregard for their associates’ ability to do any financial planning. Not only are we the last to pay out, but we still don’t even know by how much we’re last.

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Yes, waiting until late February to make a move is Paul Hastings standard operating procedure, but that doesn’t mean all the associates are taking it with an accepting shrug. As a tipster reports:

Associates at PH are livid, and I think it invites an open question about whether or not a promise to “pay market” necessarily implies that you pay *near the same time* as the market (and not months later).

As Tom Petty crooned, waiting is the hardest part.

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 us (646-820-8477). 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, 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.

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[pdfjs-viewer url=”https://abovethelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/attachment-1.pdf”]

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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