Biglaw

Biglaw Bonus Announcement Comes With Lack Of Clarity For Mid-Level And Senior Associates

There are a lot of stipulations in this bonus memo.

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It’s nice, if somewhat boring, to report when a Biglaw firm offers a straight match of the market standard set by Milbank earlier this month. There’s clarity for associates — current and prospective. Unfortunately, that’s just not how every firm rolls. Ropes & Gray announced their bonus schedule today, and while junior associates are clear on what they’ll take home (subject to some conditions, as described below), mid-level and senior associates are not afforded that clarity.

Here’s the bonus grid the firm circulated:

Class of 2019 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
Class of 2018 – $15,000
Class of 2017 – $25,000

Anyone more senior than the class of 2017 is off the grid. The world of individualized compensation could be good, could be bad, or could be average for associates, putting them largely at the mercy of how busy their practice group was this year.

Additionally, Ropes & Gray is the first Biglaw firm to announce bonuses this year that have significant stipulations on them (there will be more before bonus season is over). The target for the bonuses is 1,900 billable and pro bono hours, and the firm may adjust the bonuses up if associates bill “substantially” more than that, or down if they fail to meet the target. Plus, the firm’s policy will automatically deduct from the bonus amount if the associate fails to diary their hours in a timely manner.

Bonuses will be paid by the firm on December 24th. (Full memo on the next page.)

Remember, we depend on your tips to stay on top of important bonus updates, so when your firm matches, please text us (646-820-8477) or email us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Matches”). 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.

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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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