Biglaw

The Best Bonus Of Them All: Premium Cash Plus Extra Money To Take A Vacation

This firm is offering associates the chance to invest in their careers and in work-life balance.

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This year’s bonus announcements have come at a slower pace than usual, and we suppose that Milbank’s incredibly early first move during the first week of November is to blame. Speaking of slowing down the pace, just before Thanksgiving, one firm decided to give all of its big billers a chance to take a break by offering them above-market bonuses plus even more cash so they would be able to take some much-needed vacations.

Once again, Orrick has matched the market for bonuses for those who worked at least 2000 hours. If you’ve somehow forgotten what the 2019 year-end bonus scale looked like over the long holiday weekend, here’s a little reminder:

Class of 2019 – $15,000 (pro-rated)
Class of 2018 – $15,000
Class of 2017 – $25,000
Class of 2016 – $50,000
Class of 2015 – $65,000
Class of 2014 – $80,000
Class of 2013 – $90,000
Class of 2012 – $100,000
Class of 2011 – $100,000

Orrick, known for awarding premium bonuses of up to 10 percent to some of its hardest-working associates, has decided to up the ante this year and offer bonus premiums of up to 35 percent on top of its regular cash payouts.

In addition, the firm will be continuing its unique Unplug on Us program, by offering up to $15,000 for associates and counsel with over 2400 hours billed — including pro bono, training and shadowing, innovation time, and work for the firm — to take a week off from work to unwind and spend time with friends and family. (Dedicated career associates, project attorneys, and legal assistants may also participate.)

In the year to come, Orrick plans to make “unplugging” part of its firm culture by offering wellness dollars whenever employees work 250+ billable hours in a month. If associates continue to work this intensively for a three-month period, $1,000 in wellness awards will be offered at the end of the third month. Career associates, project analysts, and paralegals will also be eligible for newfound wellness wealth.

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Last, but definitely not least, Orrick will be changing its billable hours targets for 2020 to 1850 client billable hours (client billable, pro bono, Orrick as a client) plus up to 100 firm billable hours (up to 35 hours of training/shadowing; up to 50 hours of innovation; up to 20 hours of diversity & inclusion work; and/or up to 50 hours of substantive business development), for a total of 1950 billable hours.

Congratulations to everyone at Orrick who may be able to take advantage of these new perks. Offering associates the chance to invest in their careers and in work-life balance each and every month is just one of the things that really sets this firm apart from all others. Orrick is a firm that’s doing its best to make concrete steps in its commitment to wellness, and it’s an incredibly positive change that we hope more firms adopt.

Read the full memo on Orrick’s changes to its bonus eligibility structure and its wellness initiatives on the next page.

Remember everyone, 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.

And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts (which is the alert list we 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 for all of your help!

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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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