Individualized Bonuses Can't Hide The Lack Of Special Bonuses At This Biglaw Firm

No special bonuses for you!

There’s a reason why the gold standard at law firms is lockstep bonuses — hell, that’s true for all Biglaw compensation. It engenders collegiality, avoids potential problems of black box compensation (like favoritism and unconscious bias), and makes it makes it really easy for associates to anticipate what they’ll make in any given year.

But, alas, that’s not what’s meant to be at Perkins Coie. It’s been a bumpy year at the firm, with the firm announcing in April that the partnership was deferring ~19 percent of their compensation. Then beginning with their June paychecks, non-partner attorneys saw a 15 percent salary cut, staff making $200,000+ took a 15 percent cut, and staff making $125,000-$200,000 saw compensation cut by 10 percent. But things really seemed to be turning a corner when, in October, the firm announced the salary cuts were over and full restoration payments were the order of the day.

So, many associates thought they just might get full market bonuses. And while *some* associates did receive the year-end market rate, the special bonuses that became all the rage among elite Biglaw firms starting in the fall, given in appreciation of associates’ hard work during the pandemic, were nowhere to be found. Those special bonuses range from $7,500 to $40,000, depending on class year, and, at other firms, are in addition to the year-end bonus numbers — so there’s a lot of cash Perkins Coie associates are missing out on compared with their peers at other firms.

And the reaction from tipsters has been understandably upset:

Individual memos were given to each associate with some making market bonuses and others not. The big headline is that they aren’t paying the special Covid bonuses that the other firms are offering. Also no additional dollars for top billers. Associates are pissed.

As has been done in years past, Perkins Coie is sending out individual bonus memos to all of its associates. While I’m pleased with my market bonus (though I’m not sure everyone is on the Cravath scale), Perkins Coie did NOT issue a special Covid bonus like so many of the other firms have done. As the 54th highest grossing lawfirm in the world, I’m pretty disappointed that they couldn’t pay the Covid bonus.

But like any firm with individualized bonuses, we depend on our readers to help fill out the details. So, are you a Perkins Coie associate? What do you think about bonuses this year? Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog). A fun or insightful response — we’ll keep you anonymous — could find its way into an update to this story.

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The moral of the story is, as always, our tipsters are essential to bonus season. 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 all 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 your help!


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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