As Biglaw special bonus season continues to roll on, associates who would normally have been thrilled by the news are finding it difficult to put on a happy face. Even though some firms are claiming on paper that they’ve “matched” the generous Davis Polk scale, there are stringent hourly requirements that seem designed to prevent associates from earning full market bonuses. These bonuses are supposed to reward associates for their hard work during the pandemic, and instead, they’re being left empty-handed in some cases. No wonder associates at these firms are so disgruntled.
According to our sources, that is what seems to be going on at Covington & Burling. The firm announced bonuses on Friday, and from what we’ve been told, associates are “disappointed.” Why’s that? These are the bonuses that the firm is offering (full memo available on the next page):
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These seem to be the prevailing market standard, but the devil here is in the details. The spring bonus at Covington, which is payable in May, is based upon an annualized hours requirement of 1950 for hours worked from April 1, 2020 to March 30, 2021. The year-end bonus is also based on an annualized hours requirement of 1950, but for hours worked during the “typical” bonus year (i.e., January through December). Not only does this screw associates whose practices were affected by the pandemic, but that means there’s no opportunity for associates to catch-up in their hours to earn back the spring bonus, because the next bonus period is based on hours logged during a completely different time frame.
“People are really pissed and want to leave,” reports one source. Here’s a more detailed account from another associate:
These conditions do not acknowledge the contributions of associates who did not make the hours benchmark during the pandemic for whatever reason. It does not take into account contributions of associates that did not have a full billable workload last spring at the beginning of the pandemic, those who started at the firm in the fall, or those who have had a slow start to 2021. Nor is this a match to the market. Other firms have not made the bonuses contingent on hours (let alone a yearlong period outside of the calendar year), nor have they delayed payment until next January. Associates were hoping that the firm would recognize all of our challenging experiences during the pandemic.
If you’re a Covington associate and want to sound off on your apparently less-than special bonuses, feel free to send a line to [email protected] — a fun or insightful response may make it into an update of this article.
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UPDATE (3:00 p.m.): This is what we’ve heard from other sources at Covington.
I agree with prior statements that the bonus criteria are tone deaf and do nothing to recognize the effort of people who were unable to make their hours due to the pandemic. Additionally, telling us with less than a month’s notice that the spring bonus would be based on the last 12 months is demoralizing, as it arbitrarily rewards people who had more hours over that randomly chosen 12-month period. This 12-month period is unfair to parents who had kids out of school during winter break and who were unable to work as many hours over the holidays. The terms of the spring bonus penalize the attorneys that have had the hardest time with the pandemic. I doubt that people will leave the firm over this, but it is a symptom of larger issues that have led to a flood of people leaving over the past year.
We’re not only upset by the conditions for receiving the bonus, but also the timing of the announcement. This happens every time. Covington waits until every other firm matches before announcing bonuses or compensation matches. It is sad that Covington has never even tried to be a leader in associate compensation. They are always the follower. And usually the last. It’s an utter embarrassment at this point.
(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Covington.)
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Staci 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.