NYC to 200k Forum

[Anonymous User]

At King & Spalding, you get about $30-$40 per hour (depending on class, I believe) for each hour worked over 2,050 hours.

wtf so you have to bill an extra 400-500 hours just to get a FIRST YEAR market bonus?

That's not bad. If we bill an extra 400 we make less than $15 an hour. If we bill an extra 300, it's not even a guarantee that we will make anything over the market bonus. I think this system sounds pretty nice.

[Anonymous User]

The old saying "no news is good news" does not apply to this shit.

[Anonymous User]

For the partners at firms that haven't matched yet: your associates are spending hours a day looking at this thread instead of working. Plus, your summers think that you are on the brink of bankruptcy or else are greedy af. It's a good thing that these summers split their summer with firms that have matched, so they can see what a decent firm looks like.

[hoos89]

At King & Spalding, you get about $30-$40 per hour (depending on class, I believe) for each hour worked over 2,050 hours.

wtf so you have to bill an extra 400-500 hours just to get a FIRST YEAR market bonus?

That's in addition to the market bonus. And in addition to a discretionary bonus ($5k-$15k), which you can request separately for all "firm-building" activities. The discretionary bonus is pretty much guaranteed if you request it by filing a 2-page request.

Also, first year market bonus is $5,000. That's 167 extra hours if you get $30/hour.

It's $15,000...the pro rated stub year bonus is not the first year bonus.

[Anonymous User]

Cooley paid up to 150% of Cravath last bonus season for high performers, not 200%. A lot of folks not happy about the bonus situation. It’s been a rough few months and with the hours I’m scheduled to hit this year, I’ll be disappointed if they don’t show up with the market summer bonus on top of the above market year end bonus. Plus because Cooley pays bonuses in February, we have to wait a good eight months before we see the money. No bueno.

If “high performers” means folks who exceeded their hours requirements, isn’t that basically just market bonuses? Many firms give substantial extra bonus money for folks who went substantially over their hours target.

Do a lot of firms actually do this? I would kill for my firm to pay above market bonuses

Yes, though I wouldn't say "substantial extra." For example, if the market bonus hours requirement is 2000 hours, maybe they give you $10,000 extra for hitting 2500 hours. $20/hour for those extra 500-not bad, but I'd rather have the time. It's more just a recognition of people who were slammed with work rather than a target anyone strives for.

We pay 20k for 2300 and 20k for 2500 so 40k for hitting 2500. Pretty solid, especially as a 1/2/3rd year. V75+ firm as well paying market

[Anonymous User]

Speaking of King & Spalding, why haven't they matched yet?

[Anonymous User]

Speaking of King & Spalding, why haven't they matched yet?

Probably figuring out the scale for the secondary markets, including Atlanta. I'm sure they'll match in NY/Chicago/DC/Houston/California this week. K&S took a little while in 2016 also.

[Anonymous User]

Speaking of King & Spalding, why haven't they matched yet?

They were slow last time too. It probably has something to do with having their HQ in a non-market city. If K&S matches in major markets before Latham and GDC do I'm going to lol hard.

[Anonymous User]

White and Case moved Miami to 183k

[Anonymous User]

Find me a find, give me a summer bonus.

[Anonymous User]

Milbank matched Cravath w/bonus.

[Anonymous User]

What are Latham and Gibson waiting for? This drawn out wait can't be good for recruiting, associate morale, associate retention, or associate productivity. Latham in particular already has a bad reputation for Lathaming all of those junior associates during the recession.

Both have profits per partner over $3.2 million. Both are going to match the raise and bonus. Why wait?

[Anonymous User]

K&E doesn't have an hours requirement for bonuses. I billed 1750 hours one year and got 1.15xCravath bonus. The next year, I billed 2700 hours and got 1.4xCravath, so yeah, not really worth it in terms of dollars per hour to bill a ton. Both of those years I had an "at-class" rating (3 on a 1-5 scale). You'll get a below-market bonus if you get a "below-class" rating (4 on the 1-5 scale) at the end of the review year. A below-class rating is quite rare (I would guess 3 to 4 percent of associates) and almost always means that things aren't working out and you should be looking for a different job. I've never even heard of somebody getting a 5; I imagine if you're that awful, you'd be fired before getting reviews. It's much more common to get an "above-class" rating (2 on the 1-5 scale), which has recently translated to an extra $25K or so in year-end bonus. For midlevels to senior associates, a handful of associates get a "top-of-class" rating (1 on the 1-5 scale), which has recently translated to an extra $50K or so over "at-class" ratings. It's generally unheard of for anybody below a fourth-year to get a 1 rating, and unusual for anybody below a third-year to get a 2 rating.

OP, do you mind sharing what group/city you’re in? I’m looking at going to K&E but I’ll probably be in a speciality group like tax. Are the hours for hitting bonus the same?

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

[Anonymous User]

K&E doesn't have an hours requirement for bonuses. I billed 1750 hours one year and got 1.15xCravath bonus. The next year, I billed 2700 hours and got 1.4xCravath, so yeah, not really worth it in terms of dollars per hour to bill a ton. Both of those years I had an "at-class" rating (3 on a 1-5 scale). You'll get a below-market bonus if you get a "below-class" rating (4 on the 1-5 scale) at the end of the review year. A below-class rating is quite rare (I would guess 3 to 4 percent of associates) and almost always means that things aren't working out and you should be looking for a different job. I've never even heard of somebody getting a 5; I imagine if you're that awful, you'd be fired before getting reviews. It's much more common to get an "above-class" rating (2 on the 1-5 scale), which has recently translated to an extra $25K or so in year-end bonus. For midlevels to senior associates, a handful of associates get a "top-of-class" rating (1 on the 1-5 scale), which has recently translated to an extra $50K or so over "at-class" ratings. It's generally unheard of for anybody below a fourth-year to get a 1 rating, and unusual for anybody below a third-year to get a 2 rating.

OP, do you mind sharing what group/city you’re in? I’m looking at going to K&E but I’ll probably be in a speciality group like tax. Are the hours for hitting bonus the same?

Would rather not share group/city. The policy of no minimum hours for bonus is firmwide and not specific to groups. Same with the ratings/hours formula used to calculate bonuses. We're not explicitly told what that formula is, and I think it changes from year to year, but there definitely is a formula that takes your rating and hours and spits out what your bonus is. There will occasionally be deviations from standard policy, but these are very rare. For example, a couple years ago, the restructuring group was averaging an insane number of hours (think 3000+), so they rolled out special "war-time bonuses" for restructuring associates to be icing on the cake of already above-market bonuses. From my understanding, a lot of partners in other groups weren't too happy with this special accommodation, so were very liberal with awarding above-class ratings to associates in their groups. Not sure whether on average it all evened out group-to-group.

[Anonymous User]

Milbank matched Cravath w/bonus.

Care to show/type the memo? Curious how they phrased it.

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

Yeah, what is going on with that? I imagine they have to match, just taking their sweet time.

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

Yeah, what is going on with that? I imagine they have to match, just taking their sweet time.

Latham/Gibson Dunn are both California firms too, right? I think Paul Hastings hasn't announced either. Taking forever. Are Cooley/WSGR/Gunderson the only CA firms to have matched?

[Anonymous User]

Milbank matched Cravath w/bonus.

Care to show/type the memo? Curious how they phrased it.

We are very pleased to announce that we have adjusted upward the new salary schedule that we had previously announced. The new salary scale (which is set forth below) will be effective July 1, 2018. We are also delighted to confirm payment of summer bonuses on or before July 31, 2018. Bonuses will be paid to associates in good standing consistent with our policies. Bonuses are subject to proration for 2018 start dates, part-time schedules and unpaid leaves of absence.

The salary and bonus schedule is as follows:

2018 Summer Bonus
Classes 2018/2017 $190,000 $ 5,000
Class 2016 $200,000 $ 7,500
Class 2015 $220,000 $10,000
Class 2014 $255,000 $15,000
Class 2013 $280,000 $20,000
Class 2012 $305,000 $25,000
Class 2011 $325,000 $25,000
Class 2010 $340,000 $25,000

Salary increases for Specials will be determined on an individual basis and communicated separately.

Once again, we would like to thank you for your excellent work. In the past week alone, we were honored as:

-- Finance Team of the Year and Restructuring Team of the Year at the prestigious Transatlantic Legal Awards;

-- Finalist for Litigation Department of the Year in the New York Law Journal awards; and

-- US Law Firm of the Year for our global leadership in project finance by Power Finance & Risk.

All of these awards are a direct consequence of your contributions. Congratulations – and thank you.

Scott A. Edelman

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

LOLZ at them matching or included in this group.

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

Yeah, what is going on with that? I imagine they have to match, just taking their sweet time.

Latham/Gibson Dunn are both California firms too, right? I think Paul Hastings hasn't announced either. Taking forever. Are Cooley/WSGR/Gunderson the only CA firms to have matched?

Yeah, good chance that many big CA firms are ready to match raises and bonuses but are waiting to see what the most profitable CA firms (Latham, GDC, PH) do when it comes to the finer points (whether they'll do a Ropes&Gray-style "we'll match market on July 1," whether summer bonuses will be tied to hours, whether summer bonuses will be prorated for associates on leave or associates who have recently lateraled in, etc.).

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

LOLZ at them matching or included in this group.

Diff anon. Sheppard Mullin's PPP is 1.7M. They're just as likely to match as CovingTTTon, Hogan, A&P, etc.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Milbank matched Cravath w/bonus.

Care to show/type the memo? Curious how they phrased it.

We are also delighted to confirm payment of summer bonuses on or before July 31, 2018.

Lmao, july 31. Does milbank have cash flow problems?

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

LOLZ at them matching or included in this group.

I don't know much, if anything, about Sheppard Mullin, but they have PPP almost identical to MoFo and better than Fenwick. Why wouldn't they match?

[Anonymous User]

California firms need to get going. OMM, Orrick, Fenwick, MoFo, Sheppard Mullin. C’mon guys.

LOLZ at them matching or included in this group.

Yeah no way Sheppard matches. They couldn't afford the last round.