Top 25 Am Law Firm Hands Out Up To Six-Figure Bonuses For Associates -- But People Are Still Mad
It's a happy day for *some* associates at this firm.
Another day, another bonus match. That’s what the next few weeks are going to look like in the world of large law firms in the United States. There’s just one question to be asked: Will firms match the original Baker McKenzie bonus scale, without special bonuses, or the Cravath bonus scale, which includes special bonuses?
Paul Hastings just announced its year-end bonuses, and of course the firm is including special bonuses. No firm as highly ranked and regarded would want to offer associates below-market compensation. Here’s what the PH bonus scale looks like for 2020:
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Be mindful, however, of the firm’s note that the special bonuses are only for “qualifying associates.” How does one become a qualifying associate? It sounds like this may be hours based, because the bonus will be paid “subject to the firm’s qualifying criteria for time worked and closed for the period from February 1 through August 31, 2020, inclusive of approved special non-billable COVID-related time.” Sources from the firm seem quite upset about this hours requirement:
Vague wording but it looks like Paul Hastings won’t be paying the special bonus to those who were below track hours for the listed period but are on track to hit or exceed our yearly requirement. Unfortunate.
Paul Hastings bonus memo just received. Special bonus appears to only be given to associates who were on track to hit 2,000 hours between February 1st and August 31st–basically the time period at the height of COVID and will not be given to any associate who makes their hours by year-end, like a typical bonus.
Associates are PISSED. The special bonus is based on whether people were billing on track when COVID hit.
But even those that have worked incredibly hard in recent months to make up those hours to hit the year-end requirement, will still not receive the special bonus. Clearly PH is not actually matching the market, because this is not what other firms are requiring and hardly any associates will be able to receive it.
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The pandemic ended in August? Somehow these hours requirements exclude everyone I have spoken to since their busiest months aren’t counted.
Saying that people are mad is an understatement. I have spoken to a dozen associates and no one will qualify for the special bonus. It is like they deliberately choose random dates (February to August) to ensure the least amount of associates qualified. Why those dates? Did Covid end in August? Did it start in February? Nope. Just Paul Hastings being the cheap firm we have known it to be. They are a “top firm” only in name, but definitely not in compensation. They do not even want to maintain the facade that they pay market anymore.
Note that the apparent standard for special bonus is whether you were given enough work to be meeting annualized pace at the height of the pandemic – not whether you met the overall annual expectations. I suspect many who will hit their annual targets will be denied the special bonus through zero fault of their own. Really disappointing that the firm is looking to pay as few people as possible, even those who did all that was asked of them this year and had slow spring/summer through no fault of their own.
Yikes. Some associates at Paul Hastings seem pretty pissed off about this…
Special bonuses will be paid on December 18, 2020, while year-end bonuses will be paid on March 5, 2021 for U.S. associates. Congratulations to everyone at the firm!
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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.
