West Coast Biglaw Leader Hands Out Market Bonuses -- If You Bill Enough
Failing to hit your hours threshold comes with a financial penalty.
(Image via Getty)
At this point in the Biglaw bonus season, it’s the little things that make all the difference. Since bonus amounts are generally the same at Biglaw firms, we pay close attention to things like billable hour requirements, disbursement dates, or any other differences in how a firm is doing bonuses.
At Wilson Sonsini they’re giving out full market bonuses — inclusive of special bonuses. Back in the fall, WSGR was mum on the trend of handing out COVID appreciation bonuses. (Those special bonuses range from $7,500 to $40,000, depending on class year, and are in addition to the year-end bonus numbers.) But in their year-end bonus announcements, they account for the special bonus money.
There is, however, a catch. To get the full special bonuses associates have to bill 1,950 hours (the same hours requirement for the regular, year end bonuses). There are smaller bonuses available for those that fail to hit that billable target, which is something at least. We should also note that bonus-eligible hours can include up to 40 hours of pandemic-related emergency paid time off, which, given the state of the world seems like the least they can do.
Bonuses will be paid on January 29th. You can read the full memo on the next page.
Remember, we depend on ATL tipsters when it comes to bonus news at other firms. As soon as your firm’s bonus memo comes out, please email it to us (subject line: “[Firm Name] Bonus”) or text us (646-820-8477). 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.
Sponsored
Legal Knowledge Management To Drive Dealmaking
Stuck Drafting A Tough Brief? This Tool Can Help.
What Do Millennials Think Of Law Firm Life?
What Do Millennials Think Of Law Firm Life?
And if you’d like to sign up for ATL’s Bonus Alerts, 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.
Kathryn 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).
Sponsored
The Global Legal News You Need, When You Need It
