Big Law Salary Increase

[Rashabon]

42 minutes ago, AHLALA said:

In all fairness, we've had a ~25% salary increase last year, plus a 20% retention bonus.

I wouldn't really call that fairness given the work. Whatever firm that is is cheap.

[CanadaWater]

25% would be below market for top firms prior to this round of bonuses.  If the market has indeed shifted to >30%, than I expect many associates at the firm noted above will start looking elsewhere.  There's really no reason to accept below market compensation when lateralling to a better/higher paying firm is so easy.  

Edited February 17, 2022 by CanadaWater
grammar

[Songbird]

Recruiters seem to be aware of this general trend as well - the calls have definitely picked up again this week. 

[Rashabon]

If you're a securities lawyer and your firm was cheap enough to top out at 25% for an annual bonus for top performers, PM me and I'll help you look into lateralling.

If you didn't hit target and didn't get 25% or more, that's understandable. But top performers topping out at 25% is just being cheap.

[easttowest]

Bonuses for stub year associates are kind of all over the place but one major firm paid no bonuses to that group regardless of whether they billed at a target pace after coming back. Very, very cheap!

[QueensGrad]

Standard seems to minimum 30% for meeting target from what I've heard/received. At least among the top firms. 

4 minutes ago, easttowest said:

Bonuses for stub year associates are kind of all over the place but one major firm paid no bonuses to that group regardless of whether they billed at a target pace after coming back. Very, very cheap!

This is very cheap (unnecessarily so). That firm is going to have trouble with retention. 

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by QueensGrad

[Talleyrandophile]

Wow... I was happy with 20%. Hit target at large Canadian national firm, though granted not the Toronto office. 

[Pantalaimon]

35 minutes ago, Talleyrandophile said:

Wow... I was happy with 20%. Hit target at large Canadian national firm, though granted not the Toronto office. 

Toronto's really a whole different world. They've gotta afford their condos somehow!

[easttowest]

1 hour ago, QueensGrad said:

 

This is very cheap (unnecessarily so). That firm is going to have trouble with retention. 

 

They also refused to cover a $15 ergo mousepad for a WFH setup. That one may be less egregious but… still…

[KOMODO]

3 hours ago, CanadaWater said:

25% would be below market for top firms prior to this round of bonuses.  If the market has indeed shifted to >30%, than I expect many associates at the firm noted above will start looking elsewhere.  There's really no reason to accept below market compensation when lateralling to a better/higher paying firm is so easy.  

I understand you're probably speaking generally, like, there's nothing stopping you from lateralling....but there are all kinds of reasons to accept below market comp. The main one is that you just prefer the working conditions / partners at your firm, compared to the conditions or people at firms paying more. I get calls all the time to go this place or that place that might pay a bit more, and wouldn't consider most of them because I would have to work for jerks / longer or less predictable hours / the advancement opportunities are uncertain / etc. Obviously there's a limit to this, the "nicer" firm has to be close to the high end of comp, but there are lots of people who are making decisions based on something other than making the most money possible.

[CanadaWater]

15 minutes ago, KOMODO said:

I understand you're probably speaking generally, like, there's nothing stopping you from lateralling....but there are all kinds of reasons to accept below market comp. The main one is that you just prefer the working conditions / partners at your firm, compared to the conditions or people at firms paying more. I get calls all the time to go this place or that place that might pay a bit more, and wouldn't consider most of them because I would have to work for jerks / longer or less predictable hours / the advancement opportunities are uncertain / etc. Obviously there's a limit to this, the "nicer" firm has to be close to the high end of comp, but there are lots of people who are making decisions based on something other than making the most money possible.

Oh yeah, totally agree.  Lots of people prioritize lifestyle factors over compensation.  All other things being equal though (and there's lot's of COVID-related reasons to assume they'd largely be equal - e.g., virtually all corporate associates have been at or near capacity for the better part of two years, meaningful mentorship opportunities from partners have been lacking due to remote work, etc.), there is a compelling case to just seek out the highest compensation in your market.  This is a thread about salaries after all 🙂.

[Jaggers]

I don't think the case is ever compelling to "just" seek out the highest compensation.

[CanadaWater]

17 minutes ago, Jaggers said:

I don't think the case is ever compelling to "just" seek out the highest compensation.

*All other things being equal.  

It's difficult to express how similar big firm experiences for corporate associates have been since 2020 in terms of workload and lifestyle.  Unless you're pretty much guaranteed partnership, absolutely love working with your team or are too senior (or underperforming) to lateral anywhere, I don't know why you would settle for under market compensation as a corporate associate at a big firm.  The barriers to lateralling to top firms are significantly lower now than they've been in at least 10 years.   

Edited February 17, 2022 by CanadaWater

[Jaggers]

The compensation is all pretty similar. If you are making $150K, what difference is another 5 or 10 going to make to your life? None, realistically.

[easttowest]

4 minutes ago, Jaggers said:

The compensation is all pretty similar. If you are making $150K, what difference is another 5 or 10 going to make to your life? None, realistically.

I’d like to find that out for myself, thank you very much. 

[CanadaWater]

4 minutes ago, Jaggers said:

The compensation is all pretty similar. If you are making $150K, what difference is another 5 or 10 going to make to your life? None, realistically.

I have no knowledge of the 2022 bonus figures quoted above, but someone mentioned a firm with bonuses capping out at 25%.  Someone else mentioned firms with bonuses as high as 50%.  For a sixth year associate, that would be the difference between a ~ $59k bonus and a ~117k bonus. 

I agree that $5k is probably not worth lateralling over, but at some point it makes financial sense for the average associate.  

[Jaggers]

That's a difference of like $500 after tax.

14 minutes ago, easttowest said:

I’d like to find that out for myself, thank you very much. 

Sure. But it's going to be a whole lot less important than quality of life, type of work and mentoring.

[Judgelight]

Reading this thread as an outsider is interesting, kind of rich how out of touch some people in here are. 5 or 10 is not a life changing amount, but its consequential. 

[WyattDerp]

18 minutes ago, Judgelight said:

5 or 10 is not a life changing amount, but its consequential. 

Sounds like you aren't getting paid enough.

[CleanHands]

2 minutes ago, WyattDerp said:

Sounds like you aren't getting paid enough.

He's a Crown; of course he isn't.

[Jaggers]

1 hour ago, Judgelight said:

Reading this thread as an outsider is interesting, kind of rich how out of touch some people in here are. 5 or 10 is not a life changing amount, but its consequential. 

Well, yeah. That's why I prefaced it with "If you are making $150K". Most people don't make anywhere near that, but this is a thread about big law.

[Lawstudents20202020]

1 hour ago, Judgelight said:

Reading this thread as an outsider is interesting, kind of rich how out of touch some people in here are. 5 or 10 is not a life changing amount, but its consequential. 

Seeing threads like this sometimes make me question if I made the right call not trying for big law. Then I remind myself that I left the office at 430 every day this week and it's not an issue. 

[Scout]

I recently interviewed with a firm in Toronto (a "seven sister" - I disagree with that being relevant but I know some find it to be so) and they told me that hitting target would be a 10% bonus. I was honestly shocked as it seems so out of touch with the market. 

[BlockedQuebecois]

Is 10% for hitting target but not exceeding it significantly below market? 

[Rashabon]

2 hours ago, Scout said:

I recently interviewed with a firm in Toronto (a "seven sister" - I disagree with that being relevant but I know some find it to be so) and they told me that hitting target would be a 10% bonus. I was honestly shocked as it seems so out of touch with the market. 

Is it? If you’re only hitting target you’re not one of the people grinding all the time.