Yikes. I can understand a firm’s inclination to be transparent with associates, but you have to wonder if it would be better to say nothing at all. And for those associates who thought working for — far and away — the richest Biglaw firm meant of course you’d get market bonuses? Lolololol. COVID makes fools of us all.

So what exactly happened?

Last night, Kirkland & Ellis sent around a message indicating that yes, they are aware that fall bonuses are making their way through Biglaw, but no, you should not expect them. The firm acknowledged the discrepancy between top of the market and what they’re doing and said they’d take the market into account during year-end bonus time, but made no clear commitment.

Read the memo for yourself:

Let’s check in with our Kirkland readers —- y’all, they’re not okay:

Associates are livid. Despite the general lack of transparency, we were told that our office was up 20% year on year. What a slap in the face to everyone who’s been grinding all year under difficult conditions.

The email doesn’t contain a commitment to true us up, it’s just an anodyne statement that they’ll take them “into account.” What garbage. These cheapskates have been talking for months about how the firm is having a banner year (for instance, the funds group is apparently on track to have a billion dollars of revenue on its own), but they can’t share it with associates.

I’m a senior associate at K&E. I think that what they’re going to do here is roll it into the year-end bonus, then use it as an opportunity to scrimp. So where in years past the average bonus was 1.25x (I snuck a pic of the powerpoint last year and I’m pretty sure that’s what the average was, but I can’t find it now), now they’ll be able to lower it to 1.15x but make it look ok because they’re aggregating it with the year-end bonus. And of course people with below-class ratings are going to get the shaft and they won’t compute them into the statistics about what’s “average”. This is a complete money grab, but exactly what I’d expect from the partnership here.

If you forward the email on your phone, you can see that they were tweaking the “and we intend to be so again this year” phrasing. Like, these guys were definitely on a Zoom call together trying to figure out how to polish this turd without making any true commitments.

Morale is NOT GREAT.

Another K&E person chiming in to describe the mood among my friends as FUCKING IRATE. I like the firm and generally drink the koolaid, but the fact that they call themselves compensation leaders twice in the “sry no bonus” email is ridiculous. Please vote us down in Vault.”

KE associate checking in — they said they would consider fall bonuses when determining December bonuses. But still. Bullshit. Lots of people will just get screwed given the individualized system we have. This is also a fuck you move because it’s pretty clearly a signal to other firms that the KE partners don’t want them to match. Just like Covington’s lame attempt to stop the salary raises a few years ago. Shame.

I am not in restructuring, but I can only imagine how pissed those guys have got to be during this insane year.

This is a slap in the face for associates at the world’s #1 grossing law firm.

So there you go, associates are deeply upset with this development. And remember, traditionally, the firm prides itself on above market — albeit individualized — bonuses. So, whatever numbers (which will be difficult to compare since you know, individualized) the firm comes up with at the end of the year, there’s a pretty good chance that, overall, they won’t be as generous as last year. At least that’s what insiders think; we’ll see what happens come December

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40940635)

I do think there will be a shift in law firm lease negotiations and build outs to get rid of wasted staff space and maybe go to uniform office sizes.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40941388)

They're just cheap. The "shattering" thing ended a long time ago. These days, it's a lot of extra work for a little extra money.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40941649)

Also heard from a different source (this was from a share partner) that the firm is ripping and whatever the aggregate payout number is, it's a drop in the bucket and the firm can pay it no problem. They were surprised that the firm didn't match now, but understood that the logistics of paying an unanticipated bonus at K&E just isn't worth it when the firm is so busy and they're going through the process in 3 months time anyway.

Not a great reason in my opinion, but I've been there for 5 years now and they've always paid me considerably above market (1.5x at least), so I have no reason to think they won't come through at bonus time this year.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40958287)

https://abovethelaw.com/uploads/2020/09/SullCrom-Special-COVID-Bonus-e1600727837521.jpg

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40962026)

Does anyone know when a K&E bonus really "vests?" Historically they've had the bonus meeting a few days before Christmas and paid it out on 12/31. If I put in my notice the day after the bonus meeting and tell them my last day is 1/1/21, am I going to get my bonus? I may be able to hold off my new job until then but I think they're going to have limited flexibility since it's the government and I want to tell them the shortest possible timeframe consistent with me getting the bonus.

There's no point reminding me that I made a miscalculation, I just want to understand if there's a way to mitigate it now that I know I'm giving up about double the amount of money I originally thought I was giving up.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40972029)

You're in BigLaw again

You're in BigLaw again

You're in BigLaw againnnnnnnnnnnn

NO BONUS

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4627062&forum_id=2#40976395)