Many
readers
of
Above
the
Law
eagerly
await
news
about
annual
bonuses
around
the
end
of
the
year.
Most
Biglaw
law
firms
award
those
bonuses
based
on
seniority
and
perhaps
other
performance-based
metrics. Some
smaller
law
firms
also
have
institutionalized
year-end
bonus
initiatives
through
which
attorneys
may
receive
a
bonus
equal
to
one
or
two
months
of
salary. However,
most
attorneys
work
at
small
law
firms
and
are
much
less
likely
to
receive
an
annual
bonus
at
such
firms.
After
leaving
Biglaw,
I
started
working
at
a
small
insurance
defense
shop
that
was
a
small
fraction
of
the
size
of
the
large
law
firm
at
which
I
previously
worked. I
was
amazed
at
how
this
shop
operated
differently
than
the
Biglaw
firm
that
had
previously
employed
me. For
instance,
this
shop
did
not
reimburse
associates
for
bar
dues
and
did
not
fund
training
and
conference
attendance.
Around
bonus
season,
I
wondered
whether
I
would
receive
an
annual
bonus
like
attorneys
at
many
Biglaw
shops
got. Veteran
lawyers
at
the
firm
could
not
tell
whether
the
shop
would
award
bonuses. I
was
told
that
in
some
previous
years,
the
firm
provided
holiday
bonuses,
which
were
relatively
modest
in
comparison
to
the
bonuses
awarded
at
Biglaw
firms.
However,
in
some
years
in
which
the
law
firm
faced
financial
challenges,
they
skipped
awarding
holiday
bonuses
to
associates.
When
it
came
time
for
my
annual
review
at
that
shop,
I
was
told
I
would
be
receiving
a
pay
raise
for
the
upcoming
year,
which
I
was
happy
about. However,
the
managing
partner
of
the
firm
told
me
that
the
shop
was
not
awarding
holiday
bonuses
because
of
difficult
economic
realities
at
the
shop.
I
remembered
that
one
of
our
court-reporting
vendors
gave
gift
baskets
to
all
of
the
attorneys
of
our
firm,
and
this
was
the
only
holiday
cheer
provided
to
me
as
a
result
of
work.
Additionally,
smaller
shops
are
much
more
likely
to
forgo
giving
individual
associates
a
bonus
based
on
performance
issues
even
if
they
provide
bonuses
to
other
attorneys
at
a
firm. I
once
worked
at
a
law
firm
directly
before
starting
my
own
shop. In
the
months
leading
up
to
my
departure
from
that
firm
to
open
my
own
practice,
my
productivity
declined,
since
I
was
relatively
checked
out
from
my
job
at
the
firm. I
knew
that
I
would
be
opening
my
own
practice
soon,
so
I
figured
it
did
not
make
too
much
sense
to
work
hard
to
line
the
pockets
of
partners
at
the
firm
from
which
I
would
soon
be
departing.
When
it
came
time
for
my
annual
review,
I
was
shocked
to
discover
that
I
had
still
earned
a
pay
raise
at
the
firm,
which
did
not
matter
much
since
I
left
the
shop
shortly
into
the
new
year.
However,
partners
told
me
that
I
would
not
be
receiving
a
bonus
since
my
performance
had
slacked
off
toward
the
end
of
the
year.
In
my
opinion,
it
is
more
common
for
Biglaw
to
just
award
lock-step
bonuses
according
to
seniority
rather
than
withhold
bonuses
for
performance
reasons. This
is
probably
because
bonuses
impact
the
bottom
lines
of
smaller
shops
more,
and
it
is
more
difficult
to
do
a
case-by-case
analysis
for
bonuses
at
larger
firms.
In
any
case,
readers
of
this
website
and
others
should
not
think
bonuses
are
common
practice
across
all
law
firms. Smaller
shops
are
more
likely
to
forgo
annual
bonuses
together
or
deny
bonuses
to
individual
attorneys.
Jordan
Rothman
is
a
partner
of The
Rothman
Law
Firm,
a
full-service
New
York
and
New
Jersey
law
firm.
He
is
also
the
founder
of Student
Debt
Diaries,
a
website
discussing
how
he
paid
off
his
student
loans.
You
can
reach
Jordan
through
email
at jordan@rothman.law.