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Back in July, around the time when Biglaw firms first decided to start partially or completely restoring the salary cuts they instituted due to the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus, some firms announced they’d be offering bonuses for high billers during these uncertain times.
One of those firms was Ogletree, which had earlier reduced pay for equity partners (by 20 percent), associates (by 15 percent), and highly compensated staff (by 10 percent) for the remainder of 2020. At the time, the firm announced that associates would receive special bonus payments of up to $20,000 combined, plus bonuses based on a percentage of their salary, based on their hours billed during 2020’s pandemic. Given that good news, we wondered if and when the firm would consider restoring employees’ pay to pre-COVID levels.
That time, apparently, is now.
Following the Labor Day holiday, C. Matthew Keen, Ogletree’s managing shareholder, sent out an email (available in full on the next page) letting everyone know that the firm’s August hours were “the best in recent history,” and that given the “positive trend,” salary reductions would be eliminated effective September 1, and the change would be reflected in upcoming paychecks.
On top of that announcement, Keen said that all previously offered bonuses are still in effect, and associates who qualify for these bonuses will be in really great shape, noting that “[m]ost of the associates who earn these bonuses will actually earn more compensation than scheduled before the pandemic.”
Great news all around at Ogletree. Let’s hope more firms decide to restore pay soon.
(Flip to the next page to see the full memo from Ogletree.)
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Earlier: Am Law 100 Firm Offers Special Bonuses For Associates
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.