Heller’s Associate Bonanza: Bonuses Restored, Training Added at No Charge to Clients
Heller Ehrman has concluded it was wrong to cut some 2007 bonuses to pay for associate salary hikes, and it’s doing something about it.
The law firm has announced it will restore 2007 bonuses of $15,000 to $25,000 for 2,000 hours billed, the Recorder reports. The firm had eliminated the bonuses while keeping merit bonuses for the same amount when it increased pay for new associates last year to $160,000.
The firm’s human resources chief, David Sanders, told the legal publication that the firm relented after a review found that most other California firms didn’t eliminate 2,000-hour bonuses to pay for raises. The 2,000-hour bonus will also be paid in 2008.
The firm also announced a new training program, the publication says. It allows first-year associates to spend 300 hours in training that won’t be billed to clients, but will count in tallies for billable hours and bonuses. The initiative will allow associates to sit in on strategy sessions, negotiations, depositions and other trial activities.
A recent article advocated such programs as a way to stanch the exodus of a “lost generation” of unhappy associates.
The good press for Heller follows about partner departures that weren’t as positive. In January, the head of the firm’s bankruptcy practice and two other partners left the firm. And last fall, the firm lost a co-chair of the firm’s labor and employment practice and the managing partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office not long after the firm fired 65 support staffers. Earlier in the year, the law firm lost half of its San Diego corporate practice.
Updated at 11:29 a.m. to add partner departure information and links.
