Goodwin Procter is paying 2009 bonuses to its associates who hit their billable hour goal of 1850 hours, maybe. Bonuses will more or less match the Cravath bonus scale, maybe. If the firm feels like it. Associates that billed 1850 hours will be considered for, but not guaranteed a bonus, and the firm provided a nice chart showing Cravath-like bonuses but said that actual bonus amounts will be based on other factors.
The firm also told its associates that it was abandoning lockstep compensation, maybe. But not this year. Although the firm has (apparently) hated lockstep for years, this year it will study the issue holistically. In the mean time one thing is for certain, Goodwin Procter is thawing out salaries. It’s not a true up – associates are only being bumped up one year, but it’s a far cry better than the firms using merit based compensation to mask a pay cut.
Goodwin Procter LLP employs 900 attorneys in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Silicon Valley, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington DC.
