Partners have reportedly taken a break from the million-dollar summer homes their associates toil to make possible to let the rabble know that their hefty bonuses might be “in jeopardy” because they haven’t done enough hallway waving this quarter. To be clear, the problem isn’t hours — tipsters writing in about this practice claim to be on track for north of 2100 — but attendance, because if an associate wigs out on caffeine and adderall while furiously citechecking and no one is down the hall, does it really even happen?

King & Spalding partners want attorneys in the office more and are in the midst of what’s being described as an “awkward” campaign to urge folks back into the hallways. As usual, associate bonuses have become a bargaining chip. And it might not just be going forward, with some veiled threats that this policy would apply retroactively.

Insiders describe this as a massive culture shock because the firm has never exhibited much concern about office attendance before — even known to describe itself as a “no facetime” firm on the recruiting trail. The target for attendance seems modest, with tipsters claiming the firm is seeking 50 percent attendance, which makes the dire financial threat all the more disproportionate.

To be clear, none of this is in writing and our informants say the conversations about bonuses haven’t involved any details, though the insinuation that bonuses may be retroactively impacted feels like bringing a nuclear device to a knife fight.

Those in the trenches — especially those who ran up record revenue working from home through a global pandemic unprecedented since attorneys turned drafts via passenger raven during the Black Death — understandably balk at firms calling them back into the office. Many young lawyers made life decisions based on years of hybrid work, having moved further from the office or scheduled kids’ practices for Tuesday afternoons or invested in an all-sweatpants wardrobe. Those folks can’t necessarily turn on a dime when a firm yanks the hybrid floor out from under them.

That said, regardless of what the glossy brochure says, law school doesn’t produce practice-ready attorneys. The profession relies upon on-the-job training and there are a lot of lessons that just don’t come across when there’s not a midlevel standing next to you explaining why you’re using the wrong letterhead. Senior lawyers keep reporting that the new crop of lawyers are woefully behind where they should be. And that’s before you consider Gen Z lawyers out here telling senior associates “Nah, you do that” when they aren’t biting people.

So it’s not just the voyeuristic thrill of watching associates bleed out in real time or providing your office fling more privacy than a Coldplay concert. Training matters and some of that has to be in person. Still, when remote work brought banner earnings, happier lawyers, and fewer dead plants, rolling that back takes a deft touch. Which is to say the opposite of “maybe we’ll take away your bonus for not predicting in February that we’d have new priorities in July.”

Biglaw bonuses are not bonuses. Some firms offer supplemental bonuses for high performers, but the lockstep associate bonus is really deferred compensation. It’s the firm paying market without binding itself to match the next year. When the “bonus” is really part of the expected salary, messing with it becomes shady.

Probably a partner who cares more about having a captive audience to laugh at his jokes because their financial well-being depends on it.

Returning to the office, like introducing a new tech platform, requires buy-in. The whole team needs to be sold on the mission and leadership needs to be adaptable to make it happen. This isn’t a flip-switching exercise. Well, it can be, but only if the firm wants to bleed talent like a Tarantino character with a neck wound. If the firm wants to be successful, everyone needs to understand the goal and feel excited about pitching in. When firms talk about bringing people back to the office to build “community” or “culture,” they’ve got it backward: the firm needs a strong culture first so people want to come in.

And persuading people is harder than threatening people, but if anyone can do it, it should be the lawyers.

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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