Group has lost all but 1 or 2 associates in my mid-level class year. I am one of those people. How likely is a retention bonus? I don’t think it would be wise for me to expressly ask for one, but looking at this from a management perspective, I think they probably want to stop the associate attrition. So do you think there is a possibility the firm throws me some extra cash to keep me around or are they going to continue to grind the associates who stuck around until they leave as well?

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The latter. I'm not saying good management wouldn't try to proactively do something to stop the bleeding, but if several associates have independently made the decision to leave in such close proximity, it's likely symptomatic of a bigger issue to which management is tone deaf. I guess the greater question is whether YOU want to stick around irrespective of whatever money they throw at you one time. I say this as someone whose practice group has been decimated over the last year (because the firm itself is not a good place to be) and am taking that as my sign to exit as well. There's literally no amount of money that could be paid to get me to stay.

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Firms typically don’t pay these retention bonuses unless they know you have another offer. Headhunters love to promote the churn, but most attorneys say that unless the specialty is different or there is a lack of work, one large firm is rarely different from another. I’ve practiced in big law and run taker on big law at multiple firms and agree with this take on things.

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I know a few people who have received retention bonuses. They never asked for them. They were given to them because leadership didn’t want to lose them. The fact that your team is losing a ton of people and you haven’t been offered a retention bonus makes me think that they are ok with losing the rest of you.

likesmarthelpful

Some of these departures just happened so I would give it some time before reaching that conclusion, but I generally agree.

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If everyone is leaving, there’s probably an issue. You might want to leave before you are the last one standing (retention bonus or not).

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Start looking anyway

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Omg I hope you're not my group's midlevel cuz I would hate to lose you 😭 but also they better be giving you everything you ask for

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They definitely know but I'm just a junior 🥺

If the firm didn’t start trying to retain people when the exodus started, they’re not going to now. How have the departures affected you? Money aside, if you look around and find you’re getting all the juicy work and more opportunities than you would have otherwise, then that’s your retention bonus there. If you are drowning and having to hold things together because the firm can’t fill the positions or retain people, then it might be time to start looking for a life raft to another firm.
There are some ways to incept the idea of a retention bonus. DM me if that’s something you’d want to try.

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I know people that were offered a retention bonus in this scenario after making it known they had a signing bonus elsewhere without explicitly asking their current firm to match.

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