The firm enacted a pay freeze in 2009, but in February 2010, it announced that salaries would be raised to market level for all associates who billed at least 1,900 hours in 2009, while those who billed 1,500 hours would only receive a single class bump in salary.  In October 2009, Bingham McCutchen announced a new merit-lockstep compensation structure, under which base salaries would remain based on a set lockstep system, but bonuses would be contingent on merit and the financial contribution of the associate as well as hours.  However, in February 2011, the firm returned to a single-scale base compensation system.  Starting salaries are $160,000 in all offices.  Bonuses at the firm are individualized, but they typically match market bonus levels for associates who meet hours requirements.  However, associates report that in 2009, only associates who billed at least 2,100 hours could expect market-level (i.e., Cravath-scale) bonuses.  In 2010 and 2011, the firm paid bonuses based on the Cravath scale, with an added special bonus for top performers.  The firm also paid 2011 spring bonuses that matched the Cravath spring bonus scale.  Lateral Link Members agree that the firm is a follower in terms of bonus amounts; so much of a follower, in fact, that the firm typically waits until March to pay out year-end bonuses.  The firm also awards bonuses and progression credits to new associates for judicial clerkships, and it may award similar compensation for advanced degrees.   

To complement its employee-centric work environment, the firm looks for associates that are “smart, grounded people who have good judgment, are great communicators, and haven’t let a challenging career path rob them of their sense of humor.”  Staffing at Bingham McCutchen is a hybrid system, whereby associates are assigned to a partner who provides some work for their first two years, with the remainder of assignments coming from other partners the associate wants to work with or by going through the formal workflow system.  Opinions of the firm’s staffing practices vary among Members, with one Member complaining that the work received is not very substantive, and another pointing out that the process is “very sink-or-swim.”  Lateral Link Members also point out that associates are usually allowed to work for other partners outside their practice group, especially if their department is slow.  Associates are not required to select a primary practice group for their first four years; they instead work generally in either the litigation or corporate department.  In the first two years, associates can expect to receive a review every six months and then an annual review beginning in the third year, which one Member says provides “little useful feedback.”  In addition to standard associate reviews, the firm conducts an annual upward review process in which associates anonymously evaluate partners and senior attorneys.  The firm prides itself on the training new associates are provided through the Attorney Development Department, which focuses on practical skills training, workflow coordination, performance feedback, and career counseling opportunities.  While Lateral Link Members generally praise the availability and variety of formal training opportunities, they note that it varies by practice group.  For example, one Member in the tax group explains that all tax training is on-the-job.  Lateral Link Members note that the mentoring program is “subpar” and in most cases is nonexistent. 

Like most national law firms, Bingham McCutchen is committed to diversity and has been recognized for its diversity-related efforts.  In 2012, the firm made Fortune's “100 Best Companies to Work For” list for the eighth consecutive year, and in 2011 scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for the third year in a row based on its treatment of its LGBT employees.  The firm is also passionate about its impact on the environment and has launched a firmwide Green Initiative “with the aim of significantly reducing firmwide consumption of plastic, energy, and paper.” 

Lateral Link Members report that there were stealth layoffs of associates from all class years in 2009.  While current morale at the firm is mediocre, Lateral Link Members are seemingly confident in the management and trajectory of the firm.

Bingham McCutchen offers four weeks of vacation time, which rolls over to the following year.  Lateral Link Members say that while associates do not take most of the vacation time allotted to them, when associates do take vacation, partners generally respect their time away from the office.  However, Members also note that associates are expected to check email on vacation and, depending on the partner and/or practice group, may have to occasionally cancel a vacation for work.  Pressure for face time "depends on your practice group," and even on the partners within the practice group, according to Lateral Link Members, with some saying it is more typical for litigators to need to be in the office.  Associates regularly work on weekends, but they can usually do so from home, and working on holidays is not common.  The firm offers 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, and eight weeks of paid paternity leave.