THE PROMOTION

PROCESS AT
CHUNG AND DASGUPTA
Under the guidance of Dr. Deepak Sharma
By:
Priyanka Sahu (B028)
Teena C Antony (B051)
About Chung and Dasgupta, LLP

Tian-Cho Chung FOUNDERS Anjali Dasgupta

Specialized Law Firm for

Intellectual Property Infringement
Focus of the Firm

INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY LITIGATION

Damages awarded in the cases was significantly higher than the Industry medians,
ranging from $2 million to $16 million between 1995 and 2011.
Mix of Employees

40 Partners

200+ Associates
The Litigation Model

Team Leaders Litigators

Team Leaders are responsible to drive the overall process of litigation smoothly
v/s
Litigators focus on specialized areas of the case and litigate in the courtroom.
Performance Assessments
• Dedicated PA process that takes up 30% of partner time
• Each associate is assigned a Development Coach(DC)

The Grading Process

• DC talks with everyone involved in cases to which the associate is assigned
to get feedback on the associates performance

• Usually occurs at every February

 Ten Criteria for Grades
Analytic Writing
Productivity Work efficiency Leadership
Ability Ability

Teamwork
Judgment
Independence and Client
Initiative and
Firm Relationship
Maturity
Relationships
 Grades A-E
A- Meets partner Level Expectations
B- Exceeds the average associate but falls short of partner expectations
C- Average Associate; meeting Associate expectations
D- Below average Associate but acceptable performance
E- Not acceptable performance
Grade Point Average
• The nine letter grades are averaged, with each given equal weight, into an overall “Grade
Point Average” (GPA)
• The maximum attainable GPA is 4.0, and represents an Associate who receives A’s in every
category
• The average Associate receives a GPA of less than 2.5
• C & D does not attempt to “grade on the curve”
• C&D does not give more importance to the “total hours billed”
• At the end of each year, Associates are all asked to fill out a performance assessment form
for themselves
• DC reviews this self-assessment before she finalizes her own performance assessment for
the Associate
 Evaluation Weekend

• Evaluation weekend is a weekend spent reviewing every Associate’s performance,

as summarized by his/her DC
• The partners discuss the evaluation and initial grades for every Associate
• Partners “force rank” all Associates into two “tenure bands”
Associates with 0-4 years of experience

Associates with 5+ years of experience

• DCs sometimes slightly change their initial grades based on the group’s feedback
 Bands for Associates

Bottom
Top 10% 10%-25% 25%-50% 50%-75%
25%
 Performance Assessment Meetings
• Later in February, every Associate and her assigned DC will hold a formal
“performance assessment meeting” (“PAM”) to review the Associate’s
performance that year

• The DC also uses the PAM to provide feedback and coaching to the Associate, and
to talk about priorities for the coming year
 Annual Bonus
• A bonus of 100% is typically about 20% of salary

Band Bonus
Top 10% 140%
25%-50% 100%
Bottom 25% 60%

Example: For Associates making $200,000 in base salary,

Top 10% bonus is approximately $64,000
Bottom 25% will earn a bonus of $24,000
Only a difference of 18%
Promotion to Partner
• During the “Assessment Weekend, the partners elect new partners for the coming
year among Associates with 9-11 years of tenure
• To be elected, an associate requires vote by two-thirds of the existing partnership

Who must leave the firm?

• Any Associate ranked in the bottom 25% band for three years in a row
• Any Associate not ranked in the top half at least once within any four-year period
• Any Associate who does not make partner by the end of her eleventh year at the
firm
 Mona Leung

V/S

Jordan Ramirez
Mona Leung
Jordan Ramirez
Jordan’s Current Year Performance
• 5th time in a row she is ranked as the top “Team Leader”
• In Top 10% band this year
• First-year associates selected Jordan as “Top Mentor”

Productivity:
• Overall rank slipped from #2to #5 this year due to no change in Productivity grade
• Her 7% increase in billing had only put her slightly above average in her tenure
group and therefore no increase in Productivity grade
Grading of Jordan
Client Incident:
• Jordan’s grade went down this year in two other categories-Client Relationships,
Judgement & Maturity
• Due to an incident with a client who got upset at Jordan since there was a strategy
mismatch in a deposition
• It happened mainly because of miscommunication by the Partner in charge of the
case, Mr. Stuart
• But Jordan had to take the brunt of client’s anger
• At “Evaluation Weekend” several partners raised this issue
• Although Stuart tries to take up responsibility, a few partners wondered if Stuart
was trying to cover up for Jordan
Jordan’s Self Evaluation
• Jordan rated herself A in all category, except for Productivity where she rated
herself as B
• She did not mention about the Client Incident at all
• She believed that since she received A in all the 9 categories, she was “Partner-
Ready”
New Policy on Early Partners

It is expected that every strong Associates will not have the capabilities required
for partner election until the ninth year of their tenure at C&D. However, should an
associate demonstrate readiness for partnership in every way, the partners may
decide to elect said Associate to partner before her ninth year. This decision lies
solely with the partners.
Comparing Mona & Jordan

Jordan’s
Performance

Mona’s
Performance
Comparing Mona & Jordan
• Team Leaders receive on average lower grade’s that Associates
• This comparison can be unfair
• Jordan has been the “#1 Team Leader”
• Mona has been the “#1 Litigator”
 Key Learnings –
Analysis of the PMS at C&D, LLP
Advantages Disadvantages
• An Associate with no experience is
• C&D does not give
evaluated with an associate coming
heavy weightage in its with 4 years of experience.
PA to an Associate's • The average GPA of a Team Leader is
always lesser than that of a Litigator.
total billed hours in the • Peer Ranking system to highlight
previous year. performance standards in the
company.
THANK YOU