Attorneys - what holiday gift / bonus for support staff?

[Anonymous]

Specifically secretaries.

[Anonymous]

Money. Gift cards.

[Anonymous]

Money

[Anonymous]

Money - my DH gives his secretary $1000 check

[Anonymous]

MONEY

[Anonymous]

Money. Time off. We give ours the week between Christmas and New Years.

[Anonymous]

I'm a legal secretary. I need money. I mean, you could give me a huge Trader Joe's gift card if you want, but that's basically what I'll spend it on - TJ's and the farmer's market.

One of my attorneys gave me a bottle of wine one year, but I don't drink so just gave it to my sibling the next time I got invited over. Two of my attorneys never give me anything. The fourth sometimes gives me $200 to Bloomingdales, or $100 to the Bravo storefront, or sometimes just a happy holidays card. They all like me very much and give me excellent reviews. That just doesn't translate to holiday bonuses for the most part.

[Anonymous]

I'm a senior associate and give $600 with a nice bottle of wine.

[Anonymous]

My DH gives money ($500-1000, depending on how much support he uses) and a bottle of wine or box of chocolates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a legal secretary. I need money. I mean, you could give me a huge Trader Joe's gift card if you want, but that's basically what I'll spend it on - TJ's and the farmer's market.

One of my attorneys gave me a bottle of wine one year, but I don't drink so just gave it to my sibling the next time I got invited over. Two of my attorneys never give me anything. The fourth sometimes gives me $200 to Bloomingdales, or $100 to the Bravo storefront, or sometimes just a happy holidays card. They all like me very much and give me excellent reviews. That just doesn't translate to holiday bonuses for the most part.

+1

This is the norm.

[Anonymous]

Cash is king

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you really need to give anything - maybe a box of chocolates or a mug set or something.

[Anonymous]

Cash.

My husband is a practice group leader at a big NYC firm—he gives $5k. Gave $1K as an associate.

[Anonymous]

When I was an associate way back when around 2011, the standard was 100 for every year you were an associate. So 400 if you were a fourth year associate. I'd imagine that may have upticked some due to inflation.

[Anonymous]

Do not give support staff a gift card to Bulgari or the Ritz, places they can't afford and will never go.
Give them a Visa or Target gift card that they can spend on things they need.
My kid, who is support staff at a big law firm, received a gift card last year to a very expensive restaurant from one of the attorneys. I bought the gift card off him because he needed the money more than he needed the free, but outrageously expensive meal!