Mayer Brown and DLA Piper have amended their associate bonus schemes in Asia to help boost job satisfaction among their junior ranks.

DLA has reduced the amount of billable hours required to earn extra cash, down from 1,650 hours per year to 1,550.

"We had feedback from associates saying it was difficult to get a big chunk of the bonus," said Kevin Chan, DLA Piper's managing partner in Hong Kong, "so we took that into account and changed the scheme so that more people would be eligible."

The scheme has also been amended to take into account the efforts of individual offices and practice groups in Asia, as opposed to just the region.

According to Chan, this will make it easier for associates to get a substantial part of their bonus, as the achievements of single offices and practice areas are more influential.

Meanwhile, Mayer Brown JSM, the US firm's local arm, now allows time spent on pro bono work to count towards bonus targets, presenting more opportunities for associates to take part in not-for-profit work.

Both Mayer Brown and DLA said the initiatives were aimed at creating a more positive working culture for their lawyers.

Elaine Lo, senior partner and chairman of the Asia board at Mayer Brown, said her firm wanted to bring its Asian operations more in line with the US practice.

In the US, the firm currently has an agreement with the national pro bono institute, committing every lawyer to devote 3% of their time to such work.

However, pro bono hours will now be taken into consideration in relation to bonus decisions.

"The firm globally encourages lawyers to increase the amount of time spent on pro bono work, but in Asia, this has not been something we have focused on in the past," said Lo.

"The reason why we haven't focused on it is because the Hong Kong Government already has a legal aid scheme, and law firms here participate. 

"Now we are a global firm we want to be more aligned with what they're doing in the US, and also pro bono is something that is catching on all over the world.

"Unlike legal aid, pro bono can be obtained from any regular client and does not have geographical boundaries."

Bonus schemes have been used across firms in Asia in a bid to retain a talented workforce as well as recruit new blood.

According to a number of firms and recruiters, attracting and retaining staff -especially well-qualified Mandarin speakers – has proved particularly challenging in the region, giving rise to a number of new HR initiatives and remuneration schemes.

In September, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer announced it had taken steps to protect its Asian partnership from US firms' advances by breaking away from its lockstep and allowing new partners to be promoted more quickly in the region.