In response to a former associate's lawsuit over bonuses, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel is countering that its associate bonuses are discretionary, and the credits it uses to calculate bonuses don't amount to “tangible” property.

Ryan Leonard's suit, filed in May 2016, alleges that partners at Obermayer Rebmann, where he worked from 2008 to 2014, counted hours differently when billing clients than it did for calculating bonuses. That led to both unfair billing and unfair bonuses, the suit alleged.

In a motion for summary judgment filed on Monday, the firm argued that associate bonuses were not guaranteed in the firm's employment contract. And a prorated credit, the motion said, could not be converted or misappropriated because it is an “internal and intangible accounting device.”