How much do big law partners make?

[Anonymous]

Why is anyone making millions of dollars per year unless you started a company?

AI will replace most of these legal jobs anyway.

[Anonymous]

I'm a NEP at an AmLaw/Vault 20 firm and make $1.1/1.2m. Most of my EP colleagues make $2-4m, but I'm content as is and have pretty healthy boundaries as a parent. Given my comp, I'd likely be early on the chopping block during a downturn.

[Anonymous]

Big law PPs here - curious about this: would you move in house if the pay was $1M + (base/bonus/equity)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big law PPs here - curious about this: would you move in house if the pay was $1M + (base/bonus/equity)?

Depends on whether the move would result in a better work-life balance. Some GC/AGC jobs are highly stressful, allow zero unplugged vacation time, and require lots of travel. But if it offers a better quality of life than BigLaw plus a seven-figure salary, I'd absolutely take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these DH’s. Hope there are some women out there!

I don’t think you know what you’re wishing for. This is not a motherhood friendly life.

I am a BigLaw mom and have been a partner for 12 years at a top firm. It is absolutely do-able to be a BigLaw mom and be very present in your kids’ lives (room parent, attend nearly every game or show, home for bedtime, emotionally present). After years of hearing the complaining by the spouses of (mostly) men in BigLaw I have come to the conclusion that these men that are being complained about are just affirmatively choosing to not be present or do the hard work for family matters. They can attend the big events, they can help out around the house, they can help with carpool, they can carry the mental load, they can attend the function. They are just choosing not to. It’s a crutch. They just don’t want to do it so they blame work. Ask any rockstar mom. We are used to doing it all. I enjoy my job, I love my kids, I have fun with my friends, I take vacation. It is do-able. If it’s not it’s because you don’t want to (no judgment there), you have poor time management skills, or you’re at the wrong firm. Caveat here that I am not one of the $5M plus earners. I do agree that once you get to the 7-10M+ category, the stakes are raised significantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these DH’s. Hope there are some women out there!

I don’t think you know what you’re wishing for. This is not a motherhood friendly life.

I am a BigLaw mom and have been a partner for 12 years at a top firm. It is absolutely do-able to be a BigLaw mom and be very present in your kids’ lives (room parent, attend nearly every game or show, home for bedtime, emotionally present). After years of hearing the complaining by the spouses of (mostly) men in BigLaw I have come to the conclusion that these men that are being complained about are just affirmatively choosing to not be present or do the hard work for family matters. They can attend the big events, they can help out around the house, they can help with carpool, they can carry the mental load, they can attend the function. They are just choosing not to. It’s a crutch. They just don’t want to do it so they blame work. Ask any rockstar mom. We are used to doing it all. I enjoy my job, I love my kids, I have fun with my friends, I take vacation. It is do-able. If it’s not it’s because you don’t want to (no judgment there), you have poor time management skills, or you’re at the wrong firm. Caveat here that I am not one of the $5M plus earners. I do agree that once you get to the 7-10M+ category, the stakes are raised significantly.

If you’ve been in this space for so long, then surely you must understand that this is very subject matter/practice group specific and also is highly dependent upon access to good senior associates and junior partners, not all of which is always within your control. But yeah the ERISA, tax, and bankruptcy lawyers seems to have a great QOL and relatively little BD because all the other partners are generating their work for them. Venture/M&A in contrast is not very family friendly at all and requires regular BD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these DH’s. Hope there are some women out there!

I don’t think you know what you’re wishing for. This is not a motherhood friendly life.

I am a BigLaw mom and have been a partner for 12 years at a top firm. It is absolutely do-able to be a BigLaw mom and be very present in your kids’ lives (room parent, attend nearly every game or show, home for bedtime, emotionally present). After years of hearing the complaining by the spouses of (mostly) men in BigLaw I have come to the conclusion that these men that are being complained about are just affirmatively choosing to not be present or do the hard work for family matters. They can attend the big events, they can help out around the house, they can help with carpool, they can carry the mental load, they can attend the function. They are just choosing not to. It’s a crutch. They just don’t want to do it so they blame work. Ask any rockstar mom. We are used to doing it all. I enjoy my job, I love my kids, I have fun with my friends, I take vacation. It is do-able. If it’s not it’s because you don’t want to (no judgment there), you have poor time management skills, or you’re at the wrong firm. Caveat here that I am not one of the $5M plus earners. I do agree that once you get to the 7-10M+ category, the stakes are raised significantly.

How many hours are you billing? I disagree with your post. Most biglaw partners can’t just miss a closing in Paris because it’s their kids field trip or soccer championship or birthday. It’s not a default parent compatible career. Most partners are working around the clock. And it’s not predictable. Things will be slower at times - meaning you’re probably just working most of the day, and at least part of the day on vacations - and then other times, you’ll be working until 3am when a deal is closing, and canceling any preplanned plans.

[Anonymous]

Slightly off topic- how universal are these salaries? For example top firms in London? (Thinking of Freshfields or Hogan Lovells etc)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All these DH’s. Hope there are some women out there!

I don’t think you know what you’re wishing for. This is not a motherhood friendly life.

I am a BigLaw mom and have been a partner for 12 years at a top firm. It is absolutely do-able to be a BigLaw mom and be very present in your kids’ lives (room parent, attend nearly every game or show, home for bedtime, emotionally present). After years of hearing the complaining by the spouses of (mostly) men in BigLaw I have come to the conclusion that these men that are being complained about are just affirmatively choosing to not be present or do the hard work for family matters. They can attend the big events, they can help out around the house, they can help with carpool, they can carry the mental load, they can attend the function. They are just choosing not to. It’s a crutch. They just don’t want to do it so they blame work. Ask any rockstar mom. We are used to doing it all. I enjoy my job, I love my kids, I have fun with my friends, I take vacation. It is do-able. If it’s not it’s because you don’t want to (no judgment there), you have poor time management skills, or you’re at the wrong firm. Caveat here that I am not one of the $5M plus earners. I do agree that once you get to the 7-10M+ category, the stakes are raised significantly.

How many hours are you billing? I disagree with your post. Most biglaw partners can’t just miss a closing in Paris because it’s their kids field trip or soccer championship or birthday. It’s not a default parent compatible career. Most partners are working around the clock. And it’s not predictable. Things will be slower at times - meaning you’re probably just working most of the day, and at least part of the day on vacations - and then other times, you’ll be working until 3am when a deal is closing, and canceling any preplanned plans.

The above is fairly accurate for my DH. He does have slower periods but he doesn’t control when they are. I’m the PP above who says it seems somewhat practice group dependent though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slightly off topic- how universal are these salaries? For example top firms in London? (Thinking of Freshfields or Hogan Lovells etc)

Pretty much all big law partners are making 800-$1M. How much more than that you make depends almost entirely on how much money you are making the firm.

As the saying goes, making partner is like winning a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie.

[Anonymous]

They start around 800k and make 1-15M. The president of the big law firm would be the one making around 15M. Most of them are in the 1-5M range.

[Anonymous]

I’m a first year equity and my monthly draw is $5-6K less than my monthly post tax/post retirement take home pay last year. Hoping this is all worth it!

[Anonymous]

I am CPA for many Big Law partners in DC and the range is anywhere from 2M - 12M from what I have personally seen.

Those over 7M work more in the M&A and Anti-Trust side for the largest of transactions.

They work like dogs and many of them are burnt out by 50 but the golden handcuffs keep them chugging along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They start around 800k and make 1-15M. The president of the big law firm would be the one making around 15M. Most of them are in the 1-5M range.

Actually, IME the managing partner and the rainmaker(s) are rarely the same person. The rainmakers way out earn the managing partner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first year equity and my monthly draw is $5-6K less than my monthly post tax/post retirement take home pay last year. Hoping this is all worth it!

Assuming you actually bill hours and have a good book, it will be worth it.