Spin-off post - Big law Partners and how much $$ it would take for you to move in house
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Anonymous
| What happened to the thread on salaries? I can’t find it anymore. |
Anonymous
| So if I am leaving govt and my options are in-house at about 350k (including bonus/equity) vs 5-600k at a firm, what would should I choose? I assume the in-house would get to at least 400 in 2-3 years, but not sure about 450.... |
Anonymous
Most mid to high level in house jobs have a long term incentive. Those typically take 3 years to vest so you’d see a jump in take home after year 3. Sometimes they are stock, sometimes cash, and sometimes a mix. You will also usually get a base plus annual cash bonus with a target in the 20-35% range. Actual bonus amount will vary based on company performance. You wouldn’t see 450 until after year 3. |
Anonymous
This is an oddly worded post. Is the basic question how much of a pay cut someone in biglaw would accept to go in house? It's phrased like the opposite, as if they'd be going in house for the $. |
Anonymous
Would only go for a GC job. Might take a million but there would have to be a lot of upside with options and stock. Otherwise why leave? GC grind is not better. C-suite people and board and you in the middle. |
Anonymous
I don’t know if you are OP but if you are not, your question is not the same as the OP’s. Obviously you will have more money as a partner but a large number of lateral partner moves are unsuccessful. Building a book is hard and starting from scratch as you would be coming from government will make it difficult too. I have seen it done successfully at my firm with former government lawyers where the firm genuinely has a name for the area of practice that the government lawyer is in, and usually the lawyer is well known in the area too. This sounds obvious but the firm needs to already have clients interested in your expertise in order for you to succeed. I have seen it not succeed when the firm takes more of a “if we build it they will come” approach to hiring new partners. All of which is to say, if you take the law firm job, as well as being aware of the huge demands on your time and the new skill set of hustling for work that you’ll need, you should also think of it as something that might only work for a couple of years (I assume you are being offered guaranteed salary for a specific period only) and then you may need to find something else, or try to move to another firm. |
Anonymous
Not backwards — I meant what I said. For a biglaw partner used to the grind (billables, biz dev, etc.), how high does the in-house offer need to be to make jumping ship feel like a no-brainer? I'm not asking how much of a pay cut people are willing to take — I’m asking what number makes leaving worth it. Different question. Still curious where people draw that line. |