What is "Big Law?"

[Anonymous]

Evil reincarnated
Hell with multiple hierarchies of devils

[Anonymous]

Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A white collar sweat shop.

So funny, but so true!

[Anonymous]

Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

Spoken like someone who didn't spend the time and money to actually go to law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

Spoken like someone who didn't spend the time and money to actually go to law school.

So why did you go? To do drudge work for 80 hours a week just to make a ton of money? What a life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

My work never ceases to be intellectually challenging. I work with the smartest people I have ever met, both those senior to me and those junior to me. I help people with their problems. Some of those people are pro bono -- immigrants, people facing eviction. Some of those people run big companies. But even the biggest corporate case involves people with problems that I get to help solve. I am in litigation so there is also the satisfaction of competition and winning, and the personal challenge of standing up in court or facing a witness in a deposition. The things I work on often have impact in the real world beyond the two sides to the case.

The money's good too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

My work never ceases to be intellectually challenging. I work with the smartest people I have ever met, both those senior to me and those junior to me. I help people with their problems. Some of those people are pro bono -- immigrants, people facing eviction. Some of those people run big companies. But even the biggest corporate case involves people with problems that I get to help solve. I am in litigation so there is also the satisfaction of competition and winning, and the personal challenge of standing up in court or facing a witness in a deposition. The things I work on often have impact in the real world beyond the two sides to the case.

The money's good too.

. Perhaps you have forgotten your early years of document review. I wish they had out sourced that work when I was a baby lawyer. Are you one of those lawyers who thinks his/her client is always on the side of the angels? I help my clients with thier problem, but will admit that what is good for my client is not always good for the public at large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

Because back in the day (the first half of the '90s), big law actually trained you to be a lawyer. I'll be forever grateful that I worked for partners who took the billable time to teach me how to draft and negotiate. That kind of experience is priceless. Plus, on a practical level, you can always move from Big Law to almost any other type of practice, but not vice versa so easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately this is when lots of associates learn that they're not really a "good fit" for the firm and big law shows them the door. The rest are invited to pay the partnership $$$$$$$ to join the club. Then they learn what hard work is.

OK, please excuse this really dumb question, but... how does this work? A 7 or 8 year associate has to pay the firm to be promoted to partner? Is that a cash buy, or does it come out of future salary/ earnings?

If you are asked to be a partner, and you accept, you have to buy a share of the partnership (capital contribution). This is essentially an interest-free loan to the firm, which lasts as long as you are a partner. The cost of the buy-in depends on the firm, but most BigLaw buy-ins I've heard of charge about 15-50% of your total compensation, often with escalating percentages for the more senior partners. So for example, a relatively junior partner might be told she's scheduled to make $350,000, and thus is required to contribute $87,500 (25%). Those big kahuna equity partners making $1 million might have $400-500k locked up in the firm. You pay the buy-in about the same time you make partner (before you've actually been paid any of that partner salary!), which usually means that you have to take out a big loan from the bank and start paying interest immediately.

And if you're an equity partner, you are not guaranteed any of that big salary. You might receive only about 60% of your total anticipated salary in month-to-month payments throughout the year. Only if the firm makes budget do you receive the other 40% of your salary at the end of the year. There's plenty of upside potential in a good economy, but lots of downside too. For example, in Howrey's last year, the firm missed budget by something like 45%. That means many equity partners made only about half of what they expected, and even were asked to pay money back to the firm at the end of their year.

As a practical matter, what all this means is that junior partners are often relatively cash poor. Although their anticipated salary increased when they made partner, their monthly paycheck might decrease from when they were associates. And they're making interest & principle payments on top of that to cover the capital contribution loan. Many complain that they earn less as junior partners than they did as senior associates.

Of course, no one should be crying for all these jokers, because they're all still in the top 2% of income earners. But it's no bed of roses either.

Wow, I had no idea at all that this is how it worked! This is really informative - thanks for posting! - Sincerely, Senior Government Paralegal (who once worked in "Medium Law"

[Anonymous]

You worked in Medium Law, and weren't curious enough to ask any of the associates or partners there how the partnership process worked? Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You worked in Medium Law, and weren't curious enough to ask any of the associates or partners there how the partnership process worked? Wow.

Nope. I'm a paralegal - what the hell difference does it make to me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest question from an artsy teacher who loves her work but admits that it pays crummily: Why is this work appealing to anyone except for the salary? If I were a lawyer I'd want to work for the ACLU or be a public defender, something like that.

My work never ceases to be intellectually challenging. I work with the smartest people I have ever met, both those senior to me and those junior to me. I help people with their problems. Some of those people are pro bono -- immigrants, people facing eviction. Some of those people run big companies. But even the biggest corporate case involves people with problems that I get to help solve. I am in litigation so there is also the satisfaction of competition and winning, and the personal challenge of standing up in court or facing a witness in a deposition. The things I work on often have impact in the real world beyond the two sides to the case.

The money's good too.

This. I absolutely loved my biglaw job. I entered my firm at a good time, made a great impression quickly, and ended up with very little drudge work. Once I had a child, however, I went government. I knew myself well enough to know that I wouldn't be giving enough of myself to my child if I kept that job. I don't regret the decision, but I do miss the excitement.