Counsel salary?

[Anonymous]

What would you expect counsel at a top biglaw firm to make with 11 years of experience (government and firm) and a federal clerkship? No book of business and deliberately not partner track. I transitioned back to the firm after government and I am worried that I did not negotiate a high enough salary. Billing rate is $800 per hour.

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm...wild guess - somewhere a little north of $250k plus bonus.

[Anonymous]

For $800 an hour billing rate? I would think way more thank $250K.

[Anonymous]

I knew if I threw out a wild guess someone would jump all over it.

[Anonymous]

No idea here- Maybe try to post in Jobs & Careers. There are a LOT of lawyers over there.
GL

[Anonymous]

Post and search threads in Jobs and Careers.

[Anonymous]

I have friends who are counsel at biglaw and one makes 295,000, another closer to 400,000. Both work massive hours.

[Anonymous]

$400K + bonus

[Anonymous]

Couldn't you have researched this before the salary negotiations?

[Anonymous]

No book of business--$250k sound about right

[Anonymous]

No book, no political connections. You are nothing but a service lawyer. You are bringing nothing special to the table. Your billing rate is irrelevant to your income. Your salary sounds in the right range.

[Anonymous]

I didn't state my salary. Thank you to those who were helpful. I did research as much as I could, but it is easier to learn more about the firm once you start and I was somewhat shocked how much other counsel are making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't state my salary. Thank you to those who were helpful. I did research as much as I could, but it is easier to learn more about the firm once you start and I was somewhat shocked how much other counsel are making.

What are those other counsel bring to the table. Of course, there will be a salary range for counsel just as there is for partners. Unless you have some special hook, you will be on the lower end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No book, no political connections. You are nothing but a service lawyer. You are bringing nothing special to the table. Your billing rate is irrelevant to your income. Your salary sounds in the right range.

Although you are right that the person is a "service lawyer," I disagree that billing rate is irrelevant. A higher billing rate always translates into a higher salary. It's just part of the number crunch in calculating salary.

[Anonymous]

I agree and I was wondering if anyone with insight into the number crunching could tell me what salary they would expect at this level and billing rate. I am highly specialized and in demand. I chose a counsel position for lifestyle reasons and it is working out very well. However, I need to negotiate salary for next year and I wanted to get others' opinions. I bill around 2,000 hours. Current salary is 320k plus bonus, but I got the feeling from two partners that they were surprised I did not ask for more.