Jealous of Big Law partner spouses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is being a big law parter especially prestigious and lucerative in the DC area? It doesn't strike me as something worth arguing about like I've seen on DCUM this Summer. I guess my experience is in the Bay Area and NYC where law is secondary in the hierarchy to tech and banking (and is mostly a service profession to those industries). Given how many lawyers there are per capita here, I can't imagine being a big law partner impresses that many people.
Wachtell was the firm in NYC that most impressed people in my circles and they are not here at all, right?

New poster here. I can’t take seriously someone who says “lucerative.” It’s not even a word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much money does a typical Biglaw partner in a top 10 or 20 law firm in DC bring home in a month? I keep asking and nobody tells me. Am I right that it’s like $200,000 a month?

It doesn't work that way. Assuming you are just looking at equity partners (many firms have non-equity partners who are paid more like associates or counsel), it varies dramatically by firm. In the top 20 AmLaw firms, profits per equity partner can range from 1.1m to 7.1m. Per partner draw will loosely track this, but firms have a variety of ways for determining partner compensation, and at a given firm the actually annual draw could be well above or below that depending on whether the partner is a major rainmaker, very senior or junior, etc. Most firms have a compensation committee that makes these determinations and it's one of the most political processes at a law firm.

And then, of course, law firm profits can vary at these firms as well, and that will impact annual draw. Add to that that many firms issue draws on a quarterly basis, instead of monthly. Also, new partners must purchase their equity in the firm and that will impact your draw as well. So the "typical" monthly income of a BigLaw partner in DC can vary quite a bit. If you asked me what I think the annual income of a certain kind of partner at a specific firm was, I could probably ballpark it for you. But I can't tell you what the typical salary is for partners across a pretty wide range of firms without knowing anything about that partner or the firm they are with. The range would be huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is being a big law parter especially prestigious and lucerative in the DC area? It doesn't strike me as something worth arguing about like I've seen on DCUM this Summer. I guess my experience is in the Bay Area and NYC where law is secondary in the hierarchy to tech and banking (and is mostly a service profession to those industries). Given how many lawyers there are per capita here, I can't imagine being a big law partner impresses that many people.
Wachtell was the firm in NYC that most impressed people in my circles and they are not here at all, right?

New poster here. I can’t take seriously someone who says “lucerative.” It’s not even a word.

Isn't that a typo of lucrative that is a letter off? The word seems to make sense in context. If the first and last letter are correct, I don't even notice typos.

[Anonymous]

Lucerative .. lol.. did you mean “ulcerative”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much money does a typical Biglaw partner in a top 10 or 20 law firm in DC bring home in a month? I keep asking and nobody tells me. Am I right that it’s like $200,000 a month?

It doesn't work that way. Assuming you are just looking at equity partners (many firms have non-equity partners who are paid more like associates or counsel), it varies dramatically by firm. In the top 20 AmLaw firms, profits per equity partner can range from 1.1m to 7.1m. Per partner draw will loosely track this, but firms have a variety of ways for determining partner compensation, and at a given firm the actually annual draw could be well above or below that depending on whether the partner is a major rainmaker, very senior or junior, etc. Most firms have a compensation committee that makes these determinations and it's one of the most political processes at a law firm.

And then, of course, law firm profits can vary at these firms as well, and that will impact annual draw. Add to that that many firms issue draws on a quarterly basis, instead of monthly. Also, new partners must purchase their equity in the firm and that will impact your draw as well. So the "typical" monthly income of a BigLaw partner in DC can vary quite a bit. If you asked me what I think the annual income of a certain kind of partner at a specific firm was, I could probably ballpark it for you. But I can't tell you what the typical salary is for partners across a pretty wide range of firms without knowing anything about that partner or the firm they are with. The range would be huge.

Exactly, that question doesn't get answered because there just isn't a typical answer. It also changes year to year, which is tough for planning. I wouldn't anticipate the next 1-2 years to be amazing for most firms and average partners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is being a big law parter especially prestigious and lucerative in the DC area? It doesn't strike me as something worth arguing about like I've seen on DCUM this Summer. I guess my experience is in the Bay Area and NYC where law is secondary in the hierarchy to tech and banking (and is mostly a service profession to those industries). Given how many lawyers there are per capita here, I can't imagine being a big law partner impresses that many people.
Wachtell was the firm in NYC that most impressed people in my circles and they are not here at all, right?

New poster here. I can’t take seriously someone who says “lucerative.” It’s not even a word.

PP here. Sorry, I've slipped a little from my T14 journal editing days! I guess the squiggly red line should have been easy enough to see

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is being a big law parter especially prestigious and lucerative in the DC area? It doesn't strike me as something worth arguing about like I've seen on DCUM this Summer. I guess my experience is in the Bay Area and NYC where law is secondary in the hierarchy to tech and banking (and is mostly a service profession to those industries). Given how many lawyers there are per capita here, I can't imagine being a big law partner impresses that many people.
Wachtell was the firm in NYC that most impressed people in my circles and they are not here at all, right?

Tech and banking aren't as big here, which is why lawyers are higher up the pecking order. DC also isn't a big medical city so fewer doctors too compared to NYC or Boston.

[Anonymous]

I'd be more jealous of the JD spouses who have spouses making the most $$ or living the best lifestyles, which at the very top are not big law partners. There are CEOs who get paid much better and whose title carries more prestige. If it is just $$ you want, top personal injury and class action lawyers make a ton!

[Anonymous]

We met in law school. Back then we had some stress about money but basically no stress about anything else.

Now we have no stress about money and lots of stress about everything else.

No, take home is nowhere near 200k—that would be based on what, $5mm pretax?? But it is so much that our PITI is 10% of our take home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is being a big law parter especially prestigious and lucerative in the DC area? It doesn't strike me as something worth arguing about like I've seen on DCUM this Summer. I guess my experience is in the Bay Area and NYC where law is secondary in the hierarchy to tech and banking (and is mostly a service profession to those industries). Given how many lawyers there are per capita here, I can't imagine being a big law partner impresses that many people.
Wachtell was the firm in NYC that most impressed people in my circles and they are not here at all, right?

Tech and banking aren't as big here, which is why lawyers are higher up the pecking order. DC also isn't a big medical city so fewer doctors too compared to NYC or Boston.

I'd be jealous of the tech spouses. Depending on their spouse's level, they get paid very well (especially with the equity growth), have great benefits, work reasonable hours at least partially from home, and get a lot of time off.
The banking and PE spouses, not so much even though they make more $$ except at the highest levels of tech.
Venture capital might be the best of both worlds and even sounds cool!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is being a big law parter especially prestigious and lucerative in the DC area? It doesn't strike me as something worth arguing about like I've seen on DCUM this Summer. I guess my experience is in the Bay Area and NYC where law is secondary in the hierarchy to tech and banking (and is mostly a service profession to those industries). Given how many lawyers there are per capita here, I can't imagine being a big law partner impresses that many people.
Wachtell was the firm in NYC that most impressed people in my circles and they are not here at all, right?

Tech and banking aren't as big here, which is why lawyers are higher up the pecking order. DC also isn't a big medical city so fewer doctors too compared to NYC or Boston.

I'd be jealous of the tech spouses. Depending on their spouse's level, they get paid very well (especially with the equity growth), have great benefits, work reasonable hours at least partially from home, and get a lot of time off.
The banking and PE spouses, not so much even though they make more $$ except at the highest levels of tech.
Venture capital might be the best of both worlds and even sounds cool!

I think this is pretty standard in biglaw these days too though. We are both home 3+ days a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much money does a typical Biglaw partner in a top 10 or 20 law firm in DC bring home in a month? I keep asking and nobody tells me. Am I right that it’s like $200,000 a month?

Ok I’ll play. My spouse is at a top 10 AmLaw firm but is one of the younger partners. Made 1.5M this year and that’s definitely on the low end compared to the other partners but practice area isn’t one of the more lucrative ones. Rainmakers can make 10-15M.

[Anonymous]

My dads a retired big law partner. HYP degree. He worked all the time until he retired. Missed birthdays, recitals, had to stay in a hotel room working while we were on vacation at times, etc. he felt badly about those things but he couldn’t change them. We were well off, but he slaved away at a job he didn’t particularly like. And my mom dealt with everything at home while maintaining her own career, which was stressful for their marriage.

The money certainly provided a nice lifestyle for our family. I would just be clear that it comes with trade offs. Other lucrative careers with more consistent hours.

[Anonymous]

I would like to know how much orthodontists and oral surgeons make. Braces are 4K and wisdom tooth extraction is almost 5k. My kid’s recent procedure took 20 minutes. Both of the doctors my family used seem relaxed and non-stressed plus work doesn’t follow you home.

[Anonymous]

Wow - just looked in the recent topics and found the answer - 160k a month

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1153587.page