Are $500k+ jobs really that common?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a $500K+ total comp attorney job in big pharma and it is a walk in the park… I am not in management and there are many other roles like me in the org, most with great work life balance and wonderful colleagues.

We did all put in our big law years but now it seems almost too easy. I guess if we stayed in big law we could be making multiples of $500K but I’d rather have my current situation any day.

What attorney positions at the fda have the most lucrative exit options?

I see a lot of people with a quality/enforcement background but for attorneys, any role in the FDA's Office of Chief Counsel can be spun to be valuable experience. Also, many colleagues do not have direct FDA experience, and came directly from relevant biglaw practice groups.

We also have a large corporate transactional team on similar pay scale, most came from biglaw practice groups that do deals for tech and life sciences clients -- seems like a great gig as well with opportunities to cross over into the business side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a $500K+ total comp attorney job in big pharma and it is a walk in the park… I am not in management and there are many other roles like me in the org, most with great work life balance and wonderful colleagues.

We did all put in our big law years but now it seems almost too easy. I guess if we stayed in big law we could be making multiples of $500K but I’d rather have my current situation any day.

Nice. I guess I should encourage my kids to to law school, work at FDA, then pivot to Pharma?

NP: I'm in small pharma, our attorneys are in the $300k-$400k range, with bonuses ranging from 25-40%. I don't think any of them have worked for the FDA.

You should see what they make in sales. Not what attorneys make, but some of them are getting great bonuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a $500K+ total comp attorney job in big pharma and it is a walk in the park… I am not in management and there are many other roles like me in the org, most with great work life balance and wonderful colleagues.

We did all put in our big law years but now it seems almost too easy. I guess if we stayed in big law we could be making multiples of $500K but I’d rather have my current situation any day.

Nice. I guess I should encourage my kids to to law school, work at FDA, then pivot to Pharma?

NP: I'm in small pharma, our attorneys are in the $300k-$400k range, with bonuses ranging from 25-40%. I don't think any of them have worked for the FDA.

You should see what they make in sales. Not what attorneys make, but some of them are getting great bonuses.

My DH worked in Pharma as an FDA regulatory lawyer -- its relatively easy, he is doing things like reviewing advertising and promotion for FDA disclaimers etc. as well as some contract law with hospitals. Working at FDA is one pathway, you want to be at one of the major branches that regulate drugs, devices or biologics: CBER, CDER, CDRH or office of chief counsel. You do not want vet or tobacco unless you want to go into those areas. My husband worked OCC then went straight to industry and has worked in both drugs and devices. Most of his coworkers who do FDA worked in big law, not FDA. It's harder to break into either firms or industries coming straight from FDA from law school.

If you want your kid to have this high paying stable job I would recommend they work in compliance or regulatory at a very low level for 2 years after college, while doing this get an online master's in regulatory science - you can pay a lot for northeastern or JHU or less for ASU it does not matter. If he gets into a decent law school with this "expressed interest" he should place well in OCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a $500K+ total comp attorney job in big pharma and it is a walk in the park… I am not in management and there are many other roles like me in the org, most with great work life balance and wonderful colleagues.

We did all put in our big law years but now it seems almost too easy. I guess if we stayed in big law we could be making multiples of $500K but I’d rather have my current situation any day.

What attorney positions at the fda have the most lucrative exit options?

I see a lot of people with a quality/enforcement background but for attorneys, any role in the FDA's Office of Chief Counsel can be spun to be valuable experience. Also, many colleagues do not have direct FDA experience, and came directly from relevant biglaw practice groups.

We also have a large corporate transactional team on similar pay scale, most came from biglaw practice groups that do deals for tech and life sciences clients -- seems like a great gig as well with opportunities to cross over into the business side.

Thanks this is really helpful. Have you seen financial industry enforcement attorneys make the transition to fda enforcement or internal investigations counsel roles in pharma? Im looking to try and do that but dont know if its even plausible.

[Anonymous]

Why are you taking sales out of it? I told them they can pay me $550k salary or $250 plus commission. They are going to end up paying me 750-850k.

[Anonymous]

800k - physician

[Anonymous]

You can get to $500k all in compensation (base, bonus, equity) at a lot of companies/industries at the Director, Sr. Director, VP level— even if you exclude super hot fields like software engineering, product management, etc.

If we’re talking about law, management consulting investment banking the roles/levels where you can get that type of pay are Associate Partner, Partner, Managing Director, etc.

It’s important to note that some companies place a heavy emphasis on bonus and equity and that some even cap base salaries. Amazon, for example, caps their base ~$250k. That being said, equity and bonus can be as reliable as base provided you liquidate your equity immediately/there aren’t major market swings and your company has a good history of paying out bonuses.

Amazon, for example, caps their base ~$250k.

[Anonymous]

And here I thought the ridiculous drug prices we pay in the US were necessary to encourage research into new drugs. /s

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a $500K+ total comp attorney job in big pharma and it is a walk in the park… I am not in management and there are many other roles like me in the org, most with great work life balance and wonderful colleagues.

We did all put in our big law years but now it seems almost too easy. I guess if we stayed in big law we could be making multiples of $500K but I’d rather have my current situation any day.

Nice. I guess I should encourage my kids to to law school, work at FDA, then pivot to Pharma?

NP: I'm in small pharma, our attorneys are in the $300k-$400k range, with bonuses ranging from 25-40%. I don't think any of them have worked for the FDA.

You should see what they make in sales. Not what attorneys make, but some of them are getting great bonuses.

We are not a tall or particularly attractive or athletic family, sales won’t go well judging from my attempts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a $500K+ total comp attorney job in big pharma and it is a walk in the park… I am not in management and there are many other roles like me in the org, most with great work life balance and wonderful colleagues.

We did all put in our big law years but now it seems almost too easy. I guess if we stayed in big law we could be making multiples of $500K but I’d rather have my current situation any day.

Nice. I guess I should encourage my kids to to law school, work at FDA, then pivot to Pharma?

NP: I'm in small pharma, our attorneys are in the $300k-$400k range, with bonuses ranging from 25-40%. I don't think any of them have worked for the FDA.

You should see what they make in sales. Not what attorneys make, but some of them are getting great bonuses.

We are not a tall or particularly attractive or athletic family, sales won’t go well judging from my attempts

I think our marketing team on average is better looking than our sales team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:its average in dc and close in zip code

Have you ever driven around Dc outside of Kalorama or AU Park? It is absolutely not average.