Reply to Super frustrated re dh’s salary

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Reply to "Super frustrated re dh’s salary"

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[quote=Anonymous]Fascinating thread, mostly because the signal-to-noise ratio is much better than the norm on this site.  Obviously there are a lot of biglaw lawyers here.

None of this is good news.  Think about law firm economics this way.  When profits are expanding, there is room to take care of everyone and keep them happy.  Everyone has an expectation of growth, and when it’s good it’s good. But when distributable income starts shrinking, you realize it’s a zero sum game.  There is no reservoir of retained earnings to fall back on - there is a lot of pain and it has to be parceled out.  For everyone who gets a little more than they “deserve,” someone has to suffer a loss.   Those with big books of business will be cut less, and may not be cut at all, because the firm literally can’t afford for them to leave.  If they start leaving, the firm goes into a death spiral.  Been there, done that.  Meaning that the pain left to be inflicted on all of the good worker bees, through no fault of their own, is disproportionate.  Comp gets cut significantly more than it “should” be but it’s a function of the type of business.

Your spouse needs to figure out a few things, and it sounds like he doesn’t have a lot of good connections to help him do so, which is concerning.

Is this a temporary blip for the firm or the start of a death spiral?  If the former he may be able to tough it out, if the latter he should start figuring out next steps now.

Is the firm ok but his practice group on the chopping block?  His partners in the group should have a sense of that - if so the leaders are probably marketing themselves (and hopefully the whole group) already to other firms.  Whether they are planning on taking him along, and whether a new firm will take him, really depends on his overall value to the practice.

Even if neither the firm nor the practice group is in danger, unfortunately his position is only truly safe if he has made himself indispensable to multiple people who do have big books. If he rides it out he can still expect disproportionate comp cuts
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I’m sorry.  Biglaw sucks.  I can’t wait to retire and am very happy to have saved enough to do so a bit early if needed.  [/quote]

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