Reply to Salary question -- fed lawyer transitioining to law firm

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Salary question -- fed lawyer transitioining to law firm"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]On salary.  I think you can reasonably expect to make high 200s/low 300s for an of-counsel position at a large law firm.  This assumes that you get an interview, etc.

On career prospects.  Most firms will only want to keep you at counsel level for 1-2 years while they test the waters and see if you are going to work out.  After that, you'll be expect to become a partner or move on.

While your experience sounds impressive, remember that most big firms don't make their money on actual trial work.  The money is made on billable hours -- so you're looking at all the thousands of hours that go into prepping for one trial a year.  Even with your great experience, there are already seasoned litigators at the firm who will be ones to chair/run the trials, and you are unlikely to even have a shot at sitting second chair until you've put in at least another 5-10 years at the firm.

What firms will be looking to see is whether you bring the prospect of bringing in business.  You may do this by going out and speaking, writing, networking, or you may bring some form of very unique -- and highly valuable/marketable -- government expertise.  This is the "potential" that firms are looking to buy.  And like I said above, they'll give you 1-2 years as counsel to see if you were worth the investment, but I don't think you should expect to stay a counsel for the long term.

Caveat -- all above applies to top 10 firms.  If you're looking lower than that, expectations may be different.[/quote]

This pretty much never happens with litigators, criminal or civil.  You must have a regulatory niche that is in good demand.

Not necessarily true.  I am an of counsel in a BigLaw firm and was brought on with an explicit understanding that partnership will never happen.  I make a good salary and most of the time don't overkill myself.  But that works for me because I actually want to see my kids.  If you have more ambition, it is not the path to take.[/quote][/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics