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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Only law students care about vault rankings. I don’t even know what mine is, but we are around amlaw 30. 4th yr ep could be anywhere from $1 to $5m. Largely dependent on book, though that’s not the only metric, and the way origination credits are tracked is a complicated and non-transparent thing[/quote]

This. Am non equity partner at amlaw 25-ish.

Non equity comp starts around $400 or so (I could be off by $100k either way) to $1.3m.  The starting non equity partners are at the low end, while those who are well liked, busy and within a few years of equity promotions are in the $700-850 range. Higher than that is for special cases like diamond cutters or partners with a lot of their own business.

Our equity partners have a guaranteed floor of something like $1.3 or $1.4. No one ever quite knows. From there, like the pp says, comp is a non transparent decision that ties to how many hours you directly work, how many hours you are the direct originator for (whether you work them or have someone else work them) and how many hours other partners split you in on their matters (acknowledging that you were a key driver in the bd on those matters). Comp for non equity starts low for a few years because they want to see a consistent upward growth trajectory. After a few years, most equity partners seem to be in the 2-3mm range.  And after 5-10 years equity, I think that’s when you start to see some partners be super successful and that’s when the 3m and much more comp packages start. But that comp is completely tied to your business and hours and originations - direct or split. [/quote]

Diamond cutters?[/quote]

I’m the poster who used that term. It means you’re not a rainmaker but you have an exceptionally valuable legal skill set that can’t be replaced easily, and the rainmakers desperately need you on their matters. In that case, you’ll get paid more than run of the mill non equity partners who have a generic skill set. Note that all partners think they have a valuable skill set, merely because they do a needed function. Think a real estate lawyer who gets called to work a small piece of every m and a transaction. Yes, the rainmaker brings in work and needs to call the real estate lawyer on every deal. But…. If the real estate lawyer quit, there’d be like twenty other real estate lawyers at the same firm who could step in. If instead, the rainmaker specializes in bringing in a certain type of m and a work that all turns on an obscure part of the law, and there are only three lawyers in the us that know that obscure law and one of them works with the rainmaker - that’s a diamond cutter. If that lawyer left, there’s no one to fill their role and the rainmaker is no longer able to bring in business. If someone is leaving federal govt right now, they’re unlikely to get paid like a diamond cutter because they are literally one of thousands and have no experience in biglaw [/quote]

Weird.  I've been in biglaw 25 years, 15 as a partner, and have never heard that term before.  We just call them specialists.[/quote]

Specialists don’t make equity partner. Diamondcutters do. Your firm probably only has 1 or 2 diamond cutters if any. [/quote]

It's not a term of art in the industry.  That was my point.  I've never heard it before and have been in management at the firm.  We don't use it, and a google search only reveals this thread so no one else does either.[/quote]

Yeah its not a thing.  And yes specialists make equity partner.  If PP is being honest it does expose the fact that all firms are different.  At the highest level partners are not made because they have business.  The firm has the business.  Over time relationships develop.  At other firms it is eat what you kill.[/quote]

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