Reply to Big Law spouses - give me your tips and tricks

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Oh, I sorry reality isn't something you want to recognize. As a non-equity partner you are at the whims of the partnership and can be fired for any legitimate reason. Is it going in the right track? Sure. I didn't argue that but OP's husband is basically still being reviewed as to whether he wins the pie eating contest to win his prize of more pie.

Until he moves over to the K1 side of the ledger he's no different than a senior associate beyond he's farther along the track. Only when he gets the offer to buys in (and depwnding on the firm that could be 7 figures) does getting that title of "partner" really matter..

Sorry to hurt your feelings.[/quote]

OP, there are definitely firms where this isn’t true and being a non-eq partner is valued and viewed as another level towards full partner.  Ignore the people minimizing your DH’s accomplishment and trying to scare you.

FWIW, when our kids were young we had childcare and about the other level of help you described - and we both worked. It was manageable, even if not always easy or ideal.[/quote]

Sigh. Maybe read the entire thread before spouting off. The OP wrote [quote=Anonymous]

Op - because I don’t care if he is equity or non-equity? 
[/quote]

Because there is a huge difference between two and your post doesn't refute my point. Being a non-equity partner means you are still an employee. Being an equity partner means you are an owner - talk to any of the equity partners of the now collapse Dewey if want to understand the distinction.

If you don't know the difference, I am not sure what I can tell you. As a non-equity partner, your goal is to develop business, not only for yourself and the firm. If you don't do that, you might be able to remain as a non-equity partner but you could also as easily be shown the door. Being named non-equity partner just means you are on the right track instead of being shown the door under the up or out system most firms employ.

It sort of sounds like the OP's husband is on the right track in developing business but what matters is bringing in $$$$ into the firm. Given he is traveling to do business development, he's likely been given a budget to assist him in doing that. Billables are important but business development is just as important, if not more. If a partner bills 2000 hours at $1000. That is $2.0 million. Compare that to partner B that bills 1,500 hours at the same rate of $1000 but brings in $10, million in business. Who is more valuable to the firm?

Here's another lesson in Big Law economics. Just because your listed billing rate is $1000 doesn't mean a client is paying that rate. Lots of clients have all kinds of discounts on bills depending on the client, matter, etc. Further, just because an attorney brings in $2.0 million in billing doesn't mean that is all profit. If that billing attorney is at the NYC rate of compensation and was just paid $540K last year, in comp and benefit analysis, you roughly 3X a persons salary to determine what the expenses are for said employee to said employer. In other words, $540K costs the firm in expenses, overhead, rent, taxes, insurance, discounts, salary flowed down to junior attorneys, etc. equals $1.62 million. So in other words, that 2000 billing attorney brought in about $400K in profit. Doesn't seem as much as before.[/quote]

Literally everybody commenting on this thread is aware of all this. It's just not really relevant to the OP. OP's husband's job is no less secure than jobs in almost any other industry except government. Obviously if a company or a division in a company has an abrupt drop i in business somebody is going to lose their jobs. Do you feel the need to remind everyone of this fact? Or just non-equity big law partners and their spouses?[/quote]

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