I’m a spouse of a big law partner, so obviously take my read on things with a grain of salt as I don’t understand the in’s and outs as much as someone actually working in the industry. I do work full time in another professional field, and we do talk (frankly too much!) about partner compensation.

My spouse was a new non-equity partner last year with comp finishing at 1.2 with billing totaling 3.5 million I think. A solid amount of the work where my spouse should have been given origination credit was not attributed to them, but I hear that’s very common for junior partners. Promoted to equity this year and is told to expect at least 1.8 million. Works a lot but honestly doesn’t feel bad since it’s all relatively flexible compared to my more rigid work schedule.

I do think the whole thing really stresses my spouse out and I see some obsessiveness over the numbers and comp. I am not sure if that will change at all now that my spouse has been promoted to equity. I hope my spouse will feel more secure but am sure the focus will just shift to another competitive train of thought. It’s too early for us to say if it’s worth it yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Nope, I haven't posted previously. I'm an associate trying to figure out my goals. I feel like $2 million would be a very nice life, but I need to figure out if it's something I could even achieve and, if so, whether I'd want to do that. But thanks for crapping on my thread.

BS. No associate who has any chance of partnership is this clueless.

Huh? I'm a partner. These are valid questions for associates. Most law firms are extremely opaque regarding compensation structures.

+1
My husband is a partner, and he was surprised to find out the formula was less in his favor than expected. There is a subjective component. Also, not only do you have to think of origination, but also personal billed dollars. My husband has done well, but he works all the time. I think my siblings and their spouses have a better quality of life. They live in lower cost areas and have regular jobs making less money, but they work regular hours and have personal time. My husband didn't take a day off even when our children were born. Also be prepared for really unfair things to happen compensation wise because other partners will definitely try to screw you and probably succeed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Nope, I haven't posted previously. I'm an associate trying to figure out my goals. I feel like $2 million would be a very nice life, but I need to figure out if it's something I could even achieve and, if so, whether I'd want to do that. But thanks for crapping on my thread.

BS. No associate who has any chance of partnership is this clueless.

Huh? I'm a partner. These are valid questions for associates. Most law firms are extremely opaque regarding compensation structures.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Nope, I haven't posted previously. I'm an associate trying to figure out my goals. I feel like $2 million would be a very nice life, but I need to figure out if it's something I could even achieve and, if so, whether I'd want to do that. But thanks for crapping on my thread.

BS. No associate who has any chance of partnership is this clueless.

+1,000

You should keep 20 percent of your originations at a minimum. I wouldn’t expect to start at 1/3 as a junior partner.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Nope, I haven't posted previously. I'm an associate trying to figure out my goals. I feel like $2 million would be a very nice life, but I need to figure out if it's something I could even achieve and, if so, whether I'd want to do that. But thanks for crapping on my thread.

BS. No associate who has any chance of partnership is this clueless.

Ps. Working to make $2M would not be a “nice life” FYI

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Nope, I haven't posted previously. I'm an associate trying to figure out my goals. I feel like $2 million would be a very nice life, but I need to figure out if it's something I could even achieve and, if so, whether I'd want to do that. But thanks for crapping on my thread.

BS. No associate who has any chance of partnership is this clueless.

Fascinating. Thanks for the info.

your comp is 1/3 if you're lucky and the management is fair. You'll probably not be and they won't be for long.

Around $6MM.

Chase ambulances and be the biggest ambulance chaser in a market if you want to earn big money in law. The owners of national referral services like Morgan and Morgan and the Cochran Firm make big law salaries look like minimum mage

OP here. Nope, I haven't posted previously. I'm an associate trying to figure out my goals. I feel like $2 million would be a very nice life, but I need to figure out if it's something I could even achieve and, if so, whether I'd want to do that. But thanks for crapping on my thread.

Anonymous wrote:Are you the OP of the husband salary thread?

If so, go have a glass of wine and leave it alone for the day.

+1 stop

Are you the OP of the husband salary thread?

If so, go have a glass of wine and leave it alone for the day.

If you're an equity partner at a biglaw firm and you want to take home $2 million per year, what do you need to do? How much do you need to originate? How much do you need to bill?