Millionaire through BIGLAW? Forum

[slackerman]

Ok, speaking strictly partners at V-100 firms (or whatever the heck prestigious biglaw is called) , what percentage are millionaires? And I don't mean barley, i mean people with like 5-7 million in the bank. How common is this? All I want is two big houses, a few mill in the bank, a nice wife and a few kids w/ a few vacations to Europe and retirement by age 50..............is this at all realistic through BIGLAW?

[Morgan12Oak]

Through biglaw, you probably have about 0.5% chance of 5-7 million in the bank.

Probably 3% chance of making partner at a firm with high enough PPP to be in this conversation, and probably 1 in 6 chance from there of you being able to stay long enough to work your way up the partnership ladder to accumulate 5-7 million. This is also of course assuming you are working in NY. If you are not in NY, discount that 0.5% chance by probably 66% so you're looking at like a 0.166% chance at achieving your goal through big law alone at that point.

This is further qualified by the fact that you have to be good enough to get the grades and credentials necessary for a top firm. So assuming you are just a random law student at a random law school, discount that 0.166% by at least 90%, so you're probably settling around a 0.018% chance roughly speaking.

But of course if you're asking for not a chances proposition, but if you're just asking if there are big law partners that have 5-7 million in the bank... yes, there are so it is "achievable"

[Richie Tenenbaum]

Ok, speaking strictly partners at V-100 firms (or whatever the heck prestigious biglaw is called) , what percentage are millionaires? And I don't mean barley, i mean people with like 5-7 million in the bank. How common is this? All I want is two big houses, a few mill in the bank, a nice wife and a few kids w/ a few vacations to Europe and retirement by age 50..............is this at all realistic through BIGLAW?

Is becoming a partner at a V-100 firm a realistic goal? Meh, it's not like you will have a non-negligible chance as a biglaw associate, but you do realize how difficult that path is going to be, right? I would say your chances of doing so aren't the greatest.

[slackerman]

whoa, the hater brigade is out in full force tonight lolz

[Morgan12Oak]

whoa, the hater brigade is out in full force tonight lolz

Cool story bro. Good use of anon for that story too. I was just telling it like it is. It's not easy to get to where he wants to go. If you want to dispute the facts then do so.

[Anonymous User]

When you start making some money, you start investing in other ventures, and maybe open a business, start meeting the right people ...etc and you start making more and more until you have 5 or 7 million in the bank.

[Morgan12Oak]

Right, but the original question was whether it was achievable through big law. Of course big law can serve as an avenue to get to your 5-7 million but then you're taking on all sorts of other variables and risks.

[aliceydu]

When you start making some money, you start investing in other ventures, and maybe open a business, start meeting the right people ...etc and you start making more and more until you have 5 or 7 million in the bank.

Moral of every story... open a business if you wang to make BIG bucks.

[Anonymous User]

Plaintiff's attorneys are the real money makers.

Dat contingency fee for multi-million dollar verdicts/settlements.

[Anonymous User]

Plaintiff's attorneys are the real money makers.

Dat contingency fee for multi-million dollar verdicts/settlements.

See: John Edwards, et al. They can make bank.

[Cavalier]

You're not going to be a millionaire unless you make partner at a firm with very high PPP, or you become a rainmaker and find a non-lockstep firm to pay you millions in guaranteed money. Partners at most V-100 firms only make a few hundred thousand dollars, and federal, state, and local taxes will eat up almost half of that. Throw in housing and the expense of raising a family, and you're not going to be able to save five to seven million.

[2LLLL]

You're not going to be a millionaire unless you make partner at a firm with very high PPP, or you become a rainmaker and find a non-lockstep firm to pay you millions in guaranteed money. Partners at most V-100 firms only make a few hundred thousand dollars, and federal, state, and local taxes will eat up almost half of that. Throw in housing and the expense of raising a family, and you're not going to be able to save five to seven million.

This. Dewey & LeBeouf has a ~13:1 compensation ratio among partners (i.e. highest paid rainmaker makes 13x more than the lowest paid service partner) according to the Adam Smith, Esq. article in the Dewey thread, and that apparently isn't much of an outlier among non-lockstep firms.

[r6_philly]

Non-inflation adjusted, doable if you stick it out in biglaw for 30 years and save like 50-60k a year. Inflation adjusted then almost impossible.

[dailygrind]

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=170600

[005618502]

I mean if you are making 300K plus a year (which is possible in Biglaw) then I guess it depends on how you live right?

If you live in a small apartment, drive an average car and dont indulge to much and put 200K into investing each year, I dont think its impossible. But it would take your whole career. If you mean pure cash from biglaw not invested. I would say unless you become partner making 500,000 (at least) a year then no. You have to think after taxes even 500K is less than 350K take home. After all expenses you COULD save 200K. At this rate it would take you 25 years to get 5 Mil and thats after making big money lol

[3L Student]

Then again, if you make partner at a V10, you'll be pulling down 1 - 2 mil a year as partner, and you can reach your goal. =p

[Chucky21]

Or you could get head hunted for a private equity firm. Then you're talking.

[t14fanboy]

whoa, the hater brigade is out in full force tonight lolz

This was where I stopped reading.

[EMZE]

Use biglaw to generate some capital and knowledge to go into business. A good friend of mine started out just buying houses, leveraging debt, and finding renters (or using a property management company). After 10 years and 3 homes, he bought a trailer park. Yeah, doesn't sound to exotic, but aside from the first month after he bought it, he has never been there since. He rents lots for something like 800 a month, and has 100+ renters from is first small lot. He turned about 10k a month profit from that, and used that after 3 years to buy another bigger trailer park. Now he owns 10 trailer parks, does nothing whatsoever in managing them, and just gets 6 figures a month for leveraging debt. He owns 7 homes right now all over the country. All from buying trailer parks.

I'm hard pressed to tie that back in to big law, but my point was more along the lines of just using your experience and knowledge of the rules of the money game from your clients and experience to figure out how you too can own many trailer parks.

ETA: This guy is 40 years old, in the Army (and did all this while he was in the Army, since he moved around so much and just kept buying homes), has had 4 marriages, like 10 kids combined from all the marriages, barely speaks understandable english since he came to the U.S. from El Salvador when he was 15, highest education level is a G.E.D. .

Want to be a millionaire? Get comfortable with some initial debt/risk, and figure out some industry that is not moving so fast that all your efforts will become obsolete. Setting up one of those LLC things might be a good idea too. You could also find some other risk loving friends to go in it with you too, from your biglaw days, so you don't have to reach out for loans.