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notalawyer13 wrote:Hey guys and gals,

My wife has a few offers in a major market and I'm trying to help her sort them out. One is at a biglaw firm that starts associates at $160,000, the other is at a well-respected mid-size firm (around 100 lawyers) that starts in the neighborhood of $130,000. She loves the people, culture, and [supposed] work-life balance of the mid-size firm, but she is worried she is making a bad decision by taking the "lesser" job. I know you all have probably heard this scenario a million times so I will cut to the chase: what is a typical mid-size firm partner salary in a major market? I know it is equity-based and I know it has huge variation. I don't need a 95% confidence interval, just a useful range.

Am I way off to say that for a successful firm around 100 lawyers in a major market with a starting salary of $130,000 that a partner would probably make at least $300,000?

Any other comments/advice on mid vs. large?

Thanks.

Anonymous User wrote:

notalawyer13 wrote:Hey guys and gals,

My wife has a few offers in a major market and I'm trying to help her sort them out. One is at a biglaw firm that starts associates at $160,000, the other is at a well-respected mid-size firm (around 100 lawyers) that starts in the neighborhood of $130,000. She loves the people, culture, and [supposed] work-life balance of the mid-size firm, but she is worried she is making a bad decision by taking the "lesser" job. I know you all have probably heard this scenario a million times so I will cut to the chase: what is a typical mid-size firm partner salary in a major market? I know it is equity-based and I know it has huge variation. I don't need a 95% confidence interval, just a useful range.

Am I way off to say that for a successful firm around 100 lawyers in a major market with a starting salary of $130,000 that a partner would probably make at least $300,000?

Any other comments/advice on mid vs. large?

Thanks.

depends a lot on the type of work the mid-sized firm does...some areas of the law are more lucrative than others and, if the mid-size specializes in one of this areas, it's probably likely that the profits per partner would be significantly greater than $300k/year.

lawfirmrecruiter wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

notalawyer13 wrote:Hey guys and gals,

My wife has a few offers in a major market and I'm trying to help her sort them out. One is at a biglaw firm that starts associates at $160,000, the other is at a well-respected mid-size firm (around 100 lawyers) that starts in the neighborhood of $130,000. She loves the people, culture, and [supposed] work-life balance of the mid-size firm, but she is worried she is making a bad decision by taking the "lesser" job. I know you all have probably heard this scenario a million times so I will cut to the chase: what is a typical mid-size firm partner salary in a major market? I know it is equity-based and I know it has huge variation. I don't need a 95% confidence interval, just a useful range.

Am I way off to say that for a successful firm around 100 lawyers in a major market with a starting salary of $130,000 that a partner would probably make at least $300,000?

Any other comments/advice on mid vs. large?

Thanks.

Honestly after taxes the difference between 160K and 130K is not too much. All other things aside, I would definitely take a better work/life balance for 30K less.

depends a lot on the type of work the mid-sized firm does...some areas of the law are more lucrative than others and, if the mid-size specializes in one of this areas, it's probably likely that the profits per partner would be significantly greater than $300k/year.

You also need to take a step back and consider the likelihood of actually making it to partner in the big firm. While the payout can be considerable, the path to partnership can sometimes be almost impossible.