Top Law Schools

I feel like opinions are across the board on this one. Obviously some small firms pay shit and work their associates to the bone. Others seem middle of the road. Other's seem to pay better than Big Law.

Is there any good, general indicator? I recently interviewed at a small firm in a 1M-2M population city in a large state that otherwise has a top market pay range (take your pick, Ca, Tx, NY etc - I'm being vague on purpose) that focuses mainly on insurance defense and commercial litigation. Associates didn't seem to be making bank but also didn't seem like they needed to work second jobs and had decent hours. The partners, on the other hand, seemed pretty "well-heeled."

Anonymous User wrote:I feel like opinions are across the board on this one. Obviously some small firms pay shit and work their associates to the bone. Others seem middle of the road. Other's seem to pay better than Big Law.

Is there any good, general indicator? I recently interviewed at a small firm in a 1M-2M population city in a large state that otherwise has a top market pay range (take your pick, Ca, Tx, NY etc - I'm being vague on purpose) that focuses mainly on insurance defense and commercial litigation. Associates didn't seem to be making bank but also didn't seem like they needed to work second jobs and had decent hours. The partners, on the other hand, seemed pretty "well-heeled."

As a general rule to make the big $$$ you should be at a plaintiff's litigation firm. My firm started me at 65k in a small market. Many of the partners make at least 300k/year and some years make over a million.

Anonymous User wrote:I feel like opinions are across the board on this one. Obviously some small firms pay shit and work their associates to the bone. Others seem middle of the road. Other's seem to pay better than Big Law.

The reason that opinions are all "across the board" is because there is extreme variation in pay among small firm lawyers. You need to wait to see if they make you an offer to know how much $$ you're looking at. Impressions are worth something, but I don't think you can accurately gauge how much money people make during an interview.