Top Plaintiffs Firms? Salaries, Bonuses, Culture Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi -

I'm curious about the culture, salaries, bonuses, and any other info you can list about the biggest P firms in the country... (Think motley rice, Lieff Cabraser, Weitz & Luxemberg, Baron & Budd, etc.)

Thanks for the advice!

[Anonymous User]

there are some decent threads on this topic in the past, although none that I've seen focus on culture, which is something that interests me.

from what I know of lieff, it is a mixed bag by practice group. some people are cool, some suck. I guess that's like any law firm. but the overall culture there seems progressive and idealistic compared with the biglaw firms with which I'm familiar (i.e., more diversity and pro-feminism type of event invitations).

[kings84_wr]

I've worked at a Plaintiff's firm for about 3 years, feel free to ask if you have more specific questions.

It definitely depends on the region and the type of Plaintiffs' work. In my opinion there are really two types of Plaintiffs' lawyers, the ones who just want to make a lot of money and the ones who really believe in the cause. That also really affects the culture of the firm or practice areas.

Generally most of the better Plaintiffs' firm have a starting salary for associates of around 90-125 base with a bonus that varies based on the firms success for that year and individual contribution to the firm (but usually much larger than the big law model). Obviously the more experience and involvement in the cases, the larger the bonus.

If you want to see the firm's culture, attend an AAJ or a state/local Trial Lawyers events.

[Anonymous User]

there are some decent threads on this topic in the past, although none that I've seen focus on culture, which is something that interests me.

from what I know of lieff, it is a mixed bag by practice group. some people are cool, some suck. I guess that's like any law firm. but the overall culture there seems progressive and idealistic compared with the biglaw firms with which I'm familiar (i.e., more diversity and pro-feminism type of event invitations).

From what I've been told by others, Lieff is probably the most biglaw-esque of the top plaintiffs firms (i.e. there's a lot of hierarchy, including tyrannical midlevels; work-life balance is not valued; office environment is quite formal and cold).

[Anonymous User]

http://abovethelaw.com/2014/12/managing ... -tomorrow/