Are there any "prestigious" plaintiff's firms that hire recent grads in NYC? Forum

[istan]

I'd much rather work at a plaintiff's firm, advocating for individuals who have suffered harm, than at a firm that defends large companies. But plaintiff's firms are perceived as less prestigious and the assumption is that high achieving law students will work for big defense firms. Are there any plaintiff's firms (in any practice area) that are well-respected and hire top law students right out of school, specifically in NYC?

[Anonymous User]

Constantine Cannon. but I think they are finished with this year's hiring.

[Anonymous User]

Lieff Cabraser, Cohen Milstein, Outten Golden, etc, all recruit students from my T14 straight out of law school.

[istan]

Any insider info on work culture and compensation at these firms?
I would think hours might be a little lighter than biglaw since hourly billing isn't the business model for plaintiff's firms and clients might be less demanding.
Looking on glassdoor for some of the firms mentioned, it looks like associate salaries are around $120k--that seem accurate?

[Anonymous User]

Any insider info on work culture and compensation at these firms?
I would think hours might be a little lighter than biglaw since hourly billing isn't the business model for plaintiff's firms and clients might be less demanding.
Looking on glassdoor for some of the firms mentioned, it looks like associate salaries are around $120k--that seem accurate?

Compensation tends to be significantly less than at biglaw firms, though it depends a lot on the practice area (e.g. securities > employment) and bonuses vary much more widely than in biglaw. Once you're a partner comp is quite variable and depends on bringing successful cases and the overall health of the firm, though the "top" plaintiffs' attorneys can make much, much more money than most biglaw partners.

Partners and associates tend to be more mission-driven in their work, which is a plus and minus. Culture and collegiality varies widely from firm to firm.

Hourly billing is absolutely part of the business model - it's necessary for lodestar calculations. It's not as strong a focus as in biglaw but it's still there.

[Anonymous User]

Any insider info on work culture and compensation at these firms?
I would think hours might be a little lighter than biglaw since hourly billing isn't the business model for plaintiff's firms and clients might be less demanding.
Looking on glassdoor for some of the firms mentioned, it looks like associate salaries are around $120k--that seem accurate?

Junior at a, for lack of a better word, "prestigious" plaintiff's firm.

Base comp is definitely lower, but $120k sounds low, it varies too much between firms for me to give a hard number without outing myself, but for a true first year I would expect 140-60k to be closer to the floor (note: a lot of the juniors with no big law previous experience at these firms have clerked, so they are really second years, which throws the math off since they are probably starting off with slightly higher base.)

Bonuses vary year to year and associate to associate, but tend to be bigger than biglaw bonuses (which still leaves you under market all in.) Comp for partners is a whole other can of worms that is hard to really discuss with any degree of certainty.

Firms still bill for lodestar tracking and internal tracking, but my general sense is you can get by with less detailed entries for billing. That being said the hours are definitely not less than biglaw, if anything it is more because the firms tend to be much more leanly staffed. When you aren't billing by the hour, squeezing more out of fewer attorneys makes economic sense. Plus there are fewer opportunities for "easy" billables because that work either doesn't make economic sense to do or gets pushed to staff attorneys. The flipside is you tend to get more experience earlier (most juniors at the firm I'm at have taken depos, are more heavily involved in case strategy, etc.)

Being passionate about the work is definitely helpful since you are effectively working the same/more hours for less pay than your peers.

[Anonymous User]

worked in both biglaw and prestigious plaintiff world-

the idea that billing is similar or even remotely similar is false. yes, you need to keep track of hours esp on class cases for lodestar, but it's nowhere even close to as important w/r/t the detail, how imperative it is to get hours in, partner care, etc..

[istan]

worked in both biglaw and prestigious plaintiff world-

the idea that billing is similar or even remotely similar is false. yes, you need to keep track of hours esp on class cases for lodestar, but it's nowhere even close to as important w/r/t the detail, how imperative it is to get hours in, partner care, etc..

Good to know. So would you say that makes the work environment in the plaintiff world less oppressive/fewer hours worked overall?

[lavarman84]

worked in both biglaw and prestigious plaintiff world-

the idea that billing is similar or even remotely similar is false. yes, you need to keep track of hours esp on class cases for lodestar, but it's nowhere even close to as important w/r/t the detail, how imperative it is to get hours in, partner care, etc..

Good to know. So would you say that makes the work environment in the plaintiff world less oppressive/fewer hours worked overall?

I admittedly don't know much about New York, but I wouldn't count on working significantly less hours. You might enjoy the long hours more because you aren't just doing it to churn out billable hours, but I would still expect to work a lot. But I think you are less likely to get BS assignments from oppressive partners. Generally, plaintiff's firms are much more leanly staffed and are working on a lot of different matters at once. You're busy because there actually is that much work to do.

[Anonymous User]

Former biglaw lit junior now at one of these top plaintiffs lit boutiques as a midlevel. Seen it from both sides.

1 - hours. I work more hours on the plaintiffs side than biglaw, by a decent chunk. But it’s totally different hours - I spend my time doing legitimate work. For instance I’m going to trial shortly, and I’m a serious member of the trial team. I work strategy, witness prep, exhibit stuff, everything. The v20 we are going against? Haven’t seen a single associate in over 2 years on any meet and confer, any turn of joint stuff. I’m sure they are in the background doing doc review and pulling exhibits for witness prep, but they aren’t out front in any capacity. That is the biggest difference - at a top end plaintiffs boutique, there is no hiding. You will have to sink or swim immediately, or you won’t make it. I don’t have other associates to fall back on in most cases, I’m usually the only associate staffed on a case, even the 500+ million dollar cases.

2 - people. The people at these top end plaintiffs firms are passionate about what they do. There is a level of engagement and passion about the work you don’t find in biglaw, and it leads to a much more collegial environment. I hated the assholes I worked for in biglaw. The partners I work for now? They are my role models, my mentors, and genuinely good people. Make no mistake - I bill a ton of hours. But I rather bill those hours for them than anyone on the defense side.

3 - billables. Yes, plaintiffs lawyers at these sorts of places bill hours. It’s no different than biglaw, other than we don’t have clients paying us monthly (usually, there are exceptions) but waiting for court fees. We have to submit say 7 years worth of time at once, so you best believe you get your entry right the first time or your aren’t gonna get that money back in fees when the special master or judge strikes that entry you couldn’t remember more of 7 years ago.

4 - career progression. As noted above, it’s usually very leanly staffed. We have first years drafting full complaints, writing full motions, managing discovery, completing investigations, etc. essentially alone. Quite frequently you will be the only associate staffed on a case, even though you know there are 10-15 associates at 4 different biglaw firms on the other side. So you get monumental more experience. 2-3rd years are arguing in court in real, non pro bono cases. At the same time, you are starting to take depositions. My firm expects a 3-4th year to have taken multiple depositions and possibly defended some too.

5 - partnership prospects. Partnership prospects are much more realistic because associate classes are so much smaller. Plus, by the time you are up, you have already proven you can handle all of a case at every stage. Partnership for my firm is 7 years, some it’s shorter. So it’s a more accelerated track than biglaw.

6 - pay. My firm pays about 15-20% less to a first year than biglaw, with a specific lockstep increase per year in all offices (major markets including nyc, dc, and San Fran). The real compensation is bonus. Bonuses can be a big chunk, if not a multiple, of base salary, depending on what comes in that year. I’ve had years where I made more than my biglaw counterparts with top of the market bonus. I have also had years with a lean bonus, which sucks.

7 - hiring. Hiring is really tough, because the associate ranks are smaller. The associates at my firm generally were top 25% at their t13, clerked, and otherwise brilliant and committed to the work we do. We weed people out who aren’t genuinely interested in the work and committed to the plaintiffs side. That’s the biggest key to being hired at these sorts of firms generally - you need to be committed to that firm’s mission and plaintiffs work. If you aren’t, you aren’t going to last.

Lastly, I would say this is the dream legal job for litigators. I make great money, getting experiences I know my buddies aren’t getting in biglaw, and setting myself up to either go on my own down the road, make partner, or go into the government with real litigation skills. I would also say it’s not impossible to go back to biglaw, I’ve seen it happen, but it’s rare. Much more likely to go into government or academia on my experience. But yeah, high end plaintiffs work is the bomb.

I would also add that certain firms have different expertises. Hausfeld is the top antitrust plaintiffs boutique to my mind, Cohen is great in a number of practice groups like antitrust, Leiff is legit in some areas too, Hagens Berman is legit in antitrust, Motley Rice is big in mass torts stuff, Sanford Heisler is the top employment firm, etc (they all do other things too, just rattling off my brain). It’s a small world of these types of firms. Susman is obviously great, but they do a lot more defense side work so I wouldn’t include them here. Same with Quinn. Boies Schiller is also in this boat, but I would stay far away given the issues they are having with the mass exodus.

[Anonymous User]

Former biglaw lit junior now at one of these top plaintiffs lit boutiques as a midlevel. Seen it from both sides.

1 - hours. I work more hours on the plaintiffs side than biglaw, by a decent chunk. But it’s totally different hours - I spend my time doing legitimate work. For instance I’m going to trial shortly, and I’m a serious member of the trial team. I work strategy, witness prep, exhibit stuff, everything. The v20 we are going against? Haven’t seen a single associate in over 2 years on any meet and confer, any turn of joint stuff. I’m sure they are in the background doing doc review and pulling exhibits for witness prep, but they aren’t out front in any capacity. That is the biggest difference - at a top end plaintiffs boutique, there is no hiding. You will have to sink or swim immediately, or you won’t make it. I don’t have other associates to fall back on in most cases, I’m usually the only associate staffed on a case, even the 500+ million dollar cases.

2 - people. The people at these top end plaintiffs firms are passionate about what they do. There is a level of engagement and passion about the work you don’t find in biglaw, and it leads to a much more collegial environment. I hated the assholes I worked for in biglaw. The partners I work for now? They are my role models, my mentors, and genuinely good people. Make no mistake - I bill a ton of hours. But I rather bill those hours for them than anyone on the defense side.

3 - billables. Yes, plaintiffs lawyers at these sorts of places bill hours. It’s no different than biglaw, other than we don’t have clients paying us monthly (usually, there are exceptions) but waiting for court fees. We have to submit say 7 years worth of time at once, so you best believe you get your entry right the first time or your aren’t gonna get that money back in fees when the special master or judge strikes that entry you couldn’t remember more of 7 years ago.

4 - career progression. As noted above, it’s usually very leanly staffed. We have first years drafting full complaints, writing full motions, managing discovery, completing investigations, etc. essentially alone. Quite frequently you will be the only associate staffed on a case, even though you know there are 10-15 associates at 4 different biglaw firms on the other side. So you get monumental more experience. 2-3rd years are arguing in court in real, non pro bono cases. At the same time, you are starting to take depositions. My firm expects a 3-4th year to have taken multiple depositions and possibly defended some too.

5 - partnership prospects. Partnership prospects are much more realistic because associate classes are so much smaller. Plus, by the time you are up, you have already proven you can handle all of a case at every stage. Partnership for my firm is 7 years, some it’s shorter. So it’s a more accelerated track than biglaw.

6 - pay. My firm pays about 15-20% less to a first year than biglaw, with a specific lockstep increase per year in all offices (major markets including nyc, dc, and San Fran). The real compensation is bonus. Bonuses can be a big chunk, if not a multiple, of base salary, depending on what comes in that year. I’ve had years where I made more than my biglaw counterparts with top of the market bonus. I have also had years with a lean bonus, which sucks.

7 - hiring. Hiring is really tough, because the associate ranks are smaller. The associates at my firm generally were top 25% at their t13, clerked, and otherwise brilliant and committed to the work we do. We weed people out who aren’t genuinely interested in the work and committed to the plaintiffs side. That’s the biggest key to being hired at these sorts of firms generally - you need to be committed to that firm’s mission and plaintiffs work. If you aren’t, you aren’t going to last.

Lastly, I would say this is the dream legal job for litigators. I make great money, getting experiences I know my buddies aren’t getting in biglaw, and setting myself up to either go on my own down the road, make partner, or go into the government with real litigation skills. I would also say it’s not impossible to go back to biglaw, I’ve seen it happen, but it’s rare. Much more likely to go into government or academia on my experience. But yeah, high end plaintiffs work is the bomb.

I would also add that certain firms have different expertises. Hausfeld is the top antitrust plaintiffs boutique to my mind, Cohen is great in a number of practice groups like antitrust, Leiff is legit in some areas too, Hagens Berman is legit in antitrust, Motley Rice is big in mass torts stuff, Sanford Heisler is the top employment firm, etc (they all do other things too, just rattling off my brain). It’s a small world of these types of firms. Susman is obviously great, but they do a lot more defense side work so I wouldn’t include them here. Same with Quinn. Boies Schiller is also in this boat, but I would stay far away given the issues they are having with the mass exodus.

Not to rain on your parade, or maybe IP is just different than the work you do, but at least my firm also gets 3rd or 4th years that experience. Also, 7-8 years partnership track is not that uncommon (unless you mean equity). Maybe defense side firms still staff with an army in other areas, but I’ve noticed people staffing more leanly on both sides of the v. And I know for my firm, we do both and it doesn’t impact staffing.

It sounds like the only real difference is what contingency does to your compensation model (boom/bust, rather than a more steady flow).

[majortazer]

IP is a different animal than, say, big-ticket securities litigation and other class-action work. Folks at my prior biglaw firm doing IP had a markedly different experience than those doing run-of-the-mill commercial lit, class actions, etc. Having been on both sides, I can say confidently that one gets more experience sooner at a top plaintiffs’ firm than the biglaw teams defending the same cases in non-IP commercial lit. The post above may be a bit of an oversell—comp is still superior in top-tier biglaw at the jr partner level in a majority of years—but it’s generally accurate, and there are years on the left side of the v where you’ll outstrip your peers doing defense work by a good margin. I also find the plaintiff side more enjoyable, but that is of course entirely subjective.

[Anonymous User]

Former biglaw lit junior now at one of these top plaintiffs lit boutiques as a midlevel. Seen it from both sides.

1 - hours. I work more hours on the plaintiffs side than biglaw, by a decent chunk. But it’s totally different hours - I spend my time doing legitimate work. For instance I’m going to trial shortly, and I’m a serious member of the trial team. I work strategy, witness prep, exhibit stuff, everything. The v20 we are going against? Haven’t seen a single associate in over 2 years on any meet and confer, any turn of joint stuff. I’m sure they are in the background doing doc review and pulling exhibits for witness prep, but they aren’t out front in any capacity. That is the biggest difference - at a top end plaintiffs boutique, there is no hiding. You will have to sink or swim immediately, or you won’t make it. I don’t have other associates to fall back on in most cases, I’m usually the only associate staffed on a case, even the 500+ million dollar cases.

2 - people. The people at these top end plaintiffs firms are passionate about what they do. There is a level of engagement and passion about the work you don’t find in biglaw, and it leads to a much more collegial environment. I hated the assholes I worked for in biglaw. The partners I work for now? They are my role models, my mentors, and genuinely good people. Make no mistake - I bill a ton of hours. But I rather bill those hours for them than anyone on the defense side.

3 - billables. Yes, plaintiffs lawyers at these sorts of places bill hours. It’s no different than biglaw, other than we don’t have clients paying us monthly (usually, there are exceptions) but waiting for court fees. We have to submit say 7 years worth of time at once, so you best believe you get your entry right the first time or your aren’t gonna get that money back in fees when the special master or judge strikes that entry you couldn’t remember more of 7 years ago.

4 - career progression. As noted above, it’s usually very leanly staffed. We have first years drafting full complaints, writing full motions, managing discovery, completing investigations, etc. essentially alone. Quite frequently you will be the only associate staffed on a case, even though you know there are 10-15 associates at 4 different biglaw firms on the other side. So you get monumental more experience. 2-3rd years are arguing in court in real, non pro bono cases. At the same time, you are starting to take depositions. My firm expects a 3-4th year to have taken multiple depositions and possibly defended some too.

5 - partnership prospects. Partnership prospects are much more realistic because associate classes are so much smaller. Plus, by the time you are up, you have already proven you can handle all of a case at every stage. Partnership for my firm is 7 years, some it’s shorter. So it’s a more accelerated track than biglaw.

6 - pay. My firm pays about 15-20% less to a first year than biglaw, with a specific lockstep increase per year in all offices (major markets including nyc, dc, and San Fran). The real compensation is bonus. Bonuses can be a big chunk, if not a multiple, of base salary, depending on what comes in that year. I’ve had years where I made more than my biglaw counterparts with top of the market bonus. I have also had years with a lean bonus, which sucks.

7 - hiring. Hiring is really tough, because the associate ranks are smaller. The associates at my firm generally were top 25% at their t13, clerked, and otherwise brilliant and committed to the work we do. We weed people out who aren’t genuinely interested in the work and committed to the plaintiffs side. That’s the biggest key to being hired at these sorts of firms generally - you need to be committed to that firm’s mission and plaintiffs work. If you aren’t, you aren’t going to last.

Lastly, I would say this is the dream legal job for litigators. I make great money, getting experiences I know my buddies aren’t getting in biglaw, and setting myself up to either go on my own down the road, make partner, or go into the government with real litigation skills. I would also say it’s not impossible to go back to biglaw, I’ve seen it happen, but it’s rare. Much more likely to go into government or academia on my experience. But yeah, high end plaintiffs work is the bomb.

I would also add that certain firms have different expertises. Hausfeld is the top antitrust plaintiffs boutique to my mind, Cohen is great in a number of practice groups like antitrust, Leiff is legit in some areas too, Hagens Berman is legit in antitrust, Motley Rice is big in mass torts stuff, Sanford Heisler is the top employment firm, etc (they all do other things too, just rattling off my brain). It’s a small world of these types of firms. Susman is obviously great, but they do a lot more defense side work so I wouldn’t include them here. Same with Quinn. Boies Schiller is also in this boat, but I would stay far away given the issues they are having with the mass exodus.

Not at all my experience w/r/t billing and salaries here FWIW.

[majortazer]

Not at all my experience w/r/t billing and salaries here FWIW.

Practice area and market?

[Anonymous User]

delete accidental anon

[apple22]

Former biglaw lit junior now at one of these top plaintiffs lit boutiques as a midlevel. Seen it from both sides.

I would also add that certain firms have different expertises. Hausfeld is the top antitrust plaintiffs boutique to my mind, Cohen is great in a number of practice groups like antitrust, Leiff is legit in some areas too, Hagens Berman is legit in antitrust, Motley Rice is big in mass torts stuff, Sanford Heisler is the top employment firm, etc (they all do other things too, just rattling off my brain). It’s a small world of these types of firms. Susman is obviously great, but they do a lot more defense side work so I wouldn’t include them here. Same with Quinn. Boies Schiller is also in this boat, but I would stay far away given the issues they are having with the mass exodus.

Would you mind PMing me? I have an offer from a small firm in NYC not named above that I'm having difficulty getting much intel on and I'm interested if you have any insights.

[Anonymous User]

Former biglaw lit junior now at one of these top plaintiffs lit boutiques as a midlevel. Seen it from both sides.

...

Not at all my experience w/r/t billing and salaries here FWIW.

I work at one of the firms that has been mentioned in this thread, and my experience w/r/t billing, salaries, and hours is also very different.

[lawposter10000]

Different how so?

[Anonymous User]

I'm at a prestigious plaintiff-side lit boutique in a non-NY major market. Plaintiff-side is much less standardized than defense-side biglaw, and varies more by the firm and area of law. I agree with the two long-ish posts above.

Compensation: all over the map, but, in general, associate compensation is more variable than biglaw (especially as you get more senior), and on average lower for the median associate. My firm is generally above-market all-in (which is rare), but the base salary is substantially lower--you have to trust that the bonus will get you there. And if the firm loses some big cases (especially cases you work on), well ...

Billing: I track hours (for lodestar / common benefit), but it's nothing like what I did in biglaw. Getting the time and general stuff you did is important, but it won't be scrutinized until years later, and will be much more rough-justice than a corporate client's review would be. Basically, I track the time accurately, then put in descriptions once a week or every two weeks (obviously best-practice would be to do it every day, but that's a giant pain and less mission-critical).

Workload: I work more than I did in biglaw. Much of this is because incentives are better-aligned (pay is more performance-based), and there's just nobody else that would do the things I'm doing in my cases. In most cases, I write a solid draft which goes to a partner who makes some edits then we might send it to co-counsel who make enough edits that it looks like they read it, and then I supervise technical editing and filing. That means there are fairly few rounds of editing. I spend much less time per-court-filing than I did in biglaw, but am doing much more on each, with far fewer levels of review (and I've argued a few things in court, which I could not have done on non-pro-bono, complex case in biglaw). I think that's more fun, but it's not easier in terms of workload.

People: Most plaintiffs-lawyers are really different from biglaw (much more client contact, much smaller, much more focused on two or three big-time partners, hiring from local law schools, doing a lot of state court trials, etc.), but this thread is about prestigious plaintiff-side, which is, honestly ... not that different? Dunno. It's your classmates from law school that were maybe a touch anti-corporate or more risk-taking. The partners are more business-of-law people. There tends to be a strong progressive tilt, though there are some exceptions.

Honestly, the weirdest thing to me about moving to the plaintiff side is how much you lose. Like, in biglaw, you fend off a ton of suits and win all the time. On the plaintiff side, you bring lots of suits and lose all the time, except when you find a great case (which you won't necessarily know is sound until late in the game). Very few cases make it to trial (where you could still lose!), and that's because the plaintiff lost before trial, or settled for a lame amount. Most of the time this is just because most potential lawsuits have a bad fact that kills them (after the statute of limitations, bankrupt defendant, contributory negligence, etc.). It's hard to truly find all the case-killers at the front-end (though you try).

[Anonymous User]

Lastly, I would say this is the dream legal job for litigators. I make great money, getting experiences I know my buddies aren’t getting in biglaw, and setting myself up to either go on my own down the road, make partner, or go into the government with real litigation skills. I would also say it’s not impossible to go back to biglaw, I’ve seen it happen, but it’s rare. Much more likely to go into government or academia on my experience. But yeah, high end plaintiffs work is the bomb.

I would also add that certain firms have different expertises. Hausfeld is the top antitrust plaintiffs boutique to my mind, Cohen is great in a number of practice groups like antitrust, Leiff is legit in some areas too, Hagens Berman is legit in antitrust, Motley Rice is big in mass torts stuff, Sanford Heisler is the top employment firm, etc (they all do other things too, just rattling off my brain). It’s a small world of these types of firms. Susman is obviously great, but they do a lot more defense side work so I wouldn’t include them here. Same with Quinn. Boies Schiller is also in this boat, but I would stay far away given the issues they are having with the mass exodus.

Thanks for all the great insight. I think that this kind of "high end" plaintiff-side work is legit my dream job (although I have a year of clerking followed by BL to start feeling out the legal world before I start making any moves). Getting this kind of info makes it feel like that goal might actually be achievable - and maybe even a good/worthwhile career path!

[Anonymous User]

Different how so?

Meaning that, there are *very* few plaintiff side firms, even the "prestigious" ones, where associates make anywhere near what market-paying biglaw associates make. I know it's true at Edelson and maybe some west coast boutiques, but it's 10000% not the norm. It's for sure not true at Hagens or Motley Rice, which have been named here.

[Anonymous User]

One of the first people to reply here - the top end plaintiffs boutiques don’t necessarily pay biglaw market salaries, but certainly pay way over biglaw market bonuses. That’s the big difference - I make a good chunk less on pure salary than my biglaw class year counterpart, but I certainly make significantly more than they do at years end. So it’s not quite an apples to apples comparison.

[Anonymous User]

Right, by the relevant metric here should be all-in compensation. All-in, biglaw associates junior thru senoir still outpace 99% of plaintiff's firms, including top-flight firms. Partnership is a different story.

[Anonymous User]

The last poster just made this point but to reiterate:

1) There are a small number of pure plaintiffs firms where associate all-in comp is at or exceeds biglaw comp. There are also a few boutiques that do plaintiff and defense work with biglaw or biglaw+ comp (like Susman).

2) There are a small number of pure plaintiffs firms where junior comp might sometimes reach biglaw comp on a good year (especially if you aren't a senior associate, where the comp gulf is really-wide) but you are usually making less than market all in.

3) At most plaintiffs firms, even the "prestigious" firms, you are probably making well under market, especially as you get more senior.

4) Regardless of how close you make to market all in, you base comp will be considerably below market and you bonus will be much larger compared to biglaw (assuming the firm had a decent to good year). As a midlevel you base might be below at $200k for example, but you would expect a high 5-figure to low 6-figure bonus.

5) The special bonuses and recent salary increases at biglaw firms have made this gap bigger.

6) Partner comp is where things get wacky and the gulf maybe closes, but it is all blackbox, so it is hard to say. The only sure thing is that equity partner comp at most of these firms is generally pretty high, and the really, really big name plaintiffs equity partners make a shit-ton of money (but I'm talking about a very small pool of actual lawyers).

Source: associate at a plaintiffs firm that pays on the high-end of for a plaintiffs firm but still well below market.

[Anonymous User]

Different how so?

[anon whose post is right above yours here] I make a little less than half of what I'd earn in big law after the current raises, and bonuses most decidedly don't make up for the difference--they've ranged from $10k to $50k for associates during my time here (seniority doesn't matter for bonuses, but having worked on a high-profile/very lucrative matter does, however, in the end, bonuses are primarily determined by how good of a year the firm had as a whole). And while I definitely work fewer hours than my friends in big law, and don't keep my records in the manner that they have to, but laid-back it is not.