\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

Biglaw salary over time

2007 to 2015: 160k 2016 to 2017: 180k 2018 to 2020: 19...
Provocative blue mad cow disease tanning salon
  05/20/25
Pre-2007 $125k
orchid disgusting point
  05/20/25
CR
Flickering National
  05/20/25
NCR. It was $145 for a time.
Cobalt histrionic resort blood rage
  05/20/25
...
Motley therapy azn
  05/20/25
...
Judas Jones
  05/22/25
97-2005 was 125k, Irell and Quinn went to 135 in 2005, big s...
Mentally impaired locus quadroon
  05/20/25
lol @ Gen X
Laughsome hilarious center hominid
  05/20/25
*leans into mic* While they eventually had to develop/att...
Mentally impaired locus quadroon
  05/20/25
i am a late GenXer (1978) and this sounds right. i made part...
poo poo on my penis
  05/21/25
You’re my age roughly, ie late Gen X. We were still i...
.....;;,,.........;.;.;.;.,;,;,;.;.;,;
  05/21/25
what's the takeaway?
Flickering National
  05/20/25
https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
180
Cobalt histrionic resort blood rage
  05/20/25
poop on my penis no...
beady-eyed lemon pisswyrm
  05/20/25
...
Very tactful theatre
  05/20/25
Now do V50, V25, V10 PPP and RPL over the same period and ge...
Very tactful theatre
  05/20/25
...
Razzle House Skinny Woman
  05/20/25
$160 in 2007 is $250 in 2025, adjusting for inflation. So, c...
Cobalt histrionic resort blood rage
  05/20/25
Nobody going into one of these firms had a reasonable shot o...
Cracking pungent pit
  05/20/25
I don’t have hard data to back this up, but my clear m...
Mentally impaired locus quadroon
  05/20/25
Only the top 1% in biglaw makes more money on an inflation a...
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
Inflation is nuts imo. And the pay doesn’t go up as fa...
Laughsome hilarious center hominid
  05/20/25
$26K in MFH when I started. $17-18K in Boston. $15K +/- in m...
Fragrant garrison wrinkle
  05/20/25
Where did it all go? What was rent back then? $400?
Cracking pungent pit
  05/20/25
Not sure about NYC. I was paying $230/mo during law school f...
Fragrant garrison wrinkle
  05/20/25
So 3 years’ salary. Still expensive relative to pay.
Cracking pungent pit
  05/20/25
Makes sense. Boston was surprisingly affordable in the 70s. ...
Boyish Rambunctious Fanboi
  05/20/25
Yes, in the mid 70s a modest home in a no-name Boston suburb...
Fragrant garrison wrinkle
  05/20/25
lol
Trump Tariffs Can Do No Wrong
  05/21/25
Now do in real dollars
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
LMFAO, HOLY SHIT: https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
i'm gay
twisted school personal credit line
  05/20/25
Most people in biglaw last 3-5 years, pay off their $300k in...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
Right. Which corresponds with biglaw equity partnerships no ...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
I dunno, most of the people I know who made it five years at...
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
Counsel is very different from partner so I’d separate...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
You can make $2mm+ with no book and middling intelligence if...
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
and yet, for every actually unconnected one that does, 1000 ...
Spectacular set gay wizard
  05/20/25
Not in it to win it imo
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
This is a very rare outcome though good for him. Firms aren...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
On what are you basing that assertion
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
Deep and extensive experience and market knowledge. And com...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
I don't think you know what you're talking about
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
I definitely do. If there's something you'd like to talk mo...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
Maybe if you said $3mm, but there are lots of service partne...
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
In V50, how many? 2-3 per firm? 150 in the entire country?
Godawful heaven
  05/20/25
There are not lots of those people. Those days are over. ...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
That has not been my experience, either the stinginess with ...
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
Your experience is uncommon.
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
Are you a recruiter or what
ocher background story alpha
  05/20/25
But it can happen if one of your firms client’s is lik...
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
Yeah for sure and that was the typical path for it to happen...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
"People don’t realize how rough it gets in the lo...
''"'''"''"'
  05/21/25
i was totally with you until the last sentence - why is it w...
Razzle House Skinny Woman
  05/20/25
I could have phrased that point better. If you are in the &...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
ah, cr, i totally hear you there ty
Kenneth Play
  05/21/25
what do these people do after they're pushed out? teach h...
crawly wine voyeur meetinghouse
  05/20/25
get raped
adulterous public bath filthpig
  05/20/25
...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
...
twisted school personal credit line
  05/20/25
"I read a LinkedIn post today about an Asian American w...
CapTTTainFalcon
  05/21/25
So assuming the wash outs are there for 3-5 years, they must...
Godawful heaven
  05/20/25
You marry someone making $100k+ and you live in the suburbs....
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
The business-oriented ones go in-house or they go way down v...
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
Also kickboxing underworld.
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
I’m making it on 400k in a tier 1 city, what’s u...
Domesticated Sexy Principal's Office Internal Respiration
  05/20/25
kickboxing underworld
shaky stain cruise ship
  05/20/25
My buddy works at Emanuel something in NYC. He’s makin...
Hairraiser up-to-no-good main people
  05/20/25
is he in their divorce law group? our very own Are Reptile i...
beady-eyed lemon pisswyrm
  05/20/25
https://www.skadden.com/professionals/r/rakoczy-mark-e
turquoise den sex offender
  05/20/25
That’s about as Alpha Chicago lawyer as it gets
effete topaz round eye
  05/20/25
cr you don't end up where that guy is, with that CV, looking...
Kenneth Play
  05/21/25
Dude is mid-70s, looks great, but probably psychopathic and ...
Cracking pungent pit
  05/21/25
He works on the Elon side of things
Hairraiser up-to-no-good main people
  05/20/25
I worked on a 200 million dollar divorce estate dispute not ...
Domesticated Sexy Principal's Office Internal Respiration
  05/20/25
I worked on the Anna Nicole Smith case.
Pierbattista Pizzaballa
  05/21/25
isnt it all women now
Covid was a Hoax
  05/21/25
...
~~(> ' ' )>
  05/22/25


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:00 PM
Author: Provocative blue mad cow disease tanning salon

2007 to 2015: 160k

2016 to 2017: 180k

2018 to 2020: 190k

2021: 205k

2022 to 2023: 215k

2024 to 2025: 225k



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948216)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:02 PM
Author: orchid disgusting point

Pre-2007 $125k

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948225)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:02 PM
Author: Flickering National

CR

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948227)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:17 PM
Author: Cobalt histrionic resort blood rage

NCR. It was $145 for a time.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948284)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:17 PM
Author: Motley therapy azn



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948793)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 22nd, 2025 2:08 PM
Author: Judas Jones



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48954030)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:57 PM
Author: Mentally impaired locus quadroon

97-2005 was 125k, Irell and Quinn went to 135 in 2005, big salary war was 2007 that culminated in NY to 160. The crazy thing is the WSGR led jump to 125k in 97. Before that white shoe NYC firms were under 100k.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948399)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:18 PM
Author: Laughsome hilarious center hominid

lol @ Gen X

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948464)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:23 PM
Author: Mentally impaired locus quadroon

*leans into mic*

While they eventually had to develop/attach to a large book in the 2010s, Gen Xers in biglaw got a much easier path to partnership and got to be wizards of efficiency as juniors and mid levels as long as they could operate basic word processing software. I worked at two v10s in the 00s and both were lousy with Gen Xers in their late 30s/early 40s who never would’ve been recruited as associates by the standards the firm had in the 00s, were generally at best mediocre lawyers, and who have carved out comfy little spots as protected service partners for big swinging dick boomers. They were about the only lawyers at the firms being paid in rough proportion to their market value and productivity.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948474)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 7:15 AM
Author: poo poo on my penis ((zurich is stained))

i am a late GenXer (1978) and this sounds right. i made partner at a lower end biglaw firm (baker hostetler) in 2017. i made it because a big swinging dick rainmaker backed me. i apparently JUST made it. and the year after i made it, he tried to put another guy up and the firm dinged him bc he had no business.

a guy 6-7 years older than me (great lawyer, but no business) got put up there as nonequity after 7 years and promoted to equity after 2 years like clockwork, even though he had zero business and has zero business today (he could have a big book but he's a chill stoner breh).

i got in just before the door closed on me. and a year after i left i tried to go back to the biglaw firm. the rainmaker pushed hard for it, but i got dinged because i didn't have more than $2 mil in business. as it turns out, i have about that much now. glad i didn't make it back though bc i'll make almost $900k at my non-biglol boutique firm if my book does that well this year, but i digress.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48950155)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 11:32 AM
Author: .....;;,,.........;.;.;.;.,;,;,;.;.;,;


You’re my age roughly, ie late Gen X. We were still in the zone of danger for ITE, though if you stayed at one place and became a profitable midlevel you were largely fine (as opposed to eg lateraling in 2007). But imagine the career path of a dude born in 1972. Graduates law school just as the WSGR salary war starts, spend the 7-8 years to partnership literally working for partners who insist on printing every email and who have secretaries that still use typewriters. Being able to do simple word processing tasks is like magic to the people who decide the fate of your career, and that’s just Word. If you actually developed any kind of facility with the idiotic dinosaur software that was on its way out like Word Perfect and Lotus Notes you were indispensable to these old fuckers. I had an elder Gen X partner tell me a story about the first time he showed Deltaview to the partner who sent him all his work and he said it was like old bro had a 5 minute long orgasm, just gasping and moaning incoherently while he poured over the document line by line and kept asking what each color meant.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48950656)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:02 PM
Author: Flickering National

what's the takeaway?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948226)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:37 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948532)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:41 PM
Author: Cobalt histrionic resort blood rage

180

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949192)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:03 PM
Author: beady-eyed lemon pisswyrm

poop on my penis

not flame

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948230)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:10 PM
Author: Very tactful theatre



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948246)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:10 PM
Author: Very tactful theatre

Now do V50, V25, V10 PPP and RPL over the same period and get ready to laugh your ass off.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948245)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:25 PM
Author: Razzle House Skinny Woman



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948315)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:21 PM
Author: Cobalt histrionic resort blood rage

$160 in 2007 is $250 in 2025, adjusting for inflation. So, current big law salaries are well below what they were, inflation adjusted, in the past. That's on top of a worse working environment, the partnership ladder getting pulled up, and wild revenue per lawyer and profit per partner figures.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948293)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:00 PM
Author: Cracking pungent pit

Nobody going into one of these firms had a reasonable shot of getting partner since about the class of 1993

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948417)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:18 PM
Author: Mentally impaired locus quadroon

I don’t have hard data to back this up, but my clear memory is that by 2007 they knew they were overhiring and were blatantly looking at half of each class of juniors as expendable and likely to be gone in three years, and then ITE happened and pulled that timeline in significantly. The other consequence of ITE is that the firms realized 1) that they paid no penalty with clients or schools/students for the layoffs, and 2) partners with large books were all that mattered to maintaining overall firm health/financials. So the last 15 years has effectively been a war among firms for books at least as large as the 30th largest book they currently have, and every other expense including other partners’ draws should be subservient to the goal of poaching as many big books as possible.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948463)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:24 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

Only the top 1% in biglaw makes more money on an inflation adjusted basis, and they make way, way more. The bottom 99% makes less.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948479)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:24 PM
Author: Laughsome hilarious center hominid

Inflation is nuts imo. And the pay doesn’t go up as fast bc “number seems too high imo.” This forces Losers to job hop constantly in order to pay rent

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948480)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:25 PM
Author: Fragrant garrison wrinkle

$26K in MFH when I started. $17-18K in Boston. $15K +/- in midwest.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948483)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:28 PM
Author: Cracking pungent pit

Where did it all go? What was rent back then? $400?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948496)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:31 PM
Author: Fragrant garrison wrinkle

Not sure about NYC. I was paying $230/mo during law school for 2 br/1 bath half of two family. A starter house in a nice Boston suburb was $50-60K. This house was $60K. I made an offer for $57K which was rejected.https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/84-Jason-St-Arlington-MA-02476/56401754_zpid/



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948508)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:40 PM
Author: Cracking pungent pit

So 3 years’ salary. Still expensive relative to pay.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948548)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:53 PM
Author: Boyish Rambunctious Fanboi

Makes sense. Boston was surprisingly affordable in the 70s. A gritty city with nice suburbs. My parents are the same age as you and bought a similar house in a similar upmarket Baltimore neighborhood for just about $57k. Sold it a few years back for 850k. The same house in Boston is probably $1.8M

The *real* real estate story is how the country went from having uniform housing prices across almost all comparable metro areas nationally to a sharply divided two tier American real estate market with some metros being substantially more expensive than others. I do know for a fact you could buy a pleasant house with sea view in coastal Orange County CA for 50-70k in the 1970s and those are all starting at $1.8M now and going up.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948935)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:22 PM
Author: Fragrant garrison wrinkle

Yes, in the mid 70s a modest home in a no-name Boston suburb was $35K. We ended up buying a tiny house in Lexington for $50K. $1M now. Some metro areas are insanely expensive. Our old undistinguished Palo Alto house is $5.8M according to Zillow. I remember being recruited in 1969 by a company in San Diego. One of their selling points was that San Diego housing prices were below the national average. Argh!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949057)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 7:43 AM
Author: Trump Tariffs Can Do No Wrong (TDNW)

lol

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48950173)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:27 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

Now do in real dollars

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948494)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:35 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

LMFAO, HOLY SHIT:

https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948524)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:56 PM
Author: twisted school personal credit line

i'm gay

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948942)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:36 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Most people in biglaw last 3-5 years, pay off their $300k in school debt, and leave.

The small proportion who stay beyond year 5 will never make equity partner. Life can still be objectively “good” for them while it lasts but as long as they lack a book it is always precarious—they’re always at risk of being pushed out even with the rise of permanent nonequity positions.

Biglaw in the last 20 years has become a giant pyramid scheme, that’s it. As someone else noted above, the top 1% (I’ll be generous and say 5-10%) of biglaw is getting very, very rich. For everyone else, it’s materially worse now vs 20 years ago.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948529)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:37 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948534)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:39 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Right. Which corresponds with biglaw equity partnerships no longer seeing associates as the future equity partners of the firm. They’re billing units to squeeze as much profit from as possible until they quit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948543)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:42 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

I dunno, most of the people I know who made it five years at an V50 and wanted to be partners made partner or at least counsel, even if they had to lateral once or twice. None of them are rainmakers.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948552)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:45 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Counsel is very different from partner so I’d separate the one outcome from the other immediately. If you start in a V25 (I’m not even sure I’d say V50 these days) you’ll likely make “partner” somewhere but you can end up making less than you did as an associate and living a pretty shitty existence. People don’t realize how rough it gets in the lower ranks of amlaw or in the regional firm milieu.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948562)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:59 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

You can make $2mm+ with no book and middling intelligence if you're willing to grind it out

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948592)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:11 PM
Author: Spectacular set gay wizard

and yet, for every actually unconnected one that does, 1000 115+ IQ, type-A strivers that feed solely of materialism, social status and external validation choose not to

wonder why

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949002)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:14 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

Not in it to win it imo

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949025)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:31 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

This is a very rare outcome though good for him. Firms aren't paying people $2m with no book, even in the V10, unless they've otherwise done something significant in their life that can generate business (in which case they'll eventually build a book).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949098)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:49 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

On what are you basing that assertion

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949273)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:50 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Deep and extensive experience and market knowledge. And common sense. Again, I'm not saying it's impossible, you can, on rare occasion, if the stars align and you're well liked and the politics work out, grind your way into equity and technically be a "service" partner still (although in those cases they're usually servicing institutional clients of the firm a/o they're viewed as the heir apparent for when the rainmaker retires to take over the book). But it's very rare. And like a nonequity partner it's precarious. Book is the only thing that gives you stability.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949286)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:09 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

I don't think you know what you're talking about

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949432)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:21 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

I definitely do. If there's something you'd like to talk more about I'm happy to. I can't imagine you're genuinely claiming it's common or typical to get to be a $2m equity (or senior non-equity) partner with no book. Or if you're just looking to be a fag in a subthread then we can stop and go our ways whatever you want.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949476)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:46 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

Maybe if you said $3mm, but there are lots of service partners making $2mm

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949571)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:49 PM
Author: Godawful heaven

In V50, how many? 2-3 per firm? 150 in the entire country?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949578)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:57 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

There are not lots of those people. Those days are over.

There were more equity service partners like you're describing (maybe they were making $1m instead of $2m) 10 years ago than there are now. Firms rely on permanent non-equity / of counsel to act as service partners in that capacity. If you get equity, especially with where PPP is now and given how most firms are on some version of eat what you kill, you are expected to generate business, constantly, not just service existing clients.

Like I said there are exceptions. If you're some super skilled superstar who does long-term good work for major institutional clients, even if you don't have a book, you can sometimes grind your way into equity especially if you threaten to leave. Even then part of your promotion will be your perceived capacity in the future to generate business even as you maintain the institutional relationships. I've also seen it happen where the person is a lieutenant for a BSD rainmaker who goes to bat for them. But these are atypical situations bro. Partnerships are cheap as fuck and they do not want to pay $2m a year simply to service matters when they can get that same work done for $500k a year.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949590)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:09 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

That has not been my experience, either the stinginess with equity or the ability to find someone to do the work for $500k.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949616)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:11 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Your experience is uncommon.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949626)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 11:19 PM
Author: ocher background story alpha

Are you a recruiter or what

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949792)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:10 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

But it can happen if one of your firms client’s is like, JNJ or XOM. Those clients can feed a dozen partners.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949619)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:13 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Yeah for sure and that was the typical path for it to happen e.g., Apollo is your institutional client, "hell, someone has to make equity, let's make it Nick, he works for Apollo a lot." But the attitude has changed significantly over the past decade because of the factors I outline above--primarily the availability of permanent non-equity who will happily take 700k to do the same work day in day out and the insane rise in profitability which has increased the equity floor so much that partnerships are reticent to give it out especially to people who aren't going to generate their own organic business to feed the partnership.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949631)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 6:57 AM
Author: ''"'''"''"'

"People don’t realize how rough it gets in the lower ranks of amlaw or in the regional firm milieu"

Don't have to work as much so seems chill

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48950143)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 6:44 PM
Author: Razzle House Skinny Woman

i was totally with you until the last sentence - why is it worse now? seems like salaries are a lot higher? just easier to get pushed out, and maybe it's not that much higher after inflation?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948695)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:30 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

I could have phrased that point better. If you are in the "I'm here for 3-5 years to get the notch on my resume, pay my loans, then get the fuck out" crowd, then there is arguably no better time than now to be in biglaw. But if you're coming into biglaw with the idea of making a lifelong career of it, especially by becoming a partner, I'd argue it's much worse now than it was 20 years ago.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949095)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 10:25 AM
Author: Kenneth Play

ah, cr, i totally hear you there ty

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48950472)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:33 PM
Author: crawly wine voyeur meetinghouse

what do these people do after they're pushed out?

teach high school latin?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948849)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:36 PM
Author: adulterous public bath filthpig

get raped

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948860)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:28 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949086)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:33 PM
Author: twisted school personal credit line



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949106)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 4:35 PM
Author: CapTTTainFalcon

"I read a LinkedIn post today about an Asian American woman—a lawyer—who died by suicide in her mid-30s.

She had an Ivy League education, and worked at top law firms. But after less than a decade, she found herself unemployed. It sounded like she had been searching for a couple of years—for something that matched her expertise and experience. She didn’t find it.

I didn’t know her personally, but I cried. Because I see parts of her story in my own.

For anyone who's struggled after leaving a prestigious path—or was asked to leave—I want to speak to you."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48951677)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:47 PM
Author: Godawful heaven

So assuming the wash outs are there for 3-5 years, they must be clearing at least $350k at say 30. What do they do then? $350k isn’t enough to live on in a tier 1 city. Assume they take a pay cut to move in house, F500 or mid-law? What’s the outcome? Seems like a waste. Not like you enjoyed your time in big law?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949573)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:07 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

You marry someone making $100k+ and you live in the suburbs. You rarely work weekends and you raise kids. I coach little league.

If I’m ever tight on money my big law partner friends will buy me lunch (after rescheduling four times).

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949608)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:17 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

The business-oriented ones go in-house or they go way down vault / amlaw and try to become partner / of counsel at a firm with more sane hours and expectations. You'll get a few gunners who go the PI / start their own firm route. The public interest fags will leverage the biglaw time to go to government or their favorite save the whales NGO. Lots of Mrs. degrees for the female associates who just exit the workforce. You'll get a few burnouts who do something entirely different, open a cake shop or become a car dealer, some crazy shit like that. That's the typical span.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949640)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:17 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

Also kickboxing underworld.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949643)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:55 PM
Author: Domesticated Sexy Principal's Office Internal Respiration

I’m making it on 400k in a tier 1 city, what’s up

Supporting a family of 4 by myself right now.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949757)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:09 PM
Author: shaky stain cruise ship

kickboxing underworld

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949615)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:19 PM
Author: Hairraiser up-to-no-good main people

My buddy works at Emanuel something in NYC. He’s making like half a milli moving commas.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48948800)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:11 PM
Author: beady-eyed lemon pisswyrm

is he in their divorce law group? our very own Are Reptile is an alum of that practice group.

most biglaw firms have a family law practice but Quinn Emanuel's is unparalleled. it's up there with Skadden's asbestos defense practice.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949000)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:34 PM
Author: turquoise den sex offender

https://www.skadden.com/professionals/r/rakoczy-mark-e

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949112)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:08 PM
Author: effete topaz round eye

That’s about as Alpha Chicago lawyer as it gets

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949612)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 7:03 PM
Author: Kenneth Play

cr you don't end up where that guy is, with that CV, looking like that, without getting some shit done

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48952013)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 12:01 AM
Author: Cracking pungent pit

Dude is mid-70s, looks great, but probably psychopathic and has 4 ex wives.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949866)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:17 PM
Author: Hairraiser up-to-no-good main people

He works on the Elon side of things

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949641)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 10:52 PM
Author: Domesticated Sexy Principal's Office Internal Respiration

I worked on a 200 million dollar divorce estate dispute not flame

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48949745)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 6:33 AM
Author: Pierbattista Pizzaballa

I worked on the Anna Nicole Smith case.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48950130)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 4:38 PM
Author: Covid was a Hoax

isnt it all women now

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48951683)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 22nd, 2025 12:24 PM
Author: ~~(> ' ' )>



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5727948&forum_id=2#48953583)