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Biglaw salary over time

2007 to 2015: 160k 2016 to 2017: 180k 2018 to 2020: 19...
carnelian mad cow disease
  05/20/25
Pre-2007 $125k
canary location partner
  05/20/25
CR
azure rigpig point
  05/20/25
NCR. It was $145 for a time.
orange people who are hurt
  05/20/25
...
Confused State Police Squad
  05/20/25
...
sick bright cuck sneaky criminal
  05/22/25
97-2005 was 125k, Irell and Quinn went to 135 in 2005, big s...
vigorous mother abode
  05/20/25
lol @ Gen X
Rose irate toilet seat boistinker
  05/20/25
*leans into mic* While they eventually had to develop/att...
vigorous mother abode
  05/20/25
i am a late GenXer (1978) and this sounds right. i made part...
Citrine Clown
  05/21/25
You’re my age roughly, ie late Gen X. We were still i...
vigorous mother abode
  05/21/25
what's the takeaway?
azure rigpig point
  05/20/25
https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
180
orange people who are hurt
  05/20/25
poop on my penis no...
Citrine Clown
  05/20/25
...
Floppy vermilion piazza messiness
  05/20/25
Now do V50, V25, V10 PPP and RPL over the same period and ge...
Floppy vermilion piazza messiness
  05/20/25
...
Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration
  05/20/25
$160 in 2007 is $250 in 2025, adjusting for inflation. So, c...
orange people who are hurt
  05/20/25
Nobody going into one of these firms had a reasonable shot o...
Abusive spectacular quadroon
  05/20/25
I don’t have hard data to back this up, but my clear m...
vigorous mother abode
  05/20/25
Only the top 1% in biglaw makes more money on an inflation a...
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
Inflation is nuts imo. And the pay doesn’t go up as fa...
Rose irate toilet seat boistinker
  05/20/25
$26K in MFH when I started. $17-18K in Boston. $15K +/- in m...
Thriller carmine blood rage shrine
  05/20/25
Where did it all go? What was rent back then? $400?
Abusive spectacular quadroon
  05/20/25
Not sure about NYC. I was paying $230/mo during law school f...
Thriller carmine blood rage shrine
  05/20/25
So 3 years’ salary. Still expensive relative to pay.
Abusive spectacular quadroon
  05/20/25
Makes sense. Boston was surprisingly affordable in the 70s. ...
dun pit
  05/20/25
Yes, in the mid 70s a modest home in a no-name Boston suburb...
Thriller carmine blood rage shrine
  05/20/25
lol
trip honey-headed indian lodge organic girlfriend
  05/21/25
Now do in real dollars
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
LMFAO, HOLY SHIT: https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
i'm gay
federal razzle native
  05/20/25
Most people in biglaw last 3-5 years, pay off their $300k in...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
Right. Which corresponds with biglaw equity partnerships no ...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
I dunno, most of the people I know who made it five years at...
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
Counsel is very different from partner so I’d separate...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
You can make $2mm+ with no book and middling intelligence if...
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
and yet, for every actually unconnected one that does, 1000 ...
snowy church
  05/20/25
Not in it to win it imo
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
This is a very rare outcome though good for him. Firms aren...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
On what are you basing that assertion
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
Deep and extensive experience and market knowledge. And com...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
I don't think you know what you're talking about
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
I definitely do. If there's something you'd like to talk mo...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
Maybe if you said $3mm, but there are lots of service partne...
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
In V50, how many? 2-3 per firm? 150 in the entire country?
gay pea-brained toaster
  05/20/25
There are not lots of those people. Those days are over. ...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
That has not been my experience, either the stinginess with ...
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
Your experience is uncommon.
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
Are you a recruiter or what
Brindle marvelous den new version
  05/20/25
But it can happen if one of your firms client’s is lik...
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
Yeah for sure and that was the typical path for it to happen...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
"People don’t realize how rough it gets in the lo...
Effete transparent tanning salon
  05/21/25
i was totally with you until the last sentence - why is it w...
Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration
  05/20/25
I could have phrased that point better. If you are in the &...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
ah, cr, i totally hear you there ty
Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration
  05/21/25
what do these people do after they're pushed out? teach h...
Vengeful submissive locus fanboi
  05/20/25
get raped
frozen fishy sanctuary
  05/20/25
...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
...
federal razzle native
  05/20/25
"I read a LinkedIn post today about an Asian American w...
Vengeful submissive locus fanboi
  05/21/25
So assuming the wash outs are there for 3-5 years, they must...
gay pea-brained toaster
  05/20/25
You marry someone making $100k+ and you live in the suburbs....
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
The business-oriented ones go in-house or they go way down v...
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
Also kickboxing underworld.
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
I’m making it on 400k in a tier 1 city, what’s u...
hyperactive institution
  05/20/25
kickboxing underworld
aqua dashing water buffalo old irish cottage
  05/20/25
My buddy works at Emanuel something in NYC. He’s makin...
silver stage electric furnace
  05/20/25
is he in their divorce law group? our very own Are Reptile i...
Citrine Clown
  05/20/25
https://www.skadden.com/professionals/r/rakoczy-mark-e
doobsian selfie
  05/20/25
That’s about as Alpha Chicago lawyer as it gets
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/20/25
cr you don't end up where that guy is, with that CV, looking...
Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration
  05/21/25
Dude is mid-70s, looks great, but probably psychopathic and ...
Abusive spectacular quadroon
  05/21/25
He works on the Elon side of things
silver stage electric furnace
  05/20/25
I worked on a 200 million dollar divorce estate dispute not ...
hyperactive institution
  05/20/25
I worked on the Anna Nicole Smith case.
pungent station travel guidebook
  05/21/25
isnt it all women now
razzmatazz public bath
  05/21/25
...
Confused State Police Squad
  05/22/25


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:00 PM
Author: carnelian mad cow disease

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=2Elisa#48948216)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:02 PM
Author: canary location partner

Pre-2007 $125k

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:02 PM
Author: azure rigpig point

CR

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:17 PM
Author: orange people who are hurt

NCR. It was $145 for a time.

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:17 PM
Author: Confused State Police Squad



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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 22nd, 2025 2:08 PM
Author: sick bright cuck sneaky criminal



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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:57 PM
Author: vigorous mother abode

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=2Elisa#48948399)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:18 PM
Author: Rose irate toilet seat boistinker

lol @ Gen X

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:23 PM
Author: vigorous mother abode

*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=2Elisa#48948474)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 7:15 AM
Author: Citrine Clown

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=2Elisa#48950155)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 11:32 AM
Author: vigorous mother abode

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=2Elisa#48950656)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:02 PM
Author: azure rigpig point

what's the takeaway?

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:37 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:41 PM
Author: orange people who are hurt

180

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:03 PM
Author: Citrine Clown

poop on my penis

not flame

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:10 PM
Author: Floppy vermilion piazza messiness



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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:10 PM
Author: Floppy vermilion piazza messiness

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=2Elisa#48948245)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:25 PM
Author: Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration



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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 4:21 PM
Author: orange people who are hurt

$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=2Elisa#48948293)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:00 PM
Author: Abusive spectacular quadroon

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=2Elisa#48948417)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:18 PM
Author: vigorous mother abode

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=2Elisa#48948463)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:24 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

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=2Elisa#48948479)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:24 PM
Author: Rose irate toilet seat boistinker

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=2Elisa#48948480)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:25 PM
Author: Thriller carmine blood rage shrine

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

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:28 PM
Author: Abusive spectacular quadroon

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

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:31 PM
Author: Thriller carmine blood rage shrine

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=2Elisa#48948508)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:40 PM
Author: Abusive spectacular quadroon

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

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:53 PM
Author: dun pit

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=2Elisa#48948935)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:22 PM
Author: Thriller carmine blood rage shrine

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=2Elisa#48949057)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 21st, 2025 7:43 AM
Author: trip honey-headed indian lodge organic girlfriend

lol

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:27 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

Now do in real dollars

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:35 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

LMFAO, HOLY SHIT:

https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 7:56 PM
Author: federal razzle native

i'm gay

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:36 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48948529)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:37 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

https://imgur.com/a/Z7LqCQR

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:39 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48948543)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:42 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

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=2Elisa#48948552)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:45 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48948562)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 5:59 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

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=2Elisa#48948592)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:11 PM
Author: snowy church

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=2Elisa#48949002)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:14 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

Not in it to win it imo

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:31 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949098)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:49 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

On what are you basing that assertion

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 8:50 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949286)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:09 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

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

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



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:21 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949476)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:46 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

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=2Elisa#48949571)



Reply Favorite

Date: May 20th, 2025 9:49 PM
Author: gay pea-brained toaster

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

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 9:57 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949590)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:09 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

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=2Elisa#48949616)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:11 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

Your experience is uncommon.

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 11:19 PM
Author: Brindle marvelous den new version

Are you a recruiter or what

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:10 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

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=2Elisa#48949619)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:13 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949631)



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Date: May 21st, 2025 6:57 AM
Author: Effete transparent tanning salon

"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=2Elisa#48950143)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 6:44 PM
Author: Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration

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=2Elisa#48948695)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 8:30 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949095)



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Date: May 21st, 2025 10:25 AM
Author: Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration

ah, cr, i totally hear you there ty

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 7:33 PM
Author: Vengeful submissive locus fanboi

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=2Elisa#48948849)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 7:36 PM
Author: frozen fishy sanctuary

get raped

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 8:28 PM
Author: doobsian selfie



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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 8:33 PM
Author: federal razzle native



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



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Date: May 21st, 2025 4:35 PM
Author: Vengeful submissive locus fanboi

"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=2Elisa#48951677)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 9:47 PM
Author: gay pea-brained toaster

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=2Elisa#48949573)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:07 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

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=2Elisa#48949608)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:17 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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=2Elisa#48949640)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:17 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

Also kickboxing underworld.

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:55 PM
Author: hyperactive institution

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=2Elisa#48949757)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:09 PM
Author: aqua dashing water buffalo old irish cottage

kickboxing underworld

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 7:19 PM
Author: silver stage electric furnace

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=2Elisa#48948800)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 8:11 PM
Author: Citrine Clown

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=2Elisa#48949000)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 8:34 PM
Author: doobsian selfie

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

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:08 PM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

That’s about as Alpha Chicago lawyer as it gets

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



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Date: May 21st, 2025 7:03 PM
Author: Copper underhanded mental disorder internal respiration

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=2Elisa#48952013)



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Date: May 21st, 2025 12:01 AM
Author: Abusive spectacular quadroon

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=2Elisa#48949866)



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:17 PM
Author: silver stage electric furnace

He works on the Elon side of things

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



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Date: May 20th, 2025 10:52 PM
Author: hyperactive institution

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

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



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Date: May 21st, 2025 6:33 AM
Author: pungent station travel guidebook

I worked on the Anna Nicole Smith case.

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



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Date: May 21st, 2025 4:38 PM
Author: razzmatazz public bath

isnt it all women now

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



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Date: May 22nd, 2025 12:24 PM
Author: Confused State Police Squad



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