Law Partner's Salary?

Some of the people who post on here are good friends of mine. One guy who is quite prominent on this website went to high school with me back in the '70s. So in my case, the board is not anonymous. But I'll tell you anyway: about $70k.

I don't have kids (and wouldn't want any). Plus, I have some independent income that allows me to do basically what I want. I could probably go without working for 30 years, but since I'll probably still be alive, I'm playing it safe by staying employed and working towards a pension.

I live in Austin, where the real estate is pricey compared to most other areas of Texas. And I live in a 1600 sq. ft. house that I probably couldn't afford on $70k alone. But I'm not wealthy by any means.

please send me your resume. we need associates who think working weekends is great.

1. To the original poster: A good place to look for the "salary" of partners at top 50 firms is to review the annual "American Lawyer" survey, which includes average profits-per-partner for most of the top 50. Even in this survey, though, firms manipulate numbers to pump them up, but American Lawyer is probably the best collection of data. For the "average" top 50 firm partner, I think 500K to 3 million is a reasonable estimate. (Note that young partners likely don't even make this "low" end becaues they are paying into the partnership in their first year or two.)

2. I don't think it's accurate to say that if you work at a top 50 firm you can't train. It's just hours -- like many other jobs. Many people on this board work quite a few hours each week and manage to put in lots of miles, quality work-outs, and good races. Is it optimal? Probably not. But can you be a good runner and work at one of these firms? Sure.

3. Future IP guy: IP partners (litigators and prosecutors) at top 50 firms make the same as the other partners (at least in today's climate) make the same as other partners. It's probably a little less at boutique IP firms, but there are partners at those types of firms that take in the same as partners in the top 50 firms. It's a great time to be in IP, but who knows how long it will last.

This conversation is the polar opposite of the Brian Pope thread.

jklu wrote:

2. I don't think it's accurate to say that if you work at a top 50 firm you can't train. It's just hours -- like many other jobs. Many people on this board work quite a few hours each week and manage to put in lots of miles, quality work-outs, and good races. Is it optimal? Probably not. But can you be a good runner and work at one of these firms? Sure.

a good example of this is chris wehrman, a lawyer here in chicago, who has qualified for the marathon trials twice and is very good regional runner. he doesn't work for a top 50 firm but i wouldn't call the hours he does work markedly different (if at all).

Sorry, I guess that wasn't a fair assumption to make.

I'm actually a teacher, but many of my friends and family are lawyers. I'm leaning towards applying to law school next fall.

RE the Brian Pope thread,

The funny thing is that I really sympathize with both views. If you want to do something, don't half-ass it. Doesn't matter whether it's a career or running.